Jay Maisel

One of my favourite photographers for his use of colour is Jay Maisel; Although Maisel has photographed many celebrities, I am more drawn to his distinct use of colour and light. Maisel works with very simple but definite blocks of colour and light. His work almost looks as if it has jumped out of a rule book on use of colour as it is so simple in appearance, as are the titles to go with them. Although many of Maisel’s prints are true to his block work style, he has several images which work more with the qualities of light than with bold, bright colours. When looking at images such as ‘Restaurant Roof’, I felt like I was viewing the work of a different photographer as this particular image has an almost ‘Van Gogh’ like quality to it. On closer inspection however, I noticed that although Maisel was in this case working with light rather than colour, he had still captured the subject in definite blocks of the varying forms of light.

On reading further into Maisel’s work, I discovered that his preferred method is to forget about complicated lighting set ups and mainly shoots with one lens, looking for interesting shapes, colours and light around the city. I feel that when learning the art of photography, this is a valuable lesson to learn and a great way to exercise artistic flair.

Before discovering Maisel, I had worried that in order to develop an artistic voice I would have to quash parts of who I am in order to pursue a particular type of photography. I now understand that this does not necessarily mean a choice between vibrant or muted colours or between landscapes and close ups but it is about the individual style in which these elements are used.

Ernst Haas

Vienna born Ernst Haas wasn’t professionally trained but quickly became one of the most celebrated and influential photographers in America in the 1950s.  His first essay, "Homecoming Prisoners of War," shot in Vienna led to an invitation to join Magnum as a result of the feelings and empathy evoke by the images. Dissatisfied with monochrome, Haas moved quickly into colour photography, creating essays on New York, Paris and Venice; his New York essay got him a 24 page spread in Life magazine.

Haas was interested in the super-reality of dreams and this is clear in all three essays; many of his images look more like paintings than photographs as a result of his use of colour. Although distinctive in style, each set has an individual feel corresponding to the city it represents.

Haas uses bold, colours with strong shadows in his New York essay, many images taken at night to show the bustling nature of a city that never sleeps.

Much softer contrast and dreamy pinkish tones reflect the romantic nature of a weekend in Paris.

Similarly romantic, Haas’ Venice essay introduces the blues associated with the city’s waterways; even the image of the arches shown below has the feel and rhythm of water with its colour and repeated pattern.

Having developed a firm hold on colour, Haas turned his attention to the use of slow shutter speeds to capture movement. In his essay on bullfighting, he managed to capture the graceful element of what is otherwise a brutal sport. Haas described this as ‘the beauty of a fourth dimension, which lies much more between moments than within a moment.’

William Eggleston

‘Genius in colour’, William Eggleston has a very distinctive style combining ordinary, everyday subjects with strong colours, giving a rather surreal result. Influenced by the endless amateur snaps being developed in an industrial photo lab, Eggleston draws the viewer in with images which at first appear to be almost snapshots but something in the lines, the angles and especially the colours gives these images an edge. Whether photographing a bike or an elderly lady, Eggleston’s slightly surreal images evoke a tension akin to that of a Hammer horror film.

Eggleston first started working with colour film in 1965 after almost a decade of using monochrome. The photographer thrived at the introduction of this medium as his selective use of colours complement the awkward angles already used to create that Eggleston tension; this is an artist with a clearly defined voice. John Szarkowski, of New York’s Museum of Modern Art is quoted as saying that Eggleston had ‘learned to see in colour’.

Eggleston wasn’t always so celebrated; his exhibition, entitled 'Color Photographs' appeared at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976 and was cited as being the most hated exhibition of the year. One critic suggested that the photographs 'would be unacceptable if submitted by one of my basic photography students'. Hilton Kramer's review in The New York Times finished his critique by saying: 'The truth is, these pictures belong to the world of snapshot chic.’

Looking deeper into Eggleston’s images, it is clear that although, true to snapshot style, the main focus is in the centre; the edges of these images contain details of people and objects which give additional meaning.

William Eggleston was also criticized for using expensive dye-transfer technique for prints of such everyday objects. Eggleston uses this process as it enables him to control the colours individually, exaggerating them in order to achieve desired results.

John Davies

“I am not so much interested in entertaining an audience or providing vehicles for escape but in delivering a highly crafted detailed image conveying a sense of reality. A reality that shares a recognition of aspects of urban living. But importantly, making images of a landscape that attempts to question our acceptance and perception of the inevitable consequences of living in a post imperialist society and within a post industrial landscape".  John Davies - November 2011.

Born in County Durham, Davies’ images ooze Northern grit; self processed and mainly in black and white, they show an atmospheric study of Britain’s industrial landscape.

A lover of  images in which industry and nature come together, I am drawn to Davies’ shot, ‘Agecroft Power Station, Salford’, taken in 1983. The impact is twofold; however thoughts about the strange placement of a football pitch in the shadow of the power station are overshadowed by the startling vastness of the cooling towers.

