GRA 2330 Digital Photography Wed 230

Irving Penn, On Assignment

My first impression of Irving Penns photography was that they were mostly sharp, high contrast and black and white. After walking through and reading more on Mr.Penn, I learned he was a commercial photographer that worked with Vogue. I thought he was a true artist since he wanted his visions to show and he wanted his work to stand out. His high contrast and full color photos are very striking, especially his conceptual work. My favorite was the old football face since it accurately depicted skin getting old from over use and how it looks very grotesque. Most of his work is centered and have one subject, but his more artistic work had more subjects.

Nick Brandt, Across the Ravaged land

When I walked into Nick Brandt’s exhibit, I remember the midterm because I saw his black and white photo of the lion. The very large scale of his photography does justice to his work because it makes the subject, which are mostly wild and mostly dangerous animals come to life. Like, Irving Penn, his photography are all very sharp, crisp and high contrast. I didn’t see any full color photography, but I think black and white photos are usually suppose to show how artful a piece is without the distraction of too many colors. I thought his subjects were amazing. When I saw the bird that was preserved with volcano ash, I thought it was fake and couldn’t believe something like that exist now. But, it shows the lengths he would go to get an interesting picture.

Robert Polidori, Versailles

Robert Polidori’s exhibit was very unique. I love his behind the scenes photos of an exhibit in Versailles. Polidori’s photography is full color, very crisp and uses a lot of line and perspective. Unlike the previous two photographer, his subject was not posed, or alive. The composition was very clever and artistic as well since they showed a different way looking at something that could have been mundane and boring. My favorite was the photo of the portrait on a mirror, which showed a reflection of another portrait. It confused me a bit and I had to really look to see what was going on. Its interesting how he was able to remove himself from a reflection piece. The gallery was a different feel than the other two. The ceiling had natural light coming in and the space was very large. It almost felt like I was in a huge empty place surrounded by behind the scene photos.

Susan Derges, New work 

It baffled me a bit on how Susan Derges made these photographs. They a lot seem like illustrations. It turns out, she set up all of her work in her studio. I thought it was very artistic and clever. Her photography had on color and a black silhouette of foilage. I like her photograph of what looked like a back  lit bridge with stars reflecting on a blue lake. Her photographs feel very ethereal and they almost don’t look like photographs.

Olivo Barbieri, Alps- Geographies and people

When I first saw Olivo Barbieri’s photographs of snowy places with alps, I thought they were fake. I thought he used some kind of material like stucco or cement to make the snow and merged photos of people climbing on it. I probably thought so because of the last exhibit. But, after reading about his photography, These are real photographs! He took a helicopter to do these extreme birds eye view shots. The solid blue of the sky and solid white is real snow. After some thought, I realize that its possible to take pictures like this when it snows. His photographs are so sharp, they almost seem like cut outs. Like Nick Brandt’s work, I’m amazed at the lengths these photographers would go to get a real photo of something unbelievable.

Phillip Lorca DiCorsia, Hustlers

Overall the exhibits I’ve seen, I have to say I love Phillip Lorca DiCorsia’s work the most. His gritty, grungy photography style and real models with interesting stories makes his work memorable. His photographs are in full color with mostly busy backgrounds. I appreciate sharp and crisp photos, but in this case, a photograph with lots of noise is appropriate for the subject matter. His work is personal and real because each one of his photographs has a story behind the subject. As much as I like all of his photographs, I like the one with the guy leaning on a table inside a laundromat. It reminds me so much of the early 90’s and the model looks like what guys back than looked like. His story was that he needed the money for food..or something decent, but he left with a woman and bought drugs. In a sense, he probably sums up the life of a hustler the most.

Pace gallery – Irving Penn, On assignment
This exhibit showcased Photographer Irving penn’s work over the course of his lifetime. The exhibit consisted largely of his work from his days of working for Vogue magazine. A great amount of this photographs were high contrast black and white photographs. This exhibit also featured some of work from several advertising campaigns. Some of my personal favorites were, the turkey neck that represented aging and the series of Food Shots. A lot of his images consisted of shallow depth of field and were shot at eye level.

Hasted Kraeutler – Nick Brandt, Across the Ravaged Land

Photographer Nick Brandt was able to capture a series of shots of several wild animals. Most of the photographs were black and white or had sepia toning. The animals ranged from elephants, to lions and buffalo’s and several consisted of Animals and their children. The photographs conveyed a melancholy emotion. The photographer managed to showcase that emotion by showing some of the animals, in a vunerable state, Laying down or shooting froma high angle, making them look smaller. Several photographs followed the rule of thirds, while others were close up and centered.

Mary Boone Gallery – Robert Polidori Versailles
In this exhibit photographer Robert Polidori shot several photographs of paintings hanging in hallways. They also had Sculptures in messy rooms and Several close up shots of Locks and keyholes on doors. Most of the photographs showcased extensive depth of field and deep space. They showed various doors leading to long hallways or other rooms. Most were shot at eye level and had emphasized texture.

Danziger Projects – Susan Derges, New Work
This exhibit consisted mostly of silhouettes of plants and water ponds which photographer Susan Derges Created at her studio. Her photographs used shadows and solid colors to attract the viewer. Her photographs use different viewpoints to show the same subject. They also show deep space and have low contrast.

Yancey Richardson – Olivo Barbieri, Alps-Geographies and People
Barbieri series of mountain landscapes placed more emphasis on the white snowy mountains than the people in them. The people are very small in the photographs. The photographs were shot from a high angle and gave a sense of overwhelming deep space and extensive depth of field. He also used Positive/ Negative Space.

