Juxtaposition

 This was a difficult exercise, and one that required a lot of thought. I decided to try the option 'photograph someone with a possession, or the results of their work or hobby'. I thought I'd photograph myself, with my piano.

The first thing I did was type 'piano playing' into Google image search; as well as provide inspiration, this would also allow me to see the kind of angles, viewpoints etc that are taken on a regular basis, so I could avoid this. The results fall broadly into two types: either full body to the side or behind and to the side images, or closeups of the hands on the keys, either top down, or more frequently to the side.

Inspiration then was almost completely lacking, so I decided to brainstorm some of my own ideas:

Closeup of hands enclosing keys.
Black and white, silhouette type imagery.
'Playing' model minature piano.
Unusual angle.
Piano keys t-shirt.
Holding miniature piano with real piano in background slightly out of focus.
Shot from behind with stack of music books to the side.
Face in reflection with stack of books.
Slow shutter speed for hand movement.
Something else reflected in the piano.
Hand resting on piano holding a stack of sheet music, other hand 'playing' the keys.


I tried out two or three of these ideas, but ultimately settled on the following image, which I then added text to create the effect of a book or magazine cover:

 

24mm, f/13, 1/40s, ISO 6400 -2EV

It is a very low angle image (I rested the camera on my knees, and used the self-timer so I could position my hands), and also much closer than most of the images I found on google image search. I like the way the white keys create a horizontal line, and the hands are 'framing' the sheet music at the top of the image. I believe this to be a different and more thought-provoking image than a standard picture of someone sitting at a piano, or the oft-used side view of the hands. I left an area of dark wood below the keys in the frame in order to add text, which I think works quite well.

This was a difficult exercise, in that you have to try and make the ordinary seem less-ordinary, simply with different viewpoints and some creative thought. In my image, the piano seems larger than life, and as if it's looming over the viewer; perhaps this subconcious thought is what will nudge someone into buying the book to start improving and to conquer the piano!