About Photography For Arts Sake
My hope is that this page will build into a resource where you might discover the work of photographic artists that you would otherwise not.
And my work? Well, you can see that, buy prints etc. at my website, Objectively Speaking and read about it at my blog, Objectively Speaking :: The Blog.
The Most Influential Photo Books
...Ever!
Anyway here's the list:
Horst: Urformen der Kunst and Wundergarten der Natur by Karl Blossfeldt
Helmut Newton: All the books published about the work of Dr. Erich Salomon and Brassai.
Duane Michals: The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson and The Americans by Robert Frank.
Eugene Richards: The Americans
Ralph Gibson: The Americans
John Loengard: The Decisive Moment
Mary Ellen Mark: The Decisive Moment
Cornell Capa: The Decisive Moment and Report On Israel by his brother, Robert Capa.
Elliott Erwitt: The Decisive Moment
Roy DeCarava: The Decisive Moment and You Have Seen Their Faces, a collection of Farm Security Administration photographs.
Annie Liebovitz: Diary Of A Century by Jacques Henri Lartigue
Sally Mann: East 100th Street by Bruce Davidson
Bruce Weber: Tulsa and Teenage Lust both by Larry Clark
Larry Clark: Many Are Called by Walker Evans
Arnold Newman: American Photographs by Walker Evans
Albert Watson: A Singular Aesthetic by Paul Outerbridge
Sheila Metzner: Steichen the Photographer (Edward Steichen)
Mark Klett: The Era of Exploration (early 19th century landscape photography) and Tulsa by Larry Clark.
It would be interesting to see what a younger generation of photographers would come up with. It would also be interesting to know which photo books have most inspired you. Please do contribute your choices.
I'll get the ball rolling with my choices:
Moments Observed and Worlds In a Small Room by Irving Penn
In The American West by Richard Avedon
Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms In Nature) by Karl Blossfeldt
Die Welt Ist Schon (The World Is Beautiful) by Albert Renger Patzsch
One last thing - your choice of books don't necessarily have to be the books that you most enjoy looking at but could be more specifically the ones that have most influenced you.
I look forward to your feedback.
Your Favourite/Most Influential Photo Books
List as many as you like!
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Taschen Books
Beautiful bargains
There is no doubt that Taschen Books have truly shaken up the world of art book publishing. Not so many years ago art books in general and photography books in general were the preserve of the well heeled (if you aspired to a large and comprehensive collection that is). True, some of these books were unsurpassed examples of the printer's art, with a price to match. Taschen books are not quite that but for their price point they are unique and unrivalled.
Recently Taschen have been busy publishing their 25th Anniversary Special Editions, at virtually give away prices. Here are just 3 of them that I personally own and can recommend as an ideal starter for your collection:
Eugène Atget - Paris
Karl Blossfeldt. The Complete Published Work.
Stieglitz, Camera Work
3 Books Every Photographer Should Read
A personal recommendation
The 3 books in questions are On Photography by Susan Sontag, Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes and The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer. None of the writers are photographers, a huge advantage when you consider the wooly drivel written by many photographers (no doubt, myself included), being, therefore, one step removed and also, by profession, writers means that reading them is a joy not a chore.
Sontag's book is the benchmark that all photographic writing aspires to, gloriously flawed in some ways (much has been made of her later recanting of some of the conclusions she arrived at) - no matter, if you read only one of the three this is the one. Barthes writes from his viewpoint as a Semiologist but, unlike some of his denser writing this book is both personal and accessible, much of it related to his own thoughts on and reactions to an old photograph of his deceased mother as a girl. Surprisingly lyrical and tender, reading it opens up new insights on the nature of photography. The third book, Dyer's The Ongoing Moment, is a rambling journey through the work of Weston, Evans, Lange, Kertesz, Winogrand and others and how related elements keep on popping up like a sort of thread in their images. A delightful read by a writer who has thought long and hard at what exactly he is looking at when he views the images that he is drawn to and can express those thoughts both clearly and entertainingly. A modern classic on the subject.
I guess the point I want to make with these recommendations is that why you take photographs and what you photograph are not trivial matters. The how is relatively easy stuff when considered in that light.
