Introduction

For this task I chose to take photo of the horizon, more specifically what line is created when the sky meets the ground. It's something that everyone walks past everyday without paying much attention to, so taking notice of it feels like a genuine "interaction of the world" that often goes unnoticed (NNgroup, 2018).

Method

I gathered data across 5 seperate outings taking a single shot of the horizon and then drawing a line across it to isolate that data. I chose to spread my photos across different days because i wanted to compare the horizon at different locations, lighting conditions and weather.

Data collection

day 1

observations

• leaving from garden city in the afternoon at 4:05PM
• late afternoon light, low hanging sun casting shadows over the roundabout and carpark
• horizon is almost completely covered by trees even though the photo was taken from an elevated viewed point
• infrastructure covers the majority of the foreground, with residential properties peaking out in between the distance trees

reflection

• shocked by how little you can actually see the horizon, mostly covered trees and infrastructure.
• making a jagged horizon line

day 2

observations

• early morning light, sun still low and shadows exdurated by the low sun
• the sky has a deep blue hue to it and there are barely any clouds
• horizon line is completely covered by trees, running the full widith of the frame
• foreground covered by parked cars, and no infrastructure in the background

reflection

• compared to day 1 this is what i would call a much more quieter horizon

day 3

observations

• midday light is defused by the heavy cloud spotting while trees overhang at the top of the shot
• for the first time in the week, the horizon is covered by building instead of vegetation, creating a stair step effect
• the Brisbane river sits parallel below the horizon line, with a city cat ferry sitting at a dock as it collects passengers
• when a line is traced against the horizon it has a more retangular and sharp shape to it. completely different from the more natural round tree lines from the first 2 days.

reflection

• this is the clearest contrast to the first two images, instead of a mostly naturally shaped horizon it instead features geometric and sharp angles.
• The trees have not gone away through, they are instead pushed into the right side of the image and to the foreground.
• horizon characteristics is correlated to land use

day 4

observations

• overcast afternoon in southbank, same area as previous photo but different viewpoint
• Cable bridge over the river positioned mid ground of the image. The tall pylons and cables poke above the horizon line, creating the sharpest shape that has been captureed all week.
• people captured sitting on the grass in the foreground, only picture taken all week with people
• right hand side of image features a blend of natural and built with riverside apartments combine with natural blend of trees. featured on days 1 - 3

reflection

• the right side of this frame is the most interesting section to me, it doesnt confrom to either horizon types. Tree tops and apartment building create one unified line, not conforming to either horizon type. other than clearly being one of the other as for example in the last photos
• this complicates the natural vs built horizon hypothesis from past days becuse this image is niether. Instead it represent a hybrid, meaning that the past categories might be more of a spectrum rather than a binary answer.
• the addition of people within this frame is also worth noting, none of the other days feature poeple within the shot. This addition give the image more scale

day 5

observations

• return to local area for final entry, taken in the late evening right as the sun is setting below the left of horizon line
• lower middle of the shot is covered by a demountable building, parricular obscuring the true horizon- simular to day 1
• the horizon trace reverts back to a soft natrual shape, lined with tree tops and some builidng on the right side
• one tree breaks above the general tree line towards the centre of the frame, being the only outlier within the tree line
• low angle warm light bleeds over the horizon, giving the sky a natural blue gradient.

reflection

• returning back to local area for last shot made me realised what i had been noticing had changed. instead of just listing everything in the frame, I begined to notice the shape of the horizon - and how nature and architecture can blend together within urban areas
• the low warm light from the sun peaking over the horizon creates an effect that isnt present within any of the other photos. it creates a natural gradient that is clearly visible due to the low cloud density.

Key patterns and findings

3 of the 5 days (1,2 and 5), created a natural tree dominated horizon, featuring a soft rounded line. Day 3, taken along Brisbane river, was the clearest outlier within the data. Featuring the harshest curves formed by the city skyline, giving a line that is mostly rectangular creating a stair steps effect as the land evolve from Residential space to a dense built up river front. Day 4 was the most interesting day out of the set. The frame was a blend of riverside appartments and tree cover forming a single natural line. All photos before were either natural or urban, but image 4 made me rethink how i was collecting this data. Instead this image presented this stat as something on a spectrum rather than binary. Some smaller detail that i thought should be included is the single tree breaking out the horizon line on day 5 and day 4 was the only image with people in it, giving the image some sense of scale.

What I ended up learning from this data collection experiment is that land use largely shapes how the horizon shape forms. If is natural land that has been untouched it will form a natural soft line, but if its urban area the horizon can be jagged and form a stair step pattern. This is not defined as just one of the other though, when combine the nature can hide the urban shape of the buildings.

References

NNgroup. (2018, November 23). Observe, test, iterate, and learn (Don Norman) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgPppwsocRU

NNgroup. (2021, January 1). Field studies vs. ethnographic studies vs. contextual inquiry [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULrHIFkwDqM