The work of other photographers ...

Here starts my research from the long list of Photographers emailed from my Tutor.

First one on the list was Richard Avedon (1923-2004), an American Fashion Photographer.  Initially I googled the name and clicked on images for an overview of images by him.  I quickly caught sight of this image

which I thought looked very much like Henri Cartier Bresson  (who was a French Photojournalism Photographer 1908-2004) Gare Saint Lazare.  Although Avedon's fashion image does  not show a reflection it shows a lady holding an umbrella in a similar pose.  I think he may well have taken inspiration from Henri Cartier Bresson for this image.

   Harry Callahan (1912 - 1999) mainly photographed his wife and daughter on the streets of the cities where he lived.  He was also interested in showing a strong sense of line and form, and light and darkness, together with multiple exposures which were personal to his own life.  He also encouraged his students to turn their cameras on their own lives as he did, he was an experimentalist who tried almost everything including double and triple exposure, blurs, large and small format film.  His wife Eleanor was his subject and he photographed her everywhere and in every situation, from clothed to nude, inside and outside, black and white to colour, distant and close.
 

A selection of Harry Callahan’s work including Eleanor

 

I quiet like Callahan's style of double and triple exposures and also using one or two subjects throughout.

Robert Demachy (1859–1936) A French pictorial photographer of the late 19th century. He is best known for his intensely manipulated prints that display a distinct painterly quality.

Another experimentalist,  in 1894 Demachy began to use the gum bichromate printing process recently introduced by A. Rouillé-Ladevèze at the Paris Salon. He developed a style that relied upon heavy manipulation of the image both during the development of the negative and again while printing. As he experimented with the process he wrote about his findings and about the aesthetics of the gum print, helping to popularize it among French photographers.

 

 

A selection of Robert Demachy’s work – classic simple portraits which are heavily manipulated

 

Not so keen on the manipulation style of Demachy, although I do like the simplicity of his portraits.

 



 

Bill Brandt (1904 -1983) A German-British Photographer and photojournalist.  Brandt moved to England, where he became known for his high-contrast images of British society, his distorted nudes and landscapes, and is widely considered to be one of the most important British photographers of the 20th century.

 

 

I have chosen these images as I love the fact that they are close up images of the body, drawing the eye in and wondering which part and how where they posed - at least this is what I am thinking!  I also love the contrast and the light and dark areas - perhaps I will give this ago at some point.

 

William Eggleston (1939) An American Photographer who is widely credited for his recognition for of colour photography.  He was inspired by Swiss photographer Robert Frank and French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.  Eggleston’s work looks at Everyday life, Street Life, Landscape

 

 

Street photography images by William Eggleston, I love the grand piano in what looks like a car park, the guy steering the trollies back into the shop and the guy eating the burger are close shots, but also far enough away to maintain the unaware feel factor.

 

Lee Friedlander (1934) An American Photographer, with a passion for Social Landscape which often included: fragments of store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and street-signs.

 

He too was influenced by Robert Frank.  Some of his work appeared in Playboy in the late 80's and he also photographed a young Madonna in the late 70's, she was paid a small fee of only $25, but in recent years one of the images reached $37,500 in auction.

 

 

Friedlander's work was predominately black and white with a real urban feel

 

 

A selection of Friedlander's work which I liked.  I love the shop front reflections with the headless mannequins, I also love the self portrait image on the back of the coat.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Avedon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Callahan_(photographer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Demachy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Brandt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Eggleston
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Friedlander