Fragments - Guillaume Zuili
Haunting pinhole images
The ethereal pinhole photographs of Guillaume Zuilli are reminiscent of an earlier era in the history of photography, albeit with a plainly modern subject matter. Unusually for this technique, the combination of the crude pinhole camera he uses and modern high speed film allows Zuili to make handheld images, snapshots if you like, that have a totally different, more immediate aesthetic than the usual pinhole images that require the use a tripod and long exposure.
The dreamlike, smeary effect of Zuili's technique coupled with the photographer's unerringly elegant eye have resulted in a set of images that haunt the memory and force a reconsideration of just what it is that constitutes the sense of place that a photograph can evoke.
You can also see a broader selection of Zuil's images here.
Domenico Foschi
Images of Italy
Italy has a long and glorious history of great artists but not so many know about it's thriving Fine Art Photography scene.
One of the finest practitioners in the genre is Domenico Foschi. Although born in Italy, Domenico now lives in California yet his vision remains essentially Italian. The images of Venice, especially, at his site have an elegiac quality entirely suitable for the subject matter.
Working with conventional materials the work harks back to the time when photography entailed great craft as well as great art. Here is what Domenico has to say about his working methods:
"Although I do use modern lenses which provide a sharp rendition of the subject, I prefer to work mainly with old brass lenses dated around 1860's. These tools, because of their optical design help me to achieve mood in my images. Areas out of focus carry an important weight in my work: they are the equivalent of reading between the lines in poetry; they open the doors to an unknown imagery, where shapes, although still vaguely familiar, simultaneously challenge and lure us to a softer and more exciting world.
These tools, together with the use of large format cameras (4 x 5, 8 x 10) and the shooting and printing techniques employed, act as filters through which the image is born."
be sure not to miss, also, his series entitled "Tarnished Promises" and "Leaves".
Turkey Cinemascope
The panoramic view by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
True panoramic images are not easy to do effectively. It's not a very forgiving format to compose within - witness the plethora of centrally placed subject matter. Not forgetting the merely trite. If I see another "big sky" panoramic of the American West that would be one too many.
But... when it's done as well and with as much panache and originality as Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Turkey Cinemascope the results can be truly astonishing. Many of the images have an elegance and breadth that are reminiscent of the Japanese Woodblock Prints of artists like Hiroshige. The general impression is strongly cinematic - no doubt that's no coincidence as Ceylan is also a filmmaker.
I first saw Ceylan's work back in 2007 in an exhibition at the National Theatre, London. Ever since his work has lived in my memory and I have often toyed with the notion of exploring the format (obviously not the subject matter!) of his work myself. This has not, alas, come to any fruition as of yet. Perhaps it never will. Nevertheless the images still haunt me and I return often to his site to refresh my memory of them.
Man Ray
It's the image that counts
I guess it may be that Man Ray is so much an "ideas" photographer with such a constant outpouring of creativity that he is always moving on to the next thing. You can see it most in his images of Kiki of Montparnasse and others in his artistic circle. The poses are often awkward looking and louche. They remain compelling for all that so perhaps it was all intentional after all.
His influence is still immense and his entire oeuvre is well worth getting acquainted with. Perhaps no other photographer has spawned such a fecundity of new and groundbreaking ideas.
When asked what equipment he used he said "Two or three lights (for greater speed of working), any lens on a light tight box (no progress has been made in cameras since their invention), and a bottle of developer, are sufficient for the realization of the most convincing image."
Things may have changed in this digital age yet it's still advice worth pondering.
The Beauty Of Alternative Processes
A glimpse at the history of photography
The indefinable quality and feel of these old methods of printmaking, many reaching back deep into the history of the medium, can, unfortunately, only be hinted at with online reproductions but ever since I first saw examples of them "in the flesh", so to speak, I've been hooked and had a deep yearning to try some of them for myself. The fact I haven't as yet done so is due to, partly, a certain laziness on my behalf but mostly some misgivings about the constraints I would currently have as to a practical approach to them.
Richard Avedon In The American West
Avedon's seminal book
One of my all time favorite photographers has always been Richard Avedon. My well thumbed copy of Avedon's seminal work, In The American West, is one of my most treasured source books whenever I'm seeking inspiration.
For those who don't have the book (and I think all photographers should own a copy!) you can read Avedon's own introduction to the book here. Another interesting read is the introduction to Laura Wilson's Avedon at Work in the American West. Photographer Laura Wilson worked with Avedon during the six years he was making In the American West.
