Albert Renger Patzsch (June 22, 1897- September 27, 1966) was a German photographer who was part of the New Objectivity movement. He wanted to engage with the world clearly and precisely. The New Objectivity appeared as a movement in German art, architecture and literature in the 1920s. Using this attitude to photography, Renger Patzsch used his camera to produce a true recording of the world. His works includes wildlife and botanical studies, traditional craftsmen, mechanical equipment, landscape and architectural studies.
In 1928 Renger Patzsch published The world is beautiful, which is his best known book. It is a collection of one hundred photographs which presents natural forms, industrial subjects and mass produced objects. He reveals patterns of beauty and order in natural and man made objects. This book made Renger Patzsch one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century.
New Objectivity
Rejection of sentimentality and idealism
Showing things as they are, clearly and precisely
Concentration of certain subjects
Other photographers at the time who were interested in objectivity
Karl Blossfeldt
August Sander
Edward Weston
Glasses, 1927
This is my favourite image by Albert Renger-Patzsch. Glasses of different sizes and forms have been laid out on a white table to create a visually interesting composition. The composition of this image has been thought through since the top edges of the glasses and the end of the shadows touch the corners of the image to fill the entire frame. The lighting, coming from the right hand side, is creating long shadows to dramatize the image and help define the form of the glasses. The formal element line can be seen through the shadows the glasses have casted. Since the image is in black and white, contrast is clearly visible through shadows and areas of highlight which help create depth to the image.
My response
To response to Albert Renger Patzsch photography work I will capture 100 or more images in black and white to replicate his style. I will take pictures using the Hipstamatic app on my iphone with the lens Florence and the film BlackKeysXF. The lens captures images clearly and the film makes them black and white instantly. I think that this effect creates lots of contrast and shows highlights and shadows effectively. After I have taken the 100 images, I will make a selection to have a smaller set of images.
He was a German photographer, born June 22nd, 1897 in Wurzburg. He was largely associated with the new objectivity, he began taking photographs at the age of 12. Albert fought in World War One and after studied chemistry at Dresden Technical College, later he worked for Chicago Tribune as a press photographer. After this he began to publish books, his most well-known is ‘The World Is Beautiful’, it includes a collection of 100 of his photos. His photos in this book showed structure but also bought up the beauty of patterns and order amongst nature and man-made materials. He took pictures early on in his career of wildlife and botanical plants, then he progressed to images of traditional craftsmen, mechanical equipment, still life’s, landscapes and architecture.
The New objectivity is the rejection of idealism and sentimentality and is about seeing things for what they are. Photos are of a certain object which is the only focal point, filters and manipulations other than black and white are avoided. This type of photography depicts reality, it speaks truth, rationality and accuracy, what you see is what you get. This objective movement is also known as the ‘sober eye’ as it doesn’t have hidden concepts or imagery, it just speaks for its self without need for meaning. Photographers around the time of Albert (1920) used it as an act against expressionism which was modern art movement at the time in which through poetry and painting an artist would present the world solely from a subjective perspective, which is the complete opposite to new objectivity. Expressionism was created to provoke individual ideas and thoughts, whereas new objectivity was made to provoke political agendas and rational thoughts. The camera was used in a way to embrace the camera’s mechanical ability to capture the real world in a clear and objective manner.
Decades later in Germany photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher resonated the new objectivity approach, the duo’s work was structured like Albert’s as it was held together in a grid structure of black and white. They had similar focal points to their pictures like Albert, for instance some of very industrial looking buildings and others of buildings with character, this links back to Renger’s nature vs. man-made objects.
Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German photographer who was born on the 22nd of June 1897, and died on 27th of September 1966. He was well know for being involved in the “Neue Sachlichkeit” movement. This movement- literally named ” new objectivity”- consisted of artists taking images of more realistic things compared to Abstract and expressionism, which was common during these times.
Albert Renger-Patzsch was born on June 22nd, 1897 in Germany. He began taking photographs at age 12, after his military service in the First World War. In the early 1920 he worked as a press photographer, but soon after he became a freelancer and published his own book. Albert Renger-Patzsch has created a photographic gallery called ‘The World is Beautiful’. He developed this series into a catalogue of objects, which soon became one of the most influential books ever published. His clinical like images clearly showed technical apparatus, industrial products and natural organisms in great detail.
Neue Sachlichkeit created a term called new objectivity, where he attempted to capture and embrace realism instead of abstraction. He combined realism with a ‘hint’ of Dada Movement, which was an art movement of the European Avant-grade in the early 20th Century. The realism captured was not the stereotypical realism, but a more disguised and dark realism which is aimed to show the moral shame which happened in the German Society. These photographs tended to have a more static composition (The majority of lines used are either horizontal or vertical, which can be seen as smooth and calming on the eye.) which helped render the clarity of the photograph. The aim of these images that Sachlichkeit captured was to show the truth and reality of current affairs, however, he wanted to avoid social and political commentary.
