Composition and Light- Home Exercise

Shallow Depth of Field

Texture

Space

Color

Frame

Lighting

Andreas Gursky- Five Photographs

The Genius of Photography: Snap Judgements

• How many photographs are taken in a year?

As the documentary explained, 80 billion photographs are taken in a year, however, this figure exponentially increases from one year to the other.

• How does Gregory Crewdson work?

Crewdson's work varies completely to main stream photography, as he aims to photograph staged locations. With the aid of a film production crew, he manages to set up a whole area, whether a street or neighbourhood, to suit the elements of his photo. Cinematographic lighting is also used at the scene to enhance the overall sense Crewdson wants to portray through his lens; a camera lens which is not even operated by himself, however, a professional photographer.

• Which prints commands the highest price and what are they called?

First copy prints which include either the original photograph or some of the first few prints are classified as the most expensive and they are called 'Fine Wines'.

• How many photographs does Andreas Gursky produce and what size are they?

Gursky is another unique photographer, who limits the production of his images to six copies. There are two main reasons behind this, first being the fact that each photograph is printed on a large scale (meters by meters) and secondly because this would inflate the price of each photograph.

• How are Seydou Keita's photographs different to mainstream African photos?

Keita's photograph are all taken inside his own personal studio, in contrast to other African photographs that are taken outside, whether to show the marvellous landscape or the devastating conditions of the people. However, what really differentiates them is the fact that he includes many crops, including cars, bikes, dresses, gowns etc, which are used by the figures in his photograph in order to set a sense of social ranking. Africans who usually attended Keita's studio were mainly middle class people, therefore by adding a car in the background, it was an entity used to convey wealthiness; a contrast to the sad truth of their daily lives.

Impossible Photography

Pre- Photoshop

Post- Photoshop

The Genious of Photography- William Klein

"I thought New York had it coming, that it needed a kick in the balls. When I returned to New York, I wanted to get even. Now I had a weapon, photography." William Klein is an American Photographer that was born in New York City  in 1928. Post World War ||, Klein moved to Paris, France in 1949, to pursue a degree in painting. It was five years later, 1954, when he decided to head back to New York for a visit. During that visit, Klein had established a new hobby, career and future; it was photography. Two years after residing in New York and photographing the streets of the city, he published his first photo book which he named: 'Life is Good and Good for You in New York'. This photo book is said to be one of the most 'influential' of its kind, simply due to its unique perspective on the wild streets of New York at the time. "Everything turned into a show in front of his lens," Klein's camera lens was different to others, because each photograph it took was mixed with diverse perspectives; the European and the American. This had a great influence on Kleins New York photographs, as he managed to get his subjects to either smile, laugh, dance, pull angry gestures and facial expressions which added a sense of unbalance to the image, yet made it quietly brilliant. He also captured photographs of people 'pretending' to shoot each other, and this showed a different side to the rough streets of New York. One famous photograph of his revolves around two young boys, one who aims a gun towards the lens, and the other who stands staring at his friend. The photographs meaning is deep because of two main factors. Firstly, the gun pointed towards the camera lens is in fact out of focus simply due to its extravagant close range and secondly the contrast between the ' angry' looking boy holding the gun and his friend who looks calm and polite. Personally, William Klein portrayed the people of New York brilliantly within his photo album, because he was capable of maintaining simplicity within his images, in addition to that odd factor found in each image, which gives a Klein uniqueness.

Composition and Lighting Exercise

Fluorescent Light

Natural Light (Cloudy)

Tungsten Light

Pattern

Perspective

Color

Shallow Depth of Field

Lift-Marc Isaacs

Lift is a 24 minute documentary, filmed and directed by Marc Isaacs. This personal project revolves around Isaacs and his one-on-one daily interactions with the residents of a tower block in London. Isaacs duty was to simply stand for ten hours in the elevator with his camera and wait for that perfect moment of footage. At the beginning of the documentary, it seemed to be that the residents were not very fond of a camera being in their elevator for most of the day; it was more of a constraint and obstacle to their personal lives. However, as the documentary progresses, we are shown how Isaacs relationship with the residents exponentially grows as well. At the start, there was a guy who prevented Isaacs from entering the elevator, however, later in the documentary he begins speaking to Isaacs and interacting with him in a friendly manner. As time passed by, Marc managed to build a solid relationship with all the residents of the tower block, he simply asked questions and they replied. His questions began with basic ones such as, "What was your last nights dream?", but later on they became much more specific and personal. Hence, the residents were sharing private matters with Isaacs camera and that was only possible due to a shared circle of trust between both sides. What made this documentary unique was the fact that it included residents from different nationalities, religions and ethnic groups, this made it a diverse piece of work which showed different peoples perspectives in life.

