Jonathan Andrew is a Manchester born photographer working out of the Netherlands. he has acquired many awards across his career including winning an award in ‘historical architecture at the International Photography Awards’ and an honorable mention in ‘night photography at the International Photography Awards’.

The collection photographs various WWII defensive architecture, typically taken at night with the use of artificial lighting, likely to create interesting lighting that better interacts with the monolithic structures photographed. The photos are taken in a documentary fashion, featuring a small aperture and capturing the entirety of the subject in frame. The photos feature high contrast however seem to be adjusted to prevent any overpowering shadows or highlights. Blue and green tones appear to be emphasized across the collection. The images often feature quite heavy vignetting likely to show the importance of the subject in question.

Demonstrated in the image above is the use of heavy vignetting, however the vignette selection appears to have left out a structure in the background. This structure appears smaller due to perspective, thus the viewers eyes will likely first look at the central subject then be drawn to the bunker on the right. in terms of camera setting, the image appears to stay similar to the rest of the collection; the image features a high degree of focus indicative of a small aperture, with even the shadows of the image being sufficiently exposed which implies the use of a long shutter speed, likely in conjunction with a tripod. The compositions for the collections seem similar throughout, often featuring a central subject with a generally uncluttered back/foreground. This image like many others in the collection seems to focus on the blue and green tones in frame, likely done in post due to the distinct lack of other strong tones.

Luigi Ghirri is an Italian born artist and photographer. Ghirri is considered as a pioneer of contemporary photography. His pictures often feature very baron backgrounds with a starkly contrasting subject. His photography seems to employ abstraction through the use of minimalist forms with little contrast to hide the form of the object. This results in an image with few discernible three dimensional forms, utilizing color blocking to represent forms.

The lighting in the image is very flat and soft. This image is naturally lit however it seems as though it may have been overcast due to the lack of harsh shadows. It appears as thought the image was taken around mid-day as any shadows appear directly beneath the slide. I believe this was done to further abstract the forms within the image. The image appears to have been taken using a high F stop since the whole image is mostly in focus and there appears to be very little vignetting. There appears to be a considerable amount of grain and Gaussian blur in the image which suggests it is either taken on film (also suggested by slight discoloration on the left) or an old digital camera. The image looks rather cold.

The image features very flat tones across the background which is broken up by the strong contrast created by the bright red slide in the foreground. There is some texture created by the small ripples throughout the sand in the foreground. The piece features very strong lines  with a strong emphasis on triangles created by the slide and the small stream of water across the sound. The ripples in the sand create a repeating pattern until they slowly go out of focus as they reach the background.

Bibliography: Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. (2019). Photography Decoded. London: Ilex.

…. “a ‘mirror’ image that would soon be kept in a protective case lined with red velvet – illustrates some of photography’s mixed identity” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17) ….

…. “if manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection to photography, what does that say about the photograph as a reflection of reality?” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17) ….

…. “Nonetheless, we can still ask ourselves in every single instance: under what circumstances are these images trusted to be real?” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17) ….

…. “And what does a ‘real photograph’ even look like: Is it something you can hold? Is it something you can see on a screen and alter?” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019: 17) ….

‘The Erratics’ is a collection of work comprised of sculptures, photography as well as a book. The body of work is focused of rock formations and sculpted chalk with the subject of the photos alternating across pages between the found rocks (particularly the stones within the desert at the start of the book) where these monolithic structures are contrasted with the man mad chalk sculptures. The use of sliced chalks allows the contrast of the textured, natural surface of the stone as well as the smooth faces where it has been cut. This lets the subjects interact with the lighting in an interesting manner and creates variety for the 3D form of the object. The introduction of the smooth faces makes the 3D forms less distinguishable, bringing the photography more into abstraction. The book is shot in black and white which I find allows for better exploration of tone and contrast, this results in a series of impactful, minimalist images. The images are shot with alternating between studio and natural lighting; due to the lack of color I cannot tell what type of studio lighting was used however due to the soft drop shadows, diffusers were most probably used, likely in conjunction with reflectors in order to cast light on some of the hidden details of the subjects.

Pictured above is the cover photo for the book, A small aperture has been used in order to achieve a high level of detail across the images, this can be seen as the focus appears to be the same across the foreground and the subject of the image. It is hard to determine the length of shutter speed from the image since it is a studio shot without color, as such the color depth cant be used to infer the shutter speed. It is likely that the shutter speed is short however since it is a studio shot and the use of spot lamps can allow for a faster shutter. The cut across the chalk is intentionally lined up with the edge of the desk in order to create the illusion of the conjunction of 2 separate images into one. This makes it more difficult to distinguish particular forms bringing the image more into the lines of abstract.

Bernd and Hilla Becher were a photography duo whose work primarily centered around typologies of various industrial architecture. They photographed industrial architecture for forty years across North America and Europe. As a duo they formed the ‘Becher School’ (Düsseldorf School) and have been awarded the Erasmus prize and the Hasselblad Award for their roles as photography professors.

Bernd Becher (1931-2007) was a Siegen born artist. He studied painting at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart for three years then went on to study typography under Karl Rössing at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf for two years.

Hilla Becher, born Hilla Wobeser (1934-2015) in Potsdam. Prior to studying photography, Hilla had an apprenticeship with a local photographer. Hilla went on to study photography at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf for three years.

Bernd and Hilla began to work together on their typologies, after two years of collaboration they married.

Their photography follows a very journalistic approach with elements of abstract. They were shot using natural light on a black and white SLR. Since the subjects are often substantially darker than the background it is likely the images were shot using quite fast film. with a fast shutter resulting in a higher degree of contrast.

The typologies feature series of visually similar images, laid out in a grid like format.

The image above is a prime example of the typology work of the Bechers; the images shows a series of very visually similar series of photographs of various buildings. The images show aspects of abstraction, featuring minimal 3D forms, emphasized by the front on images of flat faces of buildings. The contrasting cross-beams are used to introduce more shape into the photographs.

Landscape – Bunkers (Fortified Landscapes)

Objects – Controlled still life in studio

Great-grandfather – Forced Laborer in Poland WWII

Jersey Sea Wall – Built by forced labor

Research: – History of forced labor in Jersey; Contact Tony Pike, knowledge of concrete (Aggregates used, which quarry) – Know about who Built sea wall in Bel Royal area – Research story of Great-grandfather.

Book: Forced laborer diary WWII

Plan: Photograph sea wall (limit 3D forms); Experiment with distance and lighting (time of day) – Establishing shots of beach and sea surrounding the wall.

Artist Studies: Darren Harvey-Regan (The Erratics) – Bernd and Hilla Becher.