Within Patzsch’s series ‘The World is Beautiful’ we are able to see his attempt of new objectivity. He presents the subject of the photographs exactly how they are, which also presents the rejection of sentimentality. He has used a static composition within his images which shows the subject in great detail. Contextually, he used new objectivity to show the chaos which the First World War had provoked, Response to industrialising Europe and America and response to qualities of a camera and the
movement away from techniques like a soft focus. Patzsch was said to have mainly captured:
Wildlife
Landscape
Mechanical Equipment
Flowers
Architecture
In Patzsch’s photographic response to these events in time, he explored formal elements, which has made his work more powerful. The main elements which are presented in his work are: Light, Line, Texture. Repetition and Shape. These are all presented through the realism of the subject being photographed. Most of the images seem to be macro, which fills the frame of the photograph. However, in some photographs there is a sense of space, which can be used to create a powerful impact towards the events which have occurred. Tone is seen to be one of the key features of Patzsch work as it allows the subject of the photograph be in focus, and detailed.
At this time there where many other photographs who used new objectivity to help capture their photographs. This meant that there was some competition for Patzsch, which would have likely motivated him to be thinking about what he is capturing and what he wants to capture. These photographers include:
Edward Weston
Karl Blossfeldt
Helmar Lerski
And Many More
Not only where other photographs interested and influenced by Neue’s photograph, but also photographers from now a day. There are many photographers out there who are using new objectivity to influence their work. These include:
Martin Parr
Peter Fraser
William Eggleston
And Many More.
These two photographs share a lot of similarities and differences, which are used to help show the uniqueness of Patzsch’s work. The first photograph is of trees with in what seems to be a woodland, which suggests that this image is man-made. The second photograph is of a trowel which seems to be on display for potentially a shop, which implies that it is displayed naturally. Both photographs show the formal element of line through the subject of the photograph. However, the second image uses static composition which makes it pleasant for the viewer to look at and the first photograph uses dynamic composition as the trees are going in different directions. Moreover, this formal element helps to guide the viewers eye around the frame, this is also known as leading lines. Other formal elements which are presented in both images are shape, repetition and texture. Both images are presented in black and white which allows the different tones to clearly be presented, which also allows the subjects to be highly detailed. In the first photograph there is mist/fog which makes an eerie feel towards the image, whereas the second image does not. In the second photograph a large depth of field is used, allowing us to view all the trowels clearly. On the other hand, the first photograph has a narrow depth of field, leaving only the trees in the foreground to be in focus. The lighting which is used in the first photograph seems to be natural lighting which plays on the eerie mood, and also helps to present the idea of new objectivity. Whereas the second photograph seems to use artificial lighting as only some and the tops of the trowels are the bright areas. In the first photograph there is a sense of space which is used to create a sense of 3D. However, the second photograph uses form to present 3D within its image. Both photographs consist of a normal/quick shutter speed as the photographs do not have a motion blur. The ISO of both photographs is low as no noise is presented within the images making them clearer and cleaner. Overall, I really like Patzsch’s photographs as they are ecstatically pleasing and interesting to look at, uses new objectivity to show the context of when the photographs were taken and uses formal elements to make his work more interesting. Conceptually, the two images uses repetition to allow us to look at the common objects in a different way, which helps to add meaning to the overall photographs.
My Response
When capturing my photographs, I attempted to use the idea of the new objectivity. This is were I tried to capture my subject in their naturalist form, however, ensuring it has a distorted effect. I used my DSLR camera to produce these photographs, and ensured I thought about the formal elements which could be shown within the image. I also explored with light a bit more, attempting to get light hitting the right point on the frame.
Moreover, I looked at focusing the camera, choosing the main focus point when capturing the photograph. For these sets of photograph I used a manual focus, allowing to have more control of the depth of field. I also looked at using the rule of thirds in order to make my photographs more interesting to look at.
Overall I feel that this photo shoot was very successful as I managed to achieve many things. The first thing I managed to achieve is using a manual focus allowing me to have control of what is in focus and the depth of field within the image. After having this opportunity of experimenting with manual focus, I am more confident and I am likely to use this technique in future photo shoots. I also have discovered that I enjoy taking macro photographs, as I like showing the detail of my subject.
Martin creed was born in 1968 in Wakefield, England. He went to The Slade School of Art in London for 4 years in the late 80s. He has done a lot of work, and many exhibitions all over the world. Along with being an artist, Creed is also a musician and has a band.
He mostly photographs simple, everyday items in very effective manors so that all his images look aesthetically pleasing. The specific pictures of his that I will be focusing on are the images of paper he has previously taken.
Creed currently lives, and works in London.
