Using the Flash Gun

 

I enjoy using the flash gun as I find the dark lighting surrounding the subject from the intensity of the light aesthetically pleasing. It centres your photo, emphasising on the intent of your picture. The harsh lighting provokes a sense of realism. In the colour photograph of Helena, she is make up free and almost fully exposed. There is no dressing-up of how she looks, the lighting is honest and to me there is no pretence. To use a flash gun in my final photos would be useful in my intent of showing the realities of life.

A Quote from Chuck Close

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work.

All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction.

Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”

William Klein

DOB: April 19, 1928.

French, born in America. Photographer and film maker. From a poor Jewish family in New york, Klein was witness to the rough and violent culture of New York, describing his childhood area as ‘a dump.’ Similarly to many photographs, he used taking photos as a form as escapism.

He studied under Fernand Leger, a pioneer of modern art within the movements of cubism and futurism. Klein created short, surrealist films, and despite his dislike of his hometown, published a book of his photos with the name ‘Life is good for you in New York’.

His experimental approach with lighting is a distinctive style to his work.

He has been a controversial photographer, due to his collaborative work with the Black Panthers, and relationship with his past employers, Vogue, in a series of photos and films mocking them. He also produced Mohammad Ali-The Greatest and Far From Vietnam.

 

Gun 1, New York, 1986. Again, what draws me to this photo is the use of focus on the boys and the gun, and the contrast of expressions between the two boys.

Portrait.

Harlem, 1955. I enjoy the movement in this photo and fleeting expressions.

Moscow 1964. This woman has an undeniably extraordinary face. The presence of her age in the is so strong, her expression, posture, face, clothes. She’s a brilliant cliche.

Robert Frank

DOB: November 9th 1924

1958 published his collection of photographs ‘The Americans’. He would later move onto film, photo montage, video and manipulating photos.

Born in Switzerland into a wealthy Jewish family, he escaped the treatment hundreds and thousands of Jews were subjected to at that time, but was still aware of the horrors and oppression they went through. He used his photography as a form of escapism, especially so from the pressures of his his business orientated family.

1947 – worked for Harpars Bazaar, later on leaving to travel around South America and Europe. Returning to America, his opinion had developed into one of strong dislike, claiming the country, and in particular New York, over emphasised on the importance of money, claiming it was ‘bleak’ and ‘lonely.’

His influences are Alexey Brodovitch, Franz Kleine and Sergei Eisenstein.

charleston-south-carolina-1955. I think the most striking thing about this photo is the colour contrast between the child and woman. There’s a feeling of unity, which was not there between the two races at the time. He’s captured the innocence of the innocent really beautifully here.

Franks use of focus here, to me, draws attention to the loneliness of the starlet, despite her being central to the photo. I’d like to use this technique in my photos.

rodeo-new-york-city-1954-the-americans. My favorite part of this photo is the lighting and different shades of black and grey which seem to sculpt around the subjects seemingly strong, muscular body. Combined with the typical macho rodeo outfit, he’s been characterised into a mysterious and almost story-like character. I will be using black and white in my photos more for a more classical look.

Hailsham Farmers Market

This was the beginning steps towards my subject of Markets as my final project. I visited a farmers market in Hailsham where they were selling livestock, and now speculating as to focus my project on agriculture.

Photographers I Like

This gallery contains 11 photos.

Project Presentation

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Frozen Light” St. Joseph Northpier Lighthouse, St. Joseph, Michigan – John McCormick

This photo has got a beautiful colour scheme and McCormick composition gives it great depth. I like how he has captured the soft side of the harsh winter. Grasping the climate in my photos is something I really want to achieve as we are moving into winter.