Irving Penn On Assignment
Irving Penn was known widely for his fashion photography. His most recognized work is the photo’s he took for the magazine, Vogue. He worked a lot with still lifes as well as fashion and portraits. Through his work he expressed that he saw magazines as a practical framework, not limitation. He redefined the fashion photograph, stripping it down to its soulful essence. Most pictures revolved around a saddened emotional state as displayed in the facial expressions through the different people in the photos. A lot of his work also featured a lot of tonal values and emphasis on high and low contrast. He paid a lot of attention to the small details in his work and was very dedicated.
Nick Brandt Across the Ravaged Land
Nick Brandt’s focal subject matter was wildlife. His photographs seemed almost exclusive to Africa. He took many close ups of the animals. I noticed he has an obsession with lions and elephants. More specifically the demolition towards the certain wildlife. His pictures depict different things going on in the environments from calm life to animals hunting for food also. He has a lot of negative space in some and positive in others. He also uses shallow depth of field in most photos as the focus is on the animal. His photos emit a depressing mood due to the nature of the photos.
Robert Polidori Versailles
Robert Polidori was an architectural photographer. All of Polidori’s pics were taken in France. He uses a lot of perspective and many photos have extravagant colors. His pictures subjects are focused on different rooms. There is a huge focus on lines and patterns in his photos also. Some photos also use reflections. You also got the notion that he was interested in designs on walls and wallpapers. There’s an emphasis on textures through those pictures as well as viewpoints in others such as many high angle and low angle photos. He uses extensive depth of field in some photos as one I remembered gave off the illusion as a room in a room continuous paradox of sorts. His photos could draw any emotions as they had immense detail and any mood would depend on the viewer.
Susan Derges New Work
Susuan Derges was a photographic artist. Her photos were very abstract and even gave off that feeling as if it could of been a painting. I also learned that all of her photos were created in a studio in a tank of water. This technique makes most of the pictures appear as silhouettes and/or reflections. She rarely uses many colors if ever either. There’s a real monotone and calm feel to the photos. There isn’t much negative space in the photos either. They all have a high focus on tone and contrast. There’s also many curved lines in the pictures, mostly in the water. The natural and beautiful feel of her photos is one reason to why I’d say her work was one of my favorites.
Olivo Barbieri Alps – Georgraphies and People
All of Olivo’s photos focused on mountain subjects, more specifically snow. There is deep space and all pictures were taken from relatively high angles. There is also a lot of negative space. You have to pay close attention to view the smaller details such as the almost ant sized people. There is also high contrast between many cool colors. His work really stood out because at first glance it seems like just a lot of empty space but then when you focus in you see the minor, tiny details. All of his work seemed to be landscapes and in some areas of the photos appeared unrealistic colors for the photo which lead me to believe he put his work into photoshop afterwards.
Philip Lorca DiCorsia Hustlers
Philip Lorca DiCorsia was an american photographer that took photos of male prostitutes and focused heavily on lighting and emotion. You could tell all were placed in different situations to model. There was a lot of use of depth of field both shallow and extensive. I think the reason his work stood out so much to me was due to the fact that the photos seemed relatable. Although each photo was staged it still made me feel as if they were photo’s friends and I would take ourselves. At first I questioned heavily to why he used male prostitutes but in some pictures I got the sense to why he would. Based solely on the fact that they’d do anything for money and would be more willing to strip for certain pictures or whatever was asked of them. Overall this was also a favorite of mine just because of the stories you could tell through each photo. The raw emotion was captured in almost every picture and anyone could draw emotion through them and connect in some way.
