Lee Friedlander

This image is from a series of photographs entitled ‘America by Car’ taken between 1995 and 2009 by American photographer and artist Lee Friedlander. Lee Friedlander, born July 14^th 1934, helped evolve visual language of urban “social landscape” photographing subjects such as posters, street signs and reflections in shop fronts. In the 60’s and 70’s he primarily worked with black and white prints using 35mm cameras, however in recent years he began working with medium format cameras. Friedlander, whilst housebound due to arthritis, focused upon photographing his surroundings, capturing his own home and therefore the ‘sense’ of the place in which he lives, making him a perfect photographer from which to take influence from for my theme; especially looking into how people settle into a sense.

This particular image provides us with an outlook from a car’s driving seat out onto an imitation landscape of skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty in Las Vegas, providing the exciting sense of New York into a much smaller form. In contrast, Friedlander uses reflection within the wind mirror to show an average, ‘placeless’ bridge – something that has no particular ‘sense’ or meaning to most people. This, in my opinion, represents multiple sides to America – specifically Las Vegas. The dull, black interior of the car - emphasised by the use of black and white - contrasts against the whiter, much brighter false landscape and highlights the difference between the two places. Looking out through the interior also infers we are looking through the driver’s viewpoint, and almost makes the viewer feel as though they are the driver themselves. In addition to this, the upwards interior almost acts like a screen, partitioning off the average road scene from the false city. I believe this gives the image several dimensions and shows us the many ‘senses’ one place can have.

The use of such bright white colours for the New York scene connote hope, peace and purity, perhaps emphasised through contrast by Friedlander to highlight the humour of such a false and constructed place aiming to provoke these feelings and emotions from people. Through using the wind mirror for reflection, I believe this is again to highlight the humour of people having high expectations of places senses by showing that they can be right be mundane and everyday life things such as bridges – which in my opinion is considered to have ‘placelessness’.  Again, of course, this could just be used to highlight the difference between a place with many senses and one which is ‘placeless’.

The lines in the road provide leading lines towards the false landscape and also give the image an element of movement; connoting these moments and these views are fleeting, much like a car journey itself, or in fact life.

In my opinion this is a very successful image as it evokes thoughts about whether fake or replicated things can give a person the same sense of place as the original through use of the misleading ‘New York’ landscape or whether it is too hard to imagine the validity of the place when you already know it is replicated. Because the image is taken from a car, and this is easy to see in the image, it feels like a truthful view point and therefore makes me feel like the connotations and senses it gives off is real; scenes of falseness and boredom, yet also senses of excitement and hope.

Hull Fair Photographs

Henri Cartier-Bresson Critique

This photograph is from a series of images taken in Paris by French-born street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. Born in 1908 and died in 2004, Cartier-Bresson is considered the father of modern photojournalism and helped develop the ‘life-reportage’ style of photography that has inspired many after him. He first studied paintings, which helped him have an eye for composition of an image and made him heavily against cropping. But in the early 1930’s Cartier-Bresson became inspired by a Munkacsi image and decided to try and capture the world with a camera rather than a brush. He shot all of his candid photography with the same 35mm lens and I think that he has an incredible talent for capturing emotions within a street scene.

This Paris image shows two female subjects, both sat on the same bench in a cafe but far apart – in both location and lifestyle so it would seem. The woman to the back left of the image is an older female who is ‘properly dressed’ and appears middle class to upper class. The woman at the front right is a much younger woman who is dressed in what I imagine to be rather revealing clothing for the time, and has her hair covering her face so she appears nervous and shy. She also has her fingers in her mouth which gives us the impression she is not all too ladylike, or again adds to the sense of shyness. Both women have newspapers, but only the younger woman is actually reading hers, the older woman is looking across at the other in what seems like a judging manner. The back of the bench actually provides a leading line from the woman’s judging eyes down to the young lady. The image itself is overall very visually pleasing; there is a good use of reflection within the windows of the cafe which is something often used very well in Cartier-Bresson’s work and there is several leading lines towards the young lady, also in the window panes as well as the bench. The photograph is well composed, obviously taking inspiration from his paintings previously, and sticks to the rule of thirds.

The contrast of colours within the women’s clothing, the older lady being in dark clothes and the younger being in pure white, perhaps suggests that the younger subject is pure and kind whereas the dark clothing of the older suggests that she is mean and harsh. The scowl on the older subject’s face connotes feelings of spite, judging and maybe even jealousy. The overall non verbal codes of the younger subject suggests that she is very shy and conscious of herself, which is perhaps not helped by the scowling glare of the other woman. However, with the only one of the women reading the paper being the younger, this insinuates that the smartest of the pair is her, despite her aesthetics and emotions. Perhaps Cartier-Bresson wants to get across that judging others is wrong due to the lasting emotional effect it can have on those we do, and because we can often be wrong about these judgments.

