Assignment 6: Wedding Research

Milosz Wozaczynski

Milosz Wozaczynski is a wedding photographer with a photojournalistic style. He also takes wedding portraits with a fine arts touch to it. He has a very unique style that I have never seen before in the world of weddings. I am not a big fan of wedding photography but his work is an eye opener to a whole new world of photographic techniques. Depending on the occasions and events that he covers, most of his work is dark, slightly humorist and edgy. In his actual wedding shots, Milosz Wozaczynski focuses a lot on capturing a spontaneous moment rather than making the couple pose or look fake. Even his vantage points are highly unique. Wozaczynski usually shoots with a large format camera and sometimes with a medium format & 35mm. Mainly his work is B&W especially the wedding portraits.

Food/Still Life: Assignment 5

http://picasaweb.google.com/elkahi.r.dawson/FoodStillLifeAssignment5#

Narrative Portraits: Assignment 4

The narrative style used in these images is presented in many different ways. It could be used in the props, facial expression, background... Each tells a story in its own special way. For example, the image of James Nachtwey, the subject is simply framed with a neutral background but the scars on the his face speak to us and tells us all about this tragedy. Or the image of all the neo-nazi teenagers, shows us what reality those people live in and how proud and ignorant they look... A narrative image could be constructed in many different techniques depending on the way the light is used and the shadows that are created in relation to the subject, or by the props used or the surrounding. Narrative is also based on the interaction between the main subject and the mood of the image overall.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55317317@N02/sets/72157625285358304/with/5134765052/

http://picasaweb.google.com/elkahi.r.dawson/NarrativePortraitFashion#

Environmental Portrait

Assignment 3: Bad

Link To Bad:

As clean as David Lachapelle's work is and as perfect as it seems, it does not make any sense. There are no relation what so ever between the background and his subjects even when he is trying to tell a story through a series of pictures, they still look unreal especially when it is photographs that include famous people where we know who they really are and what they really do. Rineke Dijkstra's work in environmental portraiture is also a fail where we don't learn anything about who the subjects really are and what is their relation with the background which is often a seascape. Manuel Alvarez Bravo has amazing photographs and he shot people in their own environment but the images do not speak to us in a way to tell us who the subjects really are; for example, the image of Frida Kahlo does not show her artistic side so if she wasn't famous enough to be recognizable then it would've been just another nice image. Jerome Abramovitch's is a straight forward photographer where you understand who the subject that is being photographed is but most of the time if not always there are no relation with the background...

Assignment 3: Good

Link To Good:

In this series I included images not only of documentary and portrait photographers but also photojournalists/war photographers who throughout their work did a lot of environmental portraits of soldiers and civilians showing what they go through in their everyday life. The images don't necessarily show the interest of the subject and who he really is and what he does in life but their expressive faces combined with their surrounding speak a lot to us about what kind of a lifestyle those people lead if we can call it ''life''. For example, Sebastiao Salgado's images shows exactly the environment of the subject where we understand they are migrating and are homeless. Lewis Hine has amazing photographs with simple backgrounds showing people in their line of work, where we understand perfectly who is the subject; what I liked best between his images is the one of the women sitting down and sleeping where the background is so simple but expressive because we understand she i homeless and the street is her environment. August Sander for instance photographed people in their own environment but the background does not tell us much about who they are, we understand more from the way they are dressed or from some sort of symbolism that included in the image... The backgrounds in Antonin Kratochvil pictures are amazing and very clear even it was a simple background it still tells a story and delivers the message. It is funny how war photographers have better environmental portraits and less time to shoot than actual portrait photographers who have the time to think, prepare and shoot. Zoriah Miller is one of my favorites war photographers and his images are very strong and honest; he gets close to his subjects even in moments of danger. Through his images we can understand the story of his subjects and their situation.

Emulation: Anders Petersen

Anders Petersen is a Swedish documentary black-and-white photographer. In 1967, he started to photograph the late night life of regulars (drunks, prostitutes, drug addicts, transvestites...) in a bar named Cafe Lehmitz in Hamburg, Germany. He covered this place for 3 years and 8 years later a book with the same name was published.

I feel that this picture is the closest to Anders Petersen's work. He gets up close and personal with the subject; he sometimes captures intimate moments of peoples lives. It was hard for me to figure out his lighting technique but after studying his work my opinion is that he uses flash and sometimes works with available light or natural light. What makes this picture also resembles his work is the high contrast and the vignetting.

Tutorial (Recreating Old Images)

Joel Peter Witkin

The work of Joel Peter Witkin is one of the most unique photographs ever produced. All these portraits deal with taboo subjects and people. Most of the time the contrast is high. There is a variety of pictures; in terms of composition some are simple with blank background and some are with a busy background and what makes the images interesting is the unity and continuity between the background and the subject. The images are really graphic. In terms of lighting some have harsh lighting and some have soft lighting. Usually subjects are centered. These photographs are chaotically organized. All images have hand movements or at least emphasize the area around the hand.

Edward Weston

In these 3 pictures we witness a lot of simplicity where the background is basically neutral and the focus is on the main subject. What makes the image stronger is the look on the subject's faces where their eyes meet the lense; it is an honest look. This simplicity creates some sort of cold feeling, it has a sense of sadness. The lighting used is soft and diffused. All the subjects are centered which creates a balance with the simplicity of the composition.

Edward Steichen

Edward Steichen: is a portrait photographer. He is really elegant in his photographs and concentrates a lot on shadows and shapes.

I love the shapes used in this image and the softness of its shadows and lighting. The relation between the position of the hand and face with the top of the piano is beautiful. It is a very soft and elegant picture.

This is an image of Charlie Chaplin. It is very elegant yet simple which really shows the personality and character of this amazing artist. The lighting is very soft and with the shadow behind it looks like a spot light.

I love the shadows in this picture and the repetition of different stripes such as the black and white on the stairs that are triangular more than stripes, the bars of the handle and the plant next to the subject. The expression on the face, the soft lighting, the shadows and the position of the body gives me the creeps in a way. This women doesn't look happy yet not sad, it is a neutral facial expression that leaves me to interpret the situation. The composition and the unity overall between the stairs, shadows and the wall where she leans is beautiful and perfect.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus: is a documentary/portrait photographer. She takes pictures of people in their own environment. She has a really unique style which is kind of chaotic and perverse yet pleasant and attractive to our eyes.

This image is really strong and straight forward. The lighting is very harsh and probably from camera location. It is a simple compositon yet messy the way everything is placed. It is honest cause it shows the personality of the person or his profession.
The contrast is very high in this image. I like the tight framing, you get to se everything that is needed for us to see and it explains a lot about the person in the image. It is very honest and strong. It has a very warm and dark mood.
I like the unity and similarity in this image and the composition is very nice especially the background where the wall and the floor are not straight which creates a balance in the image. Also the different reactions on the girls faces makes the image more appealing.