John Berger- Ways of Seeing

John Berger is an English painter, art critic, novelist, poet and author. He was born on the 5th of November 1926 in London, England. In his TV series and book called "Ways of Seeing" he expands his criticism and knowledge upon several artistic key points. He begins by discussing how paintings, drawings and art in general is percept by people differently. He debates that each individual has a different interaction and understanding of a painting; it depends solely on ones imagination and in depth love to art. Berger expands this notion by stating that the true definition of a painting only lies in the hands of its artist. Another point John discusses in his series is the negative and positive implications of reproductions. He explains that with the use of modern technology, vintage paintings have been duplicated and published a more vast audience, which is an advantage, as more people would be able to view the piece of art. However, Berger criticises how the procedure of reproduction has led to distortion and loss of meaning to the drawing. "Paintings often show treasures, but paintings have become treasures themselves," Berger quotes that the drawing found in a painting is of great meaningful value, however, nowadays these same paintings have become of great financial value.

'The Automobile Society' Project

Porsche Cayenne

Mitsubishi Evo

Range Rover

Lynsey Addario- War Photographer

Born on the 13^th of November 1973 in Connecticut, USA, Lynsey Addario grew up with a passion towards photography. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1995 with a B.A degree in International Relations. However, Addario is currently based in London, England where she pursues a career of a photojournalist, photographing for three major organisations  ‘The New York Times’, ‘National Geographic’, and ‘Time Magazine’. In 1996 she moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina to commence her photojournalistic career with the Buenos Aires Herald. It was only a year later when Addario decided to return to New York, USA. Keeping in mind Addario had no previous experience in photojournalism during her work period in Argentina; she solely focused on conflict and humanitarian issues. A year later, 1997, the photojournalist worked as a freelancer for Associated Press, and this lasted for three years. During this time period, she went to Havana, Cuba where she began a project to show “influence of capitalism on young Cubans.”

 With the start of a new decade (2000), the young photojournalist decided to cross all the way to the other side of the world; a completely different environment where she can experience a new life style in the diverse New Delhi, India. Throughout her eight-month experience there, she visited Afghanistan to “document life and oppression under the Taliban.” In addition to this, Addario travelled to Pakistan and Nepal to cover general press photographs. In 2001, she moved to Mexico City for a short time frame, where she worked for New York Times, however shortly after September 11^th events, the photographer moved back to South Asia to deepen her Afghan coverage. This time though, Addario went to Afghanistan with a new objective, she was more interested in “women’s education issues there.” After settling in Southern Asia for two years, it was time for the American photojournalist to move to Istanbul. Her duty however was to cover the Iraqi war; a zone she settled in for seven months. And in 2004, she settled in Darfur, Sudan and focused on refugee camps around the country. Sudan being a great central location, gave Addario the opportunity to aim her focus on issues such as women rights in neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia, in addition to other primary issues in Turkey, Libya, South Africa and Lebanon.

 Addario’s projects included the ‘Veiled Rebellion’, which is a photo essay that investigated the daily routine life of women in Afghanistan. Another project was called ‘Maternal Mortality’ which took place in Sierra Leone. A third project was named ‘Talibanistan’ which as the name refers to; the Taliban in Afghanistan. ‘Battle Company is Out There’ which documented two different sides of the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban in Pakistan. And finally a project that was devoted to the tragedy that took place during the Iraqi war. Her dedication and passion to the field of photojournalism lead her to winning many awards over the years. The ICP Infinity Award in 2002, Fuji Award in 2005, MacArthur Fellowship Award in 2009 in addition to Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad in Magazines and Books. During the same year she also obtained an award while being part of the New York Times team; Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. A year later, in 2010, Addario made it onto Oprah Winfrey’s list called: Power of Bearing Witness. She was also entitled to Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography, and finally attained several awards in the Pictures of the Year International Contest.

I am personally very impressed with Lynsey Addario’s photograph selection. To begin with, I am very fond of the diversity of her images, whether in the far East or the far West; Addario manages to portray her thoughts clearly through the use of her photographic talents. I realised she manages to follow a certain pathway when capturing the images; they tend to be close ups of her target, whether it’s a person, place or even an object. The young photojournalist focuses on including children in her images, which of course strengthens the definition of the photograph instantly. In addition, I am intrigued with Addario’s methodology of focusing on two main issues: conflict and humanitarian matters. For instance, she visited Iraq and Afghanistan to visually inform the rest of the world about the catastrophic wars that took place there. In contrast she went to Sudan to cover refugee stories, Africa to exhibit sexual abuses towards women, and Saudi Arabia to illustrate abandoned women’s rights. This multiplicity of photographs that the young American photographer has captured through her life span have without doubt influenced my view on the world; now I believe that a picture tells a thousand words.

Citations:

·      "Lynsey Addario." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-lynsey-addario/>.

·       "Lynsey Addario, Photographer." Lynsey Addario, Photographer. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.lynseyaddario.com/>.