Skip to main content

Wk 3 Framing and Composition Artist

In class this week we are looking at the art of framing and composition.  Below are artist who use these photography elements to draw attention to their subjects.

Bernd and Hilla Becher

 A German couple who started photographing together in 1959.  Their body of work is well known for their grids of precise black and which photographs of industrial site known as typology.  The positioning of their images isolated forms whereby the subject was easily identified. They documented these architectural forms for over 40 years.

The artistic couple were very particular in how they constructed their photos.  Every part of the process was considered down to the size and relationship between negative and positive space.  Their body of work is exact emanating precision and thoughtful painstaking attention to detail.  A feat in itself considering they used large format cameras, producing medium-contrast gelatin silver prints.  Each structure centered against an empty sky and filling the frame.  The arranged their photographs in grids or sequence them in monographs.


Title: Fördertürme (Winding Towers) Artists: Bernd and Hilla Becher
Title: Water tanks Artists: Bernd and Hilla Becher

In these photos you can see that all the structures have similar forms.  The most amazing thing about their work is the scale of photos that they took and how the photos were composed.  Without the instant digital images which we use today they like many artists of their time highlight how skillful they are.

Diane Arbus 

An American photographer.  She learned photography from actor husband Allan Arbus.  They successfully worked in fashion and advertising however Diane soon branched out on her own.  While living in New York she created an unique body of work capturing unusual images of people which formed the interesting character portrayal of New York at the time.

Diane Arbus' approach to photography reflected a surreal portrayal of subjects noted as being raw, unapologetic and sometimes hard to look at.  Her work pushes the boundaries of street photography opening doors into worlds which were either overlooked or hidden.  Her images were really interesting, not your typical pretty portraits.  I like how her subjects appear at ease, free to be or act how they want.  This is obviously due to the rapport that she would of built with her subjects.  Her images can feel quite confronting, uneasy, intrusive and in your face and then in the same way, spellbinding.  If you're interested in delving deeper check out this video or awesome blog by Eric Kim.

Title: Boy with Grenade Artist: Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus is noted to be a photographer who didn't follow the rules of photography.  Her photos are printed in square format, which give an air of formality.  However her photos often are anything but.  This photo of the young boy seems to be composed casually.  His pose is relaxed, clothing is not sitting on him properly.  Composition wise you could say theres a bit of rule of third happening but it is as though it is not executed well. 

Title: Circus Fat Lady and her dog troubles Artist: Diane Arbus 1964
In this photo Diane Arbus has composed her subject in the middle.  It echos symmetry which can be seen in many of her photos.  The close crop of this photo emphases the scale of the lady which is reinforced by the size of the dog sitting on her.  It is also shot straight on to capture every detail of her subject.



 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 1 - Shutter Speed (TV)

Week 1 This week we are looking at Shutter speeds.   The shutter speed controls the durations of the exposure.  It is the length of time the shutter is open and where light can get in through your sensor. Less light 1/1000 sec - freeze action More light 1 sec - artistic blurs Our exercises in class this week was to play around with different shutter speeds.   It’s my first time using a proper tripod and I must say it’s a wee bit more sturdy and fiddly then the budget ones I’ve used before.   It’s a bit daunting setting up a shot with all this fresh info churning around in my head.   On top of it all there’s a knob for everything on this darn tripod – eek!!! i feel for my poor models having to wait patiently while i sort it all out.   Sorry guys!  Anyway here are some examples of shots at varied shutter speeds I've taken during the week. Still portraits Shutter speed: 1/80", f/10 Shutter speed: 1", f/36 As you increase ...
2 comments
Read more

Wk 2 Depth of field Artist: Sebastiao Salgado

Sebastiao Salgado Is a Brazillian social documentary photographer and photojournalist.  He started taking photographs in his 30s.  Sebastiao Salgado works on long term, self assigned projects.  He devotes years at a time to document the stories of people and places.  Many of his works have been published as books The Other Americas, Sahel, Workers, Migrations and Genesis.  His most famous pictures are of the gold mine in Brazil called Serra Pelada. Sebastiao has an amazing body of work.  The images i have chosen showcase how he uses Depth of Field to capture the essence of his subjects. This is an example of wide depth of field.  As we know wide depth of field focus range covers a large area front-to-back.  Depending on a lens camera range this could be from several yards in front of the focus plane to nearly infinity behind.  These types of photos are often associated with landscapes and architectural photography. It is usefu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vantage points

Wk 2 - Vantage Points Week 2 - woooowzers i honestly feel like i've been doing this for a lot longer then just two weeks.  I'm still finding my feet, and trying to keep on track.  So far so good, just need to keep practicing! Yesterday we went on a class trip - a short one, just up the road to the Otara town centre.  The aim of this trip was to take some photos from different vantage points.  Vantage points are the varied angles in which you can take photos such as high, low or even straight on. Here are some high and low angle shots that i took: High angle shot f/4, 1/125, ISO 100  This is a shot of a ponga log, one of many which is used as a fence.  I like how the light contrasts with the darker areas.  It highlights the rough woody texture of the log.  The grouping of circles give the log a curved fan like appearance as  though it has been pulled together and tighten further down by a string like a bouquet. f/4.0, 1/2...
Post a Comment
Read more