In a fascinating interview, Avedon spoke of how he got his start in photography and the roots of his eventual work for the book. He starts by recounting how he he first started taking photographs in 1942, when he was 19, in the photography department of the merchant marine. Leaving there he went on to seek the advice of the legendary Alexey Brodovitch, art editor of Harper's Bazaar, as to how to become a fashion photographer. Rejecting his original work as "derivative", nevertheless Brodovitch saw something worth persevering with and encouraged Avedon to develop his personal vision further. Avedon goes on to say:
"I went on vacation to Sicily, where I made pictures. When I returned, I showed them to Brodovitch. Among my contact prints he saw this photograph of a little boy standing at attention against a white sky, with a tree behind him that rose out of focus, in the shape of an atomic cloud. 'This is interesting,' he said, 'It can be your guide.' It was technically amateurish, an almost unprintable negative, but from the moment I took it I had some inarticulate sense that the image mattered to me. There was something autobiagraphical about it - in that boy, his smile, his overeagerness, and his shoulders thrown back so violently and vulnerably. It took 20 years before I was able to absorb that unconscious wisdom into my more conscious work and return what was foreshadowed in that snapshot. My work In The American West came about from the snapshot I took in Sicily in 1947. I learned from Brodovitch to learn from myself, from my accidents and dreams. Your next step is most often your false step. Never throw away your contacts. The photographs you took when you were not thinking about taking photographs - let them be your guide."
August Sander
People Of The 20th. Century
Those are the bare bones of Sander's biography but even before the last published work had been seen his influence had already spread well beyond Germany and Europe. It can clearly be seen in the personal portrait work of the two towering giants of mid to late 20th Century American portrait photography, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. Since then this influence has spread further into the work of Diane Arbus, in particular and numerous other late 20th Century Fine Art Photographers in general.
Much of the so called cutting edge portrait work of young photographers working in the Fine Art field today clearly owes much to Sander's influence - albeit often with the addition of color. It's a moot point whether this addition actually adds anything greatly significant and certainly if you remove it you have virtually an "August Sander" portrait unchanged in basic style from the work of the man himself.
For a broader view of August Sander's work other than in the field of portraiture this site has an interesting article and some small example images.
The Strange Case Of Garry Winogrand
A cautionary tale
Well, all the above is a matter of record and most students of modern photography are probably well acquainted with it. What is maybe not so well known is Winogrand's apparent descent into madness in his last years. Perhaps madness is too strong a word but on the other hand perhaps not. Let me recount the story and let you decide.
Winogrand's reputation had mostly been established on his New York photographs (he was a native New Yorker) and his work from his 1964 Guggenheim funded road trip. In 1978, however, he moved to Los Angeles and from that point on it all seems to have unravelled. I shall quote here from what Szarkowski himself has said about the subsequent turn that Winogrand's photography took.
"It is difficult to say precisely how much Winogrand shot in California, but it is certain that the totals were prodigious. At the time of his death in 1984 more than 2,500 rolls of exposed film remained undeveloped, which seemed appalling, but the real situation was much worse. An additional 6,500 rolls had been developed but not proofed. Contact sheets of had been made from some 3,000 additional rolls, but only a few of these bear the marks of even desultory editing. It would seem in that in his Los Angeles years he made more than a third of a million exposures that he never even looked at. The conclusion is that he photographed whether or not he had anything to photograph, and that he photographed most when he had no subject, in the hope that the act of photographing might lead him to one."
The curator, Trudy Wilner Stock wrote of Winogrand:
"He believed the world stopped when he stopped photographing."
This is to me an almost unbearably sad story. Had he become so totally addicted to the act of photographing anything and everything? Had he reached the point where the only way he could deal with and make sense of the world was through a lens?
I guess nobody will ever know for sure.
Eadweard Muybridge
A true English eccentric
"Muybridge was born Edward James Muggeridge at Kingston upon Thames, England. He is believed to have changed his first name to match that of King Eadweard as shown on the plinth of the Kingston coronation stone, which was re-erected in Kingston in 1850. Muggeridge became Muygridge and then Muybridge after he had emigrated to the United States in the early 1850s.
