Portrait Photography - The Final, and the End

It is easy to underestimate the importance of viewing other photographers' work when attempting to develop your own style in the medium.  Some might think that this could only lead a person to copy the work of others, but this is far from true.  Inspiration can come from a variety of quarters, and there is a lot to be said for recognizing the wisdom of those who have gone before you.  I have always believed this, but if anything the process of writing this blog has made my feelings on the subject stronger.  I have seen a variety of ideas, many of which I would like to try out and adapt, many of which I might have glossed over entirely if not for the research behind this blog.  In this, my final post for the time being, I will take a look at two more photographs.  They are of course within the portraiture genre, as that is what I have been examining.

Annie Leibovitz

I absolutely love Leibovitz's work.  It has such drama, such story, and yet her work almost always comes out with a somewhat classic look.  Rather, I suppose, I should say timeless.  She has done a lot of famous portraits, all of which seem very distinct from one another.  This grown-up visual interpretation of Alice in Wonderland is very compelling, and draws the viewer in with its texture and tonality.  She also recently did a series of photographs for Disney, all of which are incredibly stylized and pictorially dynamic.  Sure, they are for Disney... but they are wonderful pictures, and are worth a look for anyone interested in photography.

Albert Chong

 

This portrait is one of the best traditional portraits I have looked at during the course of this assignment.  The use of lighting is absolutely exquisite, giving the subject a quite dignity while also making her a most striking character.  The portrait is elegant, and well-arranged.  The subject is slightly off center, which makes her show up even more prominently against the solid black backdrop.  I want to keep this particular look in mind for any straight-forward portraits that I make in the future, because this seems to be a very effective technique.

 

With that, it is time to wrap up this blog for the semester.  Keep on snapping pictures, shutterbugs everywhere.

-Kelly F.

Portrait Photography - Part Four

In this, my next-to-last installment of this Digital Photography blog... I am still going to move on directly to the photographs.  In many cases, the photographs say more in one glance that I can in a paragraph or two.

David Hockney

The image above is markedly different than any others that I have posted on this blog, as Hockney makes use of photo collage and grids to make his portraits and other images.  I will admit that I do not find the end result of this process quite as pleasing in portraiture as I have in other genres of photography, but I think that Hockney has done an excellent job.  It comes out looking like a Cubist work, and certainly provides an interesting perspective on any subject.

Sally Mann

Known for taking pictures of her children before switching to landscapes as subjects, Mann is an interesting portrait photographer.  The above picture is absolutely charming, and the movement of the lower fabric on the dress is very attention-grabbing.  The tonal range of the piece is stunning, but what really makes this photograph special is the focus.  the focus is not on the child, but rather the dress.  It is interesting to keep the focus on what the subject is wearing, rather than the person, creates some separation while still allowing the viewer to feel present in the scene.

 

-Kelly F. 

Portrait Photography - Part Three

Once again, let us move strait into the examination of some wonderfully done portrait photographs:

Duane Michals

On the surface, this images appears to be a lot more simple than several of my last posts.  However, for all that I tend to enjoy complexity and detail, I know the importance of clarity and simplicity.  The skull in this photograph offers a chilling counterpoint to the live man holding it.  If there was a complicated background, or other elements besides the strangely positioned man and the skull, I think the photograph would lose a lot of its power.

Lucas Samaras

Samaras has done many strange and interesting things with his portrait photography, though often the end result is very disturbing,  This particular photograph, like most of Samaras' work, has been highly manipulated.  Much of the artist's work features motion blurring, or another form of hazy, waving motion.  Here, this sets the man's face apart wonderfully, making the viewer focus on the subject while allowing the painterly swirls to play in the corners of their eyes.

-Kelly F.

Portrait Photography - Part Two

Really, should we not just dispense with the pleasantries, and skip directly to the photographs by this point?

Man Ray

Certainly much has been said about Man Ray, and for a good reason.  His portrait photography has influenced countless people, and really represented an interesting shift in the genre.  This image is dramatic, and a good portrait even though this woman's face is not entirely visible.  This is not a documentary shot - it is an emotional portrait, showing dismay and sadness.

Robert and Shana Parke-Harrison

This image, even more so than Man Ray's, uses a small part of a person in order to represent something greater... This photograph falls firmly into the metaphorical portrait category, and is a stunning representative of the genre.  It fairly oozes or drips meaning, and has a very pleasing old-fashioned or antique look.  I plan to explore the Parke-Harrison's work further, as much of what they have done is similar in style.  This type of portraiture is what attracts me most at the moment.

