Dianne Arbus

 

'Boy with a toy grenade at central park' - 1962

Diane Arbus was an American Photographer who's work was based around people with different looks and had a surreal look about them,  apart from children who may look odd and young twins she looked at people with disabilities such as dwarfs and down syndromes. Other people she looks at are transgenders and members of the circus. Diane Arbus said that photography should be 'A little cold, a little harsh' which the people she did take photographs of no other photographers did, and she believe what is wrong with it? 

She liked to look at the flaws in people, why they look different. 

The photo above shown is called 'Boy with toy grenade at central park' which is a famous photograph. By looking at the image by itself he looks like a seriously disturbed young boy, with his tiny figure, the way he clenches his hands in a claw like way, the strap of his braces handing off his shoulder and the facial expression. On first viewing you think he is seriously disturbed. Why would he be playing with a toy grenade, the image just looks odd overall. There is a juxtaposition between strength and weakness as he looks so young and fragile yet he holds a grenade which if was real he would hold so much power. When you look at the contact sheet after seeing the image, the thought of this boy being disturbed changes, as he actually looks like a normal child playing in a park as he is running around smiling and posing for the camera. Which changes the mode of the photograph completely. 

'Identical Twins' 1967

This image echoes from Stanley Kubrick's 'The shining' where the twins are shown side by side in the corridor. It may not be intentional but because they are twins stood side by side wearing the same clothing it gives a mirror symmetry effect. When i first looked at the image what i noticed the most is how the twin on the right is smiling yet the other twin slightly frowns and looks unhappy. Because of the old texture to the photograph it has a ghostly feel to it, which is what is echoed in 'The shining' as they are acting as ghosts in the corridor. Identical twins, is a surreal thing, that two people can look exactly the same. Which is exactly what Diane Arbus liked to photograph. 

The Twins from The Shining

Robert Frank

Robert Frank is originally from Switzerland, he was born into a wealthy Jewish Family, and because of what was going on during that time with being judged for being Jewish. He decided to move to America with his family, where he made a portfolio including 40 images. Due to his success in becoming a photographer he made a photography book called 'The Americans' which has been said to be one of the most famous and important piece of work since the world war. There was a series of images in this book which have become so famous due to the content and the meanings between the images. The themes he tackled in his images was the Divide between the rich and the poor, Alienation, Hardship, Racism and the Mass Consumerism. He was interested in standing outside and looking inside, which was his type of attitude.

Documentary looking into Robert Frank's 'The Americans'

Photographs in style of Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander

'Im not a premeditative photographer'

The photographs i have closely analysed are called Americas Social Landscapes, Where i found a lot of the imagery used repetition with different line and shapes. His imagery uses leading lines and he likes to include himself in the photographs he takes. 

One of the series of images he did was called 'America By car' where he took photographs every day, in rental cars in 50 different states where he took the images from inside his car. Lee Friedlander includes himself in his images, as he likes being a part of his work to show he was there, he shows he is a part of the image through shadows and reflections where you can either see him actually there with the camera or even just through a shadow with part of his body shown on the ground or wall. Which a lot of the time you may look at images and think, is the photographer a part of it? and I would always think no as there is no show of them in the image, but in this case, I like the fact the photographer wants to be a part of the work they produce, to show they were there for the events.

There are themes shown through his imagery. Which include Identity, Self Conciousness, Framing, Shadow and composition control. One of the images he took was to show hidden identity, as he takes the image and you can see his shadow on the women's body but the viewers and him know that the women is not aware of the image being taken, which is a juxtaposition. All his images show lines and reflections and him trying to complete incomplete shapes.

The images above are 3 successful images me and my group took in style of Lee Friedlander, as we are showing we are apart of the images. We took the images in the picture style of Black and White, we included Reflections and Shadows. One of the images we even showed our faces which is really revealing our identity

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Bill Brandt

These 3 images show a set of a series from the photographer Bill Brandt, They all show extreme abstract photography.