In my opinion this image is very successful as it makes me think about who I make judgements upon and whether I am leaving effects on them, therefore considering if judging is immoral. As this image is candid I really trust the subject’ s emotions, creating a feeling of sympathy for the younger woman as she appears like a scared, naive, young girl whereas the older genuinely seems spiteful and pretentious so I feel nothing for her other than slight hatred. However, I feel that if the roles in this image had been reversed we would feel more sorry for the older woman as often they are portrayed as helpless and vulnerable and younger women are sometimes seen as quite threatening and strong – therefore I think it is very effective that Cartier-Bresson has captured this in an opposite light.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/08/10-things-henri-cartier-bresson-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/

Although Henri Cartier-Bresson was mainly a street photographer, I have been looking a his work for inspiration with my theme 'sense of place'. I believe that people make the places just as much as the objects and landscapes do; the feeling the place gives off can be different depending on who is there and the emotions they are feeling. Places can become hostile or happy, angry, awkward or sad, depending on the emotions and feelings of the people there.

I think this image is a good example of how people can bring give a place a 'sense' or feeling. Without the two women in this image the photograph would have no feel or emotion, it would just be an average cafe. However with the inclusion of the two subjects, the image turns into something more. Suddenly the place has a sense of judging and insecurity, you can tell that the place has become an area of hostility for the young woman. I would really like to capture the emotions of the place in my photography, rather than just the aesthetics.

Instagram is debasing 'real' photography

I have recently read this article from the guardian discussing how phone apps such as Instagram and Hipstamatic are lowering the bar of photography.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/19/instagram-debasing-real-photography

I have to disagree, actually, as I believe that instagram is introducing the idea of photography to many people it would not normally reach, and is allowing it to be a fun way of expressing something without the pressure of taking an amazing shot.

 "Slapping a filter on makes images look the same, gets in the way and spoils the picture."

Once again I have to disagree with the writer, sometimes using a filter can enhance the feel and texture of the subject within the image - the same way an ISO can add grain. But the same with the idea of grain, some photographers cannot bear the thought of it whereas others completely disagree and love to include it within their photographs. We are living in a digital ages however we all seem to love to cling on to that sense of nostalgia and have an obsession with the past. Using the filters within the programs can give this feel to people and perhaps add another dimension to the modern looking image we wouldn't otherwise have. As for the images all looking the same - there are various different pieces of software all with a near endless supply of filters and effects, leaving it hard for images to look the same - especially when each photo is taken in a slightly different light, or of a difference subject, or in a different setting. Overall it allows people to be creative, especially when composing images, and the feature of adding different filters and effects just allows people to explore the actual editing process of an image other photographers are familiar with.

"You can create extraordinary images using software, and I adore the possibilities that software brings to images."

Here the writer actually admits that she loves the possibility that software can bring to the images, so is she just being 'snobbish' about the possibilities that mobile editing software can bring to photography? I myself have an instagram account, and I just use it to post everyday events that my mobile phone captures if I don't have my Nikon to hand (it's a rather large camera - its not something I can carry around as easily as my phone). However, even though I have a smartphone the camera on it often blurs and is very grainy and unclear, and has a very slow shutter speed. Adding filters I think can sometimes - heavy emphasis on the sometimes - when used in a subtle way can improve the overall look of a camera phone image - again heavy emphasis on the camera phone - taking away from the imperfections such as motion blur and graininess. I also think some filters can add to the sentimentality of the images, rather than suck the life out of them, or add fake sense of history. Over time the image will gather history and love behind it, so the following statement I think is invalid.

"Also, by adding a faux-aged look to them, we in effect add a history, a longevity to the image that it intrinsically doesn't have"

Overall I believe the writer is in denial about photography of the 'WEB 2.0' age, and is taking a sort of pretentious attitude over towards who photography should be available to. Although photography can be a high art form, it can also be fun as well.

Visualising

Why is visualisation important when taking a photograph?

In my opinion, visualisation is important when taking a photograph because without an initial idea for the overall composition, lighting and subjects of the image, the photograph is likely to be - for lack of a better word - a mess. If you just 'point and shoot' at an image, the artistic elements of an image aren't likely to be considered as much as if they would be if you visualised it first.

Why is visualising essential when creating pinhole images?

When it comes to pinhole images, visualising the image first is incredibly important because unlike other cameras it doesn't have a view hole. This means that when positioning your camera you need to have a good idea of what you want in the frame and what a certain position will capture as you can only open the shutter once per piece of photography paper. It is also much harder to edit pinhole images as they are developed in the dark room and therefore it is more important to visualise and get things correct before and during taking the photographs.