-Kelly F.

Portrait of Photographers and Their Subjects - Portrait Photography

As the title of this blog suggests, the following will be an exploration of various different styles of portraiture in photography.  As it will follow a similar structure to the Landscape assignment, I will go ahead and dive in to the endeavor.

Sebastiao Salgado

Salgado's portraits have such incredible atmosphere that it is hard to look away from some of his works.  Above is one of his powerful images, where he has made wonderful use of the lighting conditions and fog that were around his subjects.  I find this technique admirable because I appreciate the emotional content of the story he is telling.  This is something I have begun to strive for in my own portraits.

Gregory Crewdson

It is not surprising that I have picked the following portrait for this blog, as it is also similar to some of my more recent work in portraiture.  I love the strangeness of Crewdson's setting, and the use of vibrant colors within such a dark space really appeals to me.  Yet it is difficult to understand precisely what Crewdson meant by bringing these flowers into a house, although it does seem clear that the woman is tired or weary.  She seem forlorn, even.  This seems like a photograph that I will have to dwell on for a while before I can truly understand it.  Regardless of this fact, t is still an incredibly compelling portrait.

-Kelly F.   

Lanscape Photography - The Saga Concludes

As this marks my fourth entry on Landscape Photography within the context of this blog, it has officially become a saga.  All good things must come to an end, however, as there are other areas within the realm of photography that must be explored.  So, without further ado I present two final landscape photographs:

Eleanor, Chicago, 1951 by Harry Callahan

This photograph possesses a lot of features that I admire, and try to incorporate into my own work.  First there is the contrast-y scene, which gives the piece a tremendous presence and plenty of atmosphere.  Yet there are still many grey tones that show themselves in the wild branches of the landscape, elements which lend the photograph a feeling of life.  The image in the middle, of Callahan's wife, is probably the result of a double exposure.  Because of this addition to the landscape, the whole picture becomes surreal and fantastic.  This shows that landscape can be used to highlight a completely different scene, and vice versa.

 

Birches Growing in Books, Detroit by Andrew Moore

 

Here we have another variation on the juxtaposition between nature and man-made structures.  The decaying overhang gives way to collection of trees, and light streams around them into the wrecked space.  Speaking purely of formal qualities, I think this photograph features a lovely color palette, and has a very strong composition.  The green-gold light coming around the trees does a lot to balance the cool, dark tones of the ground.  This once again uses the idea of nature taking back over, once an inorganic structure begins to decay.  Here, it seems almost hopeful and somewhat uplifting.  Maybe it is that fresh, green light, bathing the a scene that might otherwise be dismal.

-Kelly F.

Landscape Photography - Part Three

In this blog post I am going to continue examining the work of landscape photographers, and will begin with something that struck a very familiar cord.

Carrara Marble Quarries # 20, Carrara, Italy, 1993 by Edward Burtynsky

I have actually seen a similar if not precisely the same view Burtynsky recorded in this photograph, though I was lucky enough to visit the Carrara quarries many years after he did.  The view around the area is absolutely breathtaking, and this image does a good job of capturing that.  In other photographs in this series, Burtynsky even shows the place in the quarries where Michelangelo mined marble.  Nostalgia led me to this image, but the concept behind much of Burtynsky's work also interests me.  He seems to choose landscapes that have in some way been torn apart - mines, rail lines, etc... yet his images still reveal a certain beauty in these deconstructed landscapes, making his scenes more poignant.

    Blue Mountain Islands, 2006 by John Pfahl

Pfahl's technique in the picture above is quite fascinating, as it really plays with the hanging scroll tradition.  I have always meant to make a collagraph or something like that in a hanging scroll format, of course using landscape imagery throughout my composition.  What interests me about this photograph is that it stretches (quite literally) the original concept of a hanging scroll.  The image begins to distort towards the bottom of the piece, in contrast to some traditional hanging scrolls where such a landscape seems to exist in layers stacked on top of one another.  This is simply one of the most creative ways I have seen a landscape recorded in photography.  The entire notion of a horizontally-oriented composition is thrown completely out the window, and the viewer is faced with a curious, elongated scene.

-Kelly F.