foujita pg 39 bernice abbott

Bernice Abbott/Photographs.

 

Abbott portraits are my favorite. She captures their personality and the time period by the jacket and glasses Foujita. I like this photo the best because of the details of the artist she is shooting. The mustache and glasses are reminisent to me of Charle Chaplin. Him also in a large coat and holding a hat is all comical because it seem exaggerated, which could reference the person she is photographing personality. The background behind the person is a lighter value and gives the overall image a texture, instead of just having a plain backdrop. I was immediatly drawn to this photo because it has a lot of uniquess and individualism.

Ben Shahn- Children of a Rehabilitation client, Arkansas, oct.1935

Ben Shahn, being part of the FSA, took beautiful photgraphs of many familys that were in Rehabs. This image of two young boys are shown as a result of the midwest and it's conditions during the 1930s. In his documentary style, Ben Shahn depicts these two young boys as happy and relaxed, but also filthy. They are in ratty dirty clothing and are covered in dirt from head to toe. They seem content sitting on a wooden porch, but from a person looking at this photograph, even during this time, you see that these families aren't getting the help they really need.

#63. Ben Shahn photographer,edited by Margaret R Weiss.

ansel adams- Madrone Bark 1932

I'll admit when I first saw Ansel Adam's photgraphs all i wanted to do was shoot amazing nature photos, but then i realised he a pro and has assistents and traveled to national parks with a 4x5 camera. None the less Ansel Adams will always be one of the great landscape photographers even when his images are abstrat. I liked this phot of bark because of the texture and because it is unrecognizable. The bark looks papery and easily tearable. The deep shadows in contrast to the highlighted bark makes this striking. The horizontal shapes interfering with the vertical bark makes the composition less ordinary and more with the light coming from that direction it makes my look right to left as if it is pointint to something.



#45 pg 53, Ansel Adams.

Cindy Sherman- Untitled #95, 1981

Looking at Cindy Sherman's work freaks me out in genreal, but this image titled " Untitled #95" part of her Centerfold and Horizontals series is less harsher then some of her other portraits. In this image the woman is sittong on a bed in a roome alone, looking frightened, or ashmed almost, gripping her blacket closed to her she is staring into the camera with the look that something just happened. Besides the red being a symbol of bad, or evil, her stare is what stuck me most in this image. It is beautifully light behind her having her hair glowing around her face.


pg,249. Cindy Sherman. Jeu De Paume

andre kertesz - #128/ distortions

After researching him for alittle while, his images are so creepy but i can't not look for more. His distortion series is so strange and awkward that the one i chose to write about is probally one of the least recognizable as a nude bodies. The females here is so stretched out all you can notice is her elongated legs that seem to be kneeling along with her for arms resting ont he floor aswell. The swivles of the rest of the bodies seem more as a backgroung and make up a pattern almost also. i like this because its surrealness and it shows what it possible with a manual camera. Now you can simply put a filter on in a program that does this for you, but this was techniquely done with only the intrusments he had while shooting this.

#128, Pg 8. Distortions, Andrew Kertesz.

Lewis Wickles Hine- fresh air for baby, italian quarter, NY

I chose this image of Lewis Hine's because it is actually one that isn't as well known. His photography is so recognizable these days, i thought this image captured the documentary style he is known for in a complete candid way. I think today in NY you wouldn't find a baby sleeping on a side walk with an old man watching it, and i love how you really can see how time has changed in this photograph. It makes me think that we live in such a protected and causious manner now, that this image just seems absurd. The baby itself is sprawled out comfortable as can be on the sidewalk on a piece of wood. with the old man intently watching, but also looks slightly tired or bored himself. The posters and chalk writings in the background also i think contribute to the urbaness of this photo and it's bizarness.



Taken from #28 pg 52 of From Talbot to Stieglitz  Masterpieces of Early Photography from the New York public library. by Julian Van Haaten

Robert Adams - Eden, Colorado, 1968

I love the vintage feel of this print. Even though it was taken in 1968, it looks like the print was made years before. The high contrast and the saturated blacks and white made this image stand out to me. It is simple but the extreme grey scale that is shown in the building is something that i really like about this photo. The dark edges of the building against the whitest sky opposite to the dark ground and white gas stations, make this image also seem impossible. I feel like there is a really bright light above this gas station for this image to actually be possible.

Adam Fuss

This smokey image is from Adam Fuss series "My ghost" is actually a photogram. I like Adam Fuss's work especially his photgrams because he is able to make images that you would never think are without a lense. Here he captures smoke with just a projector and photo senstive paper. I chose this image because the detail in the vapors and the contrast from light to dark make this photograph mysterious and delicate looking.

Diane Arbus - The human pincushion at a carnival in his silk shirt, N.J., 1961

I chose this Diane Arbus image because it is one of her obvious photographs of her off-beat "freaks". I like her interest in the strange looking, or absurd people that she usually photographed. This image of a carny and his puncured skin was something she was drawn to because of his uniqueness.The man is dressed formally in a silk shirt, has his hair cut and combed, but what makes this strange are the numerous pins all over his face. Something that looks painful and meant to be scared of, i think is what attracted Arbus since many of her photographs are of people who are seen as outsiders. It is visually interesting, and as a portrait it gives the man an identity of someone who is meant to be looked at.