 

 Most of Davies’ work seems to create a narrative about the transformation of British industry. The monochrome finish draws attention to the elements of design in his images; as shown below, these images are a mass of rhythm, pattern, curve and reflection, all working together to bare the realities of urban living.

 Soup Kitchen/Arms Houses

 Stockport Viaduct

Runcorn Bridges

http://www.johndavies.uk.com/abiog.htm

Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky is known for his large-format photographs of industrial landscapes and his work can be seen in museums all over the world. He often positions himself at high-vantage points over the landscape using elevated platforms and helicopters.

Burtynsky’s ‘Shipbreaking’ series is part of a decade long project entitled ‘Oil’ and documents the industry of dismantling and recycling ships in Bangladesh. India based Tasveer Journal describes the set as one of Burtynsky’s most poignant and increasingly significant in light of today’s environmental insecurity. The series not only shows where these enormous oil tankers come to die but also highlights the dangerous conditions in which the dismantlers work.

Using a desaturated colour palette, Burtynsky succeeds in creating images which are both beautiful and emotive. Many of the images have the appearance of a giant graveyard, evoking feelings of the end of the world.

These images represent the kind of sentiment I am aiming to represent with my ‘Elements of Design’ assignment, taken at a small shipyard on the banks of the Humber Estuary.

 

 

"[we] come from nature.…There is an importance to [having] a certain reverence for what nature is because we are connected to it... If we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves." – Edward Burtynsky

Assignment five: response to feedback

So, it seems my even numbered assignments are good, my odd numbers a bit pants... I’m starting to feel like a Star Trek movie!

Oh, where to begin... it was a massive decision whether or not to use this wedding for my project and I’m not sure I got it right. It was a family wedding so I was already combining business with pleasure but to add study to the mix was probably a step too far. My thinking was that, as I was already putting a concerted effort into getting the best images possible and it definitely fitting with the theme of a narrative, I couldn’t go wrong.

With the wedding done and the bride and groom happy with their album, I set about the job of reducing hundreds of wedding photos into a set of twelve or less for my assignment – but how, what element of the day would I use, an overview of the whole day, a specific part of the day, a theme... and why would my niece’s wedding be in a magazine anyway? This last question was the easiest to answer; on browsing a few wedding magazines, I discovered that they are full of stories and pictures of everyday couple’s weddings and for many different reasons. Some have had a quirky style of wedding so feel they’d like to show it off, others got married in beautiful surroundings or maybe have an interesting story fitting around the venue or how they met.

The original concept I produced needed improvement. Looking through the different layouts gave me several ideas on how to make my set feel more cohesive. 

The Knot magazine and Utah Valley Bride use a consistent colour scheme throughout, reflecting colours from the images into the background and text. In Cosmo Bride, it’s all about the editing, giving a vintage style to reflect the theme of the wedding while images in the article, ‘Rustic Romance’ have lots of soft focus fitting to the dreamy, romantic theme. I learned from this that I needed to keep a consistent background style as well as using images which work together.

While my tutor feels that my submission should show the more traditional, classic wedding photographs, I feel that this would stray too far from what I am trying to develop as my personal voice. Granted, the wedding album was full of group shots, confetti shots with the expected close ups of the rings, etc but that was for the couple; this assignment, I feel should show the shots which are true to my developing voice. With this in mind, I have decided to focus purely on the lead up to the wedding. I feel that this is an element which is rarely covered in magazines, yet it is a vital part of the day, wrought with emotion and so many moments which may otherwise be forgotten after the events of such an important day.

I also need to address the fact that my tutor had stressed that I was maybe too emotionally involved in the wedding I used for this assignment with it being a family wedding. As part of my assignment, I had discussed the emotional side of the day for me as I felt that being ‘in the moment’ enabled me to create more moving images. While I can see his point that I maybe went a touch overboard, the article he signposted made me feel quite disillusioned as the author appeared to have such bitter feelings towards some of the weddings he photographed:

<http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/03/what-really-thinking-wedding-photographer>

“I see marriages doomed to fail even before the confetti falls, fathers shaking their heads in disappointment, grooms with a roving eye and bridesmaids who know too much.”

Surely, if these are the things a photographer is noticing, how can he possibly portray the love, hope and commitment which the customer is expecting to see in the forthcoming images? I’m sure his photographs are attractive and technically perfect but will they, in a small way, show the bitterness he feels? Unsurprisingly, this photographer has chosen to remain anonymous.

This article also bothered me as my one worry as I move towards a career in photography is that I lose the passion I currently feel. Granted, I often photograph things purely because they look nice but most of the time, it is because something has made me feel a certain way and I want my images to portray those feelings. I would hope that as my technical skills develop, my ability to do so will increase but if, like the aforementioned photographer, I lose that joy, that passion for showing how things have made me feel, then all the learning is wasted as I will be left with flat, meaningless images. Any artist, be it a painter, a musician, would advise that the only reason to take on a career in art should be for the love of that art form. This article, to me shows an artist who has lost that love.