David Zwirner Gallery – Phillip Lorca Dicorsia, Hustlers
“Hustlers” Was my favorite exhibit of the day. Dicorsia series consisted of male prostitutes he hired to model for him. In all but one of the photographs the subjects displayed serious faces or expressionless faces. The photographs ranged from eye level shots to high angles. The majority of the shots were taken in low light places with random streak of lights coming from lamps, windows, and street lights. Most of the models were half nude and the photographs were shot throughout the city. Most had high contrast and deep space.

Irving Pen, On Assignment
Pen shot photographs for Vogue magazine. Most of his photographs were moving images and early group or single potraits in black and white. His photographs aquire a clear stillness and good use of light. He clearly used a high contrast of light and dark to reflect the faces of the peopple in the shot. The use of high contrast of light an dark helps the photograph have an emphasize in the persons’ face, making their face expresion stand out more.

Nick Brandt, Across the Ravaged Land
Brandts’ shot photographs of wild animals and nature in general. His photographs were taken from up close giving them a shadow and object focus. Most of his photographs were in black and white which made them more realistic. His photos gave a sense of loneliness and depression, because it shows how wild animals might be going through in their habitat. How ever it also gave a sense of power  the animals have over their kingdom. some of his photographs were shot in eye level and they clearly showed the different texture.

Robert Polidori, Versailles
Polidoris’ shots were mainly focus in texture and patterns. His photographs had different colors and texture which made the image  more realistic. The photographs were less compress, some with frames within frames. This gave a sense of power like a kingdom or palace. His photographs used mostly depht of field to emphasize the texture and colors of the rooms and walls . They were mainly taken in eye level.

Susan Derges, New Work
Derges created her photos instead of taking them with her camera. This was one of my favorites because she was able to work with shadow and depth of field, making me wonder more about what the photo was showing. She was sble to create texture and colors giving it a more unrealistic kind of view. The way she creates the different landscapes from a high eye level makes me see it as if I was actually in that place. So far one of my favorites.

Olivo Barbieri, Alps-Geographies and People
Barbieri shot photographs from high eye level of snowy mountains. Some of the photographs include people climbing the mountains. He uses most of the space within the photogaph and combines it with flat unrealistic colors such as the blue of the sky and some of the white snow. on of the images that caught my atention was the one with mergin colors of orange and yellow together. the photograph included two mountains in the middle which had a high contrast with the background colors.

Philip Lorca DiCorsia, Hustlers
DiCorsia shot photographs of male prostitutes giving them a great focus. He uses extreme usage of light and dark focusing more on the person in the photograph. His shots were mainly taken in rooms or outside in the streets. Because he always focused in the object his images gave a sense of loneliness and them been traped in their own world, something like just by looking at the photographs you can tell what was really going on. His photographs mainly used eye level and focus on the object.

Irving Penn, On Assignment

Irving Penn shot photographs for Vogue magazine covers. Most of his photographs were of still life, which was unusual for a fashion magazine, but that was his trademark. Irving Penn used several viewpoints in his photographs, but most of them had high contrast, such as Corner Portraits photographs of men and women against a corner, shot in black and white, they all used high contrast with light always on their faces to make their expressions and personality stand out. Most of Irving Penn’s photograps for Vogue’s cover often used shallow space and in focus.

Nick Brandt, Across the Ravaged Land

Nick Brandt’s photographs were mainly of wild animals typically found in Africa, with the exception of some photographs of men holding holding up elephant horns. All of the photographs are taken in a way to help make the viewer aware of the suffering and struggle for survival these animals are in, and the possible extinction of them is action isn’t taken. All of the photographs were taken in black and white and often showing deep space, and shallow depth of field. They were mainly all taken at eye level and emphasized texture; I felt that his helped the photographs feel more personal and real to the viewers.

Robert Polidori, Versailles

Robert Polidori’s photographs consisted of past and present shots taken of the interior designs of rooms in the palace of Versailles, France.  His photographs show how these once elegant rooms filled with elegant textures, patterns and marble floors have aged, and become in need of remodeling. He conveyed this by taking photographs of the palace for several years, and showing the viewer rooms of the palace at different time periods. All of his photographs were taken in color, and in focus. They were all taken at eye level, and mainly used shallow space.

Susan Derges, New Work

Susan Derges, unlike the other photographers, created photograms instead of using a camera to take photographs. Her photograms were mainly of nature, many of them silhouettes of water, branches, bridges, and consisted of one color, in combination with black and white. The photos she created using this process gave them a unrealistic but dreamy sort of look, in the way the strong negative and positive shapes she created and the way the ripples are shown almost making them look like a reflection. Her phogographs appear to use deep space and vary on viewpoints from photo to photo.

Olivo Barbieri, Alps-Geographies and People

Olivo Barbieri photographed landscapes of snowy mountains from high altitudes, often including people climbing said mountain. He edits his photographs combining shapes of flat color with the detailed photograph taken, giving the appearance of raster and vector merging into one. The objects often shown as flat color are the sky in some shade of blue, or the snow, in pure white. Olivo Barbieri used deep space, and positive/negative space, and extensive depth of field throughout all of his photographs, with many of them from a high angle viewpoint.

Phillip Lorca DiCorsia, Hustlers

Phillip Lorca DiCorsia’s photographs consisted of shots taken in Hollywood, of several male prostitutes in bedrooms or in the streets. All the photographs were taken from interesting compositions and body expressions, conveying to the viewer that there’s a story behind the photo. The photographs had amazing use of lights and dark, Phillip Lorca DiCorsia used shallow depth of field in all of his photographs, always keeping the male in focus, many of them taken at eye level.