The first image is called 'Ear on the beach' taken in 1957, which has become one of the most famous photographs today, The image shows a structure; foreground, middleground and background, this structure works well and shows images genuinely work well in sections of three. With this structure of 3 in this image it makes lines in the image, which are clearly defined as the image is split. It makes the viewer view the image in sections, starting with the bottom of the image as it is the main focus with the ear. This image has a surreal theme to it, by mixing human features of the body, which is the ear and the natural environment of the cliffs and the pebbles on the beach. This work is similar to a surrealist photographer Jerry Uelsmann who's theme in photography is always using the facial features on landscapes in black and white for a strange, eery surrealist feel to the photographs. The main focus of this image is the ear, as the light in that area is a lot more highlighted and has a more defined contrast around the ear. Also the title of the photograph shows the focus and subject of the image, 'Ear on the beach' which describes the photograph fully. The images picture style is black and white, this effect brings out great textures in a photo, in this case it brings out each section of the photograph by defining each piece in the photo such as the pebbles.

The second image is 'Bombed Regency Staircase' taken in 1942 which is in relation to the war. This image shows great light and shadows, which is one thing that Bill Brandts photography is about; Light and shadows. The light and shadows in this image create lines which are highlighted with contrast and the shadows on the wall, it creates a spirally and symmetrical effect, there is platform in the middle of the photo which acts as a symmetrical line in the photo, as below is very similar as above, which is due to the lighting and shadows in the image, the lines are shown as reflected. The photo is busy yet balanced out due to the platform in the middle, as the patterns and lines are the same. The lines in the image lead the viewer in to the center of the image where the platform is.

The third image shows a similar structure to the first image 'Ear on the beach' the way it is split into thirds, which is done by the amount of lines on the image. The tunnel itself is a leading line, as it goes all the way to the bottom. The angle Bill Brandt took it on is to show the line in between the middle, it shows a juxtaposition which is the contrast of to opposites, as the train tracks are completely deserted to the pathway which is filled and crowded with two people, which is what juxtaposition is, this is the opposite to balanced images. The content of the image is about the war, which i found out after researching. I feel the intention of the photographer was to show a historic event which is why it has now become a famous photograph.

History of the Camera

The history of the camera can be traced much further back than the inroduction of photograph. Photographic cameras evolved from the camera obscura (Pinhole) and continued through many generations of photographic technology including daguerrotypes, calotypes, dry plates, film and digital cameras. Camera obscura is pinhole photography, a device which dates back into the ancient chinese and greek times. A pinhole or lens project an image of a scene outside upside down onto a viewing surface. By trapping light and using reflections.

There was - Daguerrotypes and calotypes
Dry plates
Kodak
35mm
TLRs and SLRs
Instant camera
Auto mation
Digital camera
Analog Electric Cameras

The arrival of true digial cameras happened by the late 1980s, the technology required to produce truly commercial digitals existed. The first true digital camera that recordd images as a computersized file was FUJI DS-IP of 1988.

Picture style, White balance and JPEG VS RAW

Picture styles can change he appearance of a JPEG image. There are different effects such as Standard which is normal, Contrast which brings out the textures and darker colours, Sepia which is a faded brown colour, Sauration is the intensity of the colours in the image and Black and White which may also be known as monochrome.


White Balance is the colour temperture, it is measured in Kelvin, There are numerous different options for the white balance which is found when you click the WB button. Auto White balance, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Tungsten, Flourescent and flash. Here is an image which shows all the options you can get, some of the effects can either give a cold feel to the image or a warmer feel. Daylight and shade tends to give a warm temperature feel to the photograph. The best way to thinking about setting the camera is to set the camera to what you see from the light.



Raw VS Jpeg

What is JPEG? - JPEG is a standard format and is useable with almost anything. JPEG is a compresssedfile, which saves space but lacks quality due to to it missing pixels. JPEG can be manipulated, but each time you save it and edit it it loses the quality as it loses pixels.

What is RAW? - Raw is a forma that can only be used by certain software as it requires a codec. Raw is a format which is oposite to JPEG, Raw is an uncompressed file and can be processed. It contains all the information recorded when the picture gets taken, and it allows for changes such as picture style and white balance to be made. Raw files can be up to 2-6 times larger than JPEG. There are advantages to shooting in Raw, such as you have great control over the exposure when shooting. Also, if the image is over of under exposed when you capture it you can restore it when it opens in photoshop.

The images above show picture styles i used on my camera. The first 3 images are just a basic black and white effect. the last image is an effect called retro photo, which gave quite a noisy look to the image.

1) Daylight

2) Shade

3) Cloudy

4) Incandescent

The images above show different white balance styles on the same subject matter.