Seeing alphabet letters around us
A DigitalNZ Story by Zokoroa
Seeing shapes that form letters of the alphabet in our everyday lives
Alphabet, Letters, Shapes, Photography, Images, Westra, Ans Westra
The following looks at images of various scenes to spot photographic analogues to the letters of the alphabet. For instance, when you look at rugby goal posts, you can see the shape of the letter H. An elephant's trunk can look like the letter J and the wheels of a car form the letter O. What other letters of the alphabet can you see when you look at photographs and/or at everyday life around you!?
Letter I
Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato
Letter M
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Acknowledgement:
This DigitalNZ Story was inspired by reading about Ans Westra (1926 - 2023) who had won a British competition "Assignment No. 2" in 1960 which was organised by the journal Photography. Entrants were required to compile a photographic alphabet for which Ans walked around Wellington searching for scenes to photograph that were analogous to letters of the alphabet. For instance, Ans photographed a pair of feet in jandals to represent the letter W, and an elephant's trunk at the Wellington Zoo to represent the letter J. The 26 photographs by Ans appeared in the March 1960 issue of Photography, with 24 also reproduced on the cover. (Source: L. McDonald (2012), Camera antipode : Ans Westra - Massey Research Online (PDF), pp. 60, 338.)