To restore my faith in the true value of wedding photography, I have included a small selection of my favourite emotive images from Facebook Wedding Photographers, a group I regularly visit for inspiration:

Assignment four: Applying lighting techniques

Links: Pinterest

Flickr

The brief given for assignment four is to use one object to show the different lighting techniques studied in this unit. I had several objects in mind for the project but the one I felt held the most interest with regards to colour, form, shape and texture was an ornamental monk named Bud, belonging to my sister. 

The subject being human in shape directed me towards researching portrait photographers, particularly those who use interesting lighting techniques themselves. Yousuf Karsh, who shot to fame following his portrait of Winston Churchill; The Roaring Lion, has in his portfolio, images of many great heroes.  

Karsh’s images show great variety in posture and lighting to bring out the individual character of the subject. His portrait of Albert Einstein is lit from slightly behind so that the light skims across his face, highlighting the deep wrinkles which show great wisdom and character. French author, François Mauriac’s silhouette is given an aristocratic feel using edge lighting to highlight only the edges of his noble features. Karsh’s portrait of playwright, Bernard Shaw is lit from a high angle creating strong highlights and shadows in his face and clothing; Karsh has perfectly captured Shaw’s quizzical demeanour.

 

Although photographing an ornamental monk rather than a person, I still hoped to evoke feelings through my use of setting and light. Having considered the angles of light necessary to create my images, I then needed to think about the types of light I would use. Being the perfect time of year for stunning sunsets, I decided to start off my project using the natural light of the golden hour.

01 – Setting Sun: My first image shows the figurine sitting on the banks of the river with a beautiful sunset in the background; this being my lighting for the first part of my set, I thought it fitting that my first image should show it in all its glory. Placing Bud on a rock between myself and the setting sun, I set the exposure for the sky which had the effect of leaving the subject in total darkness, creating a silhouette to show the shape of the subject. The omission of detail reflects the monk’s meditative state.    

02 – Pink Prayer: In order to demonstrate colour, I moved around the subject and placed myself between it and the sun. This meant that now Bud was lit from the front, creating a flat but colourful image. In front lit images using neutral light, Bud’s colour is bright gold; however in this image, the colours of the sunset are reflected. The background colours are more down to luck than judgement as my main focus was on the direction of the light; however I am pleased with the resulting violet/green/orange combination of contrasting hues.

03 – Peaceful: Side lighting is used to show form as the highlights and shadows fall on the subject. This is most notable in the face as the rounded forehead casts a shadow across the eye.

04 – Glow: I positioned the subject so that the sun shone from a slight rear-side angle, hoping to show texture in the image. Although this wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped, I do like the effect the light has on the subject creating a glow to the side of the face. I have included this image although I feel that the main interest is its colour, rather than texture.

............................

For the next part of my project, I wanted to use artificial light while retaining the natural, outdoor setting for my images. I had the idea of using my car headlamps but as the figurine was so heavy, I needed a strong platform to raise him to the level of the lights. A nearby car park was edged with large rocks, perfect for purpose.

05 – Star: The headlamps gave me just enough focussed light to really enhance the texture in this shot. The rear-side angle enables the light to skim across the subject’s sleeve, trapping shadows in the sunken areas. The fading sunset adds colour to the opposite corner, adding movement and interest while the star remains the main focus.

06 – Cross-legged: This image also utilises the light skimming across the subject, creating dark shadows and drawing attention to the texture of the clothing.

07 – Golden Hands: In contrast to the deep lines displayed in the previous image, minimal texture is displayed in the subject’s clothing. The purpose of this front lighting, although flattening the image somewhat, brings out the golden hues in its surface. As noted earlier, this colour is very different from the oranges brought out by the light of the setting sun.

 08 – Rembrandt: Still using my car headlamps, I turned the figurine so that he was lit from the side. The acute lighting created a strong contrast image with hard shadows showing the form of the subject. Due to the triangular shadow under the eye, I have named this image ‘Rembrandt’. To enhance the depth of the image further, I used a shallow depth of field in order to soften the focus of the face.

09 – Wide: This image is also shot using side lighting; however the subject is turned to face the light and my lens is set to its widest angle of 18mm. The results is that Bud’s left foot appears much larger than his right; creating depth and therefore form in the image to compliment the effect of the lighting.

10 – Bedtime Prayers: My final image was taken using a diffuser to soften the glow from the headlamps. Again, shape is shown in the form of a silhouette, however in this image, the main subject is the backlit space between the face and hands. 

Although I have only used two forms of light in this set, one natural and one artificial, I have used them in a variety of ways to show the different physical qualities in my subject. As well as showing the given physical elements, I feel that I have utilised the lighting in a way which is sympathetic to the peaceful nature of the figurine.

All images from this assignment can be seen in the corresponding Flickr album.