I chose this image by Clare rae due to how it stood out compared to the rest of her images, although her images all stick to a theme of portraits clare seems to try and adapt to the environment around her. She does this by positioning herself inside holes in buildings or by climbing onto rocks at the beaches or the sand dunes. This image she has physically lied across a rock this i found particularly weird as i had never seen an artist do that before. I particularly like her images because she works with black and white. For me i think the images that have quite a lot going on in the photo as in the surrounding that she has chosen, it creates more shading which also brings out certain detail that maybe if she hadn’t done it in black and white we would not have been able to spot due to sunlight or if the image was too bright.
Clare Rae Block
Claude Cahun
This is an example of Claude Cahun work. This was my favorite image due to the elements of weirdness in the picture. I think this picture is unique due to the fact its not simply sticking to the idea of just normal portraiture photography. Cahun works with black and white so therefore she relies on the heavy shades and contrasts between colours to adapt to the type of image she wants as an outcome. Every photo that Claude takes has a story she tends to explore out of the box ideas which in her age would have been seen as a brave but challenging thing to do. Cahun works around the theme of identity. This is shown not only in this photo but many others. She was looked up on as she was known for her exploration of sexuality and she shows that in her photographs.
Overall both artists create ideas of expression of identity and allowing and not being ashamed of showing off the female body. Both artists are expressive and work well in what there trying to create when someone is looking at their images as all images have a story so once understanding the context I realised why their images might have been seen as strange.
The first photo was taken with a very low aperture and so that only the closest point of the paper was in focus and I used a large piece of back paper to make it look like there is no background and it is infinite.
Then I have made the picture black and white and cropped it slightly.
Then I highlighted the ball with the marquee tool then with ctrl-j I duplicated the layer and then using ctrl-t I transformed the layer and then dragged the second layer down so tat it looks like a reflection.
This is the original photo which I took a few weeks ago in Germany. The photo consists of blurred rain drops on the car window in the foreground, and trees in the background which are in-focus.I edited the light levels, slightly increased the contrast, and applied a blue colour filter to the photo. This helps bring out the detail in the trees, as well as making the clouds in the background visible due to more contrast.This is the first final image. I have kept it looking as natural as possible to keep the cool tone of the photo.This is an alternative version of the photo, I have applied a black & white filter, and increased the brightness and contrast slightly as applying the filter made the photo dark and hard to see.To get the final photo I have further increased the brightness and exposure, this helps make all the details in the photo visible, as well as making the rain drops in the foreground less prominent, which makes the angled rain in the middle-ground visible and diverts attention to the pine trees.This is a variation of the black & white edit of the same pine tree photo. Here I have lowered the offset which makes the photo really dark and creates the effect of the photo being taken at night. I have also increased the exposure slightly and raised the gamma correction.This is my favourite edit of the lot that I have done of this photo. The clouds in the background are really clear and only the outline of the trees is visible. The rest of the trees being solid black makes the whole photo stand out more as there are less distractions around the edges. The rain drops still being visible and bright help give the photo depth as the light brings contrast to the mostly dark photo.
This lesson I experimented with using Photoshop and a variety of different tools which altered the already abstract images to make them even more abstract. In each image I played around with changing the color balance and changing the hues of photos. I also explored using the magnetic lasso tool and what its capabilities it has in Photoshop. I used the crop tool in order to give interesting perspectives and cropping away unnecessary parts that did not add to the photo or disturbed it.
The end result of experimenting with Photoshop was a variety of very abstract and interesting photos which have become more unique and distinctive. They took the photos from being average to something that is more worth while looking at.
my first experimental photo, i only played around with the concept of changing the color hue and saturation, highlights and shadows, and exposure.in this photo i changed the hue of the photo to a very warm pink and I also shifted the color balance to magenta.This was my final photo I edited and changed. Here i experimented more with layers and adding extra abstract features to the photo.Stage 1, cropping and adjusting tiltStage 2, shifting the color balance to pink on the photo and also increasing the exposure in order to brighten the colors.Stage 3, using the magnetic lasso tool in order to trace around the painting and move it upwards. I added a bright orange into the backdrop which appears as I selected and moved the painting layer.
For this photo shoot I focused on close up photography, using a contrast between a focused foreground and a blurred background and vice versa. Although there are exceptions, the majority of photos in this shoot are of man-made objects which are either very textured or stretch from the foreground to the background (e.g. pipes, mdf planks).
I will edit some of the photos by cropping, enhancing, gray scaling, etc. The contact sheet is just a guide for which photos I’m going to use and edit, and which ones I’m going to leave out.
I have annotated this contact sheet less than my previous one as this has a lot more photos, so going through every one would be tedious. So instead I have marked my favourite photos with a red line next to them, and marked photos which I need to crop with a purple box (indicating what area i need to crop).
