Perception and Imaging: Photography--A Way of Seeing

Merely copying the object is not art. What counts is to express the emotion called forth in you, the feeling awakened … Henri Matisse

Units which resemble each other in shape, size, direction, color, brightness, or location will be seen together.

Similarity is a prerequisite for noticing difference.

The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera. Dorothea Lange

Proximity Similarity Continuity Closure

visual elements within a person’s visual field are either attracted to each other (grouped) or repelled (not grouped). The Gestalt laws of proximity (nearness), similarity, continuity, and closure describe how grouping occurs within a context or field.

Synergy—the behavior of whole systems is not predictable from its parts.

what you experience when you look at a picture is quite different from what you would experience were you to look at each item in the picture separately.

Different presentations of space can conjure up different emotional reactions.