In 1855 Muybridge arrived in San Francisco, starting his career as a publisher's agent and bookseller. He developed an interest in photography that seems to have been boosted when he was recovering in England after nearly being killed in a stagecoach crash in 1860. Muybridge began to build his reputation in 1867 with photos of Yosemite and San Francisco (many of the Yosemite photographs reproduced the same scenes taken by Watkins). Muybridge quickly became famous for his landscape photographs, which showed the grandeur and expansiveness of the West.
In 1872, soon-to-be Governor of California Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, had taken a position on a popularly-debated question of the day: whether during a horse's gallop, all four hooves were ever off the ground at the same time. Stanford sided with this assertion, called "unsupported transit", and took it upon himself to prove it scientifically. In 1877, Muybridge settled Stanford's question with a single photographic negative showing Stanford's racehorse Occident airborne during gallop. By 1878, spurred on by Stanford to expand the experiment, Muybridge had successfully photographed a horse in fast motion using a series of fifty cameras. The cameras were arranged along a track parallel to the horse's, and each of the camera shutters was controlled by a trip wire which was triggered by the horse's hooves.
In 1874, still living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Muybridge discovered that his wife had a lover, a Major Harry Larkyns. On October 17, 1874, he sought out Larkyns; said, "Good evening, Major, my name is Muybridge and here is the answer to the letter you sent my wife"; and shot and killed him. Muybridge thought his wife's son had been fathered by Larkyns (although, as an adult, the young man had a remarkable resemblance to Muybridge). He was put on trial for the killing, but acquitted of the killing on the grounds that it was "justifiable homicide." The inquiry interrupted the horse photography experiment, but not Stanford's support of Muybridge; Stanford paid for his criminal defense.
Muybridge then conducted research in order to improve the chemistry of his development methods to better capture motion in his photography. Hoping to capitalize upon the considerable public attention those pictures drew, Muybridge invented the Zoopraxiscope, a machine similar to the Zoetrope, but that projected the images so the public could see realistic motion. The system was, in many ways, a precursor to the development of the motion picture. Muybridge used this technique many times to photograph people and animals to study their movement. The people were often photographed in little or no clothing in a variety of undertakings. From boxing, to walking down stairs, and even small children walking to their mother were sufficiently interesting to Muybridge to be the subject of his photographs.
In any case, Muybridge's work stands near the beginning of the science of biomechanics and the mechanics of athletics. Muybridge's efforts were distinctly unscientific. In many cases close inspection of his stop motion studies reveal that he has 'cheated', by using either the same images over again or by combining separate sequences to exaggerate effects. Also, his creation of images of nude women in all manner of poses seems rooted in prurient rather than scientific impulses. Eadweard Muybridge returned to his native England in 1894 and died in 1904 in Kingston upon Thames while living at the home of his cousin Catherine Smith, Park View, 2 Liverpool Road. He was cremated and his ashes interred at Woking."
Looking at Muybridge's "Zoopraxiscope" images now one can't help but be struck by the totally surreal nature of the project and the images themselves. The oddity of the tasks that he persuaded people in various stages of undress to perform is quite astonishing. Witness some of these titles - Turning around in surprise and running away, Woman pouring a bucket of water over another woman and (my personal favorite) Head-spring, a Flying Pigeon Interfering. You can see some of these gems here. Click on the small images to see the larger versions.
The Great Nadar
Photography's earliest superstar
"The theory of photography can be taught in an hour; the first ideas of how to go about it in a day. What can't be taught... is the feeling for light - the artistic appreciation of effects produced by different or combined sources; it's the understanding of this or that effect following the lines of the features which required your artistic perception. What is taught even less, is the immediate understanding of your subject - it's this immediate contact which can put you in sympathy with the sitter, helps you to sum them up, follow their normal attitudes, their ideas, according to their personality, and enables you to make not just a chancy, dreary, cardboard copy typical of the merest hack in the darkroom, but a likeness of the most intimate and happy kind, a speaking likeness."
Timeless words of wisdom indeed! In Nadar's day, of course, camera equipment and the film plates used were crude and simple by today's standards and lighting was mostly available daylight with the resulting exposures often in minutes. However, it's not widely known that photographers like Nadar would still exercise considerable control over their lighting by systems of daylight blinds, large standing white flats (refelectors), the same in black to mask areas from the light and mirrors to redirect and concentrate what light was available. Their models for lighting were the great painters who they strove to emulate in both pose and lighting effects. Crude equipment or not these early photographers knew how to use it and work within its limitations to produce portrait and studio work often unsurpassed even today.
