Key characteristics/ conventions : Pictoralism was born out of the desire to have photography accepted as an art form, as such the photographs were made to look more like paintings. Alot of influence from romanticism and various painting movements. Use of allegorical subject matter. Heavily stylized.
Artists associated: The vienna camera club (Heinrich Kuhn, Hans Watcek, Hugo Henneberg) , The brotherhood of the linked ring (H P Robinson), Photo-secession (Frank Fugene, F Holland Day, Clarence H White, Gertrude Kasebier), Sally Mann
Key works:
Methods/ techniques/ processes: Vaseline on lens, chiaroscuro, autochromes
REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
Time period: Started in 1840s
Key characteristics/ conventions : Realistic photography in retaliation to pictorial-ism. Capturing realities of contemporary life synonymous with the depressive era. Documentary photography.
Artists associated: Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Alfred Stieglitz
Key works:
Methods/ techniques/ processes: SLR, modern glass, small aperture.
It involves the mixture of different art medium that reference political, cultural and historical issues.
The concept itself lacks rules, it’s up to the photographer to decide what messages they encode and how these messages are represented in an image.
In a way it’s initial motive was to challenge the idea of modernism.
Postmodernism is best understood by defining the modernist ethos it replaced – that of the ‘avant-garde’ who were active from 1860s to the 1950s. Postmodernism overturned the idea that there was one inherent meaning to a work of art or that this meaning was determined by the artist at the time of creation. Instead, the viewer became an important determiner of meaning, even allowed by some artists to participate in the work as in the case of some performance pieces.
Key characteristics/ conventions : Common targets of postmodernism and critical theory include universalist notions of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social progress. The ideas rejected by postmodernists include the idea of artistic development as goal-oriented, the notion that only men are artistic geniuses, and the outdated assumption that non-white races are inferior. Feminist art and minority art that challenged canonical ways of thinking are often included under the umbrella of postmodernism or seen as representations of it.
Artists associated: William Eggleston and Robert Rauschenberg.
Dadaism: Dada or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. Dadasim had an influence on postmodernism in its questioning of authenticity and originality. ‘Combined with the notion of appropriation, postmodernism often took the undermining of originality to the point of copyright infringement, even in the use of photographs with little or no alteration to the original.’ -The Art Story.
STYLISTIC AND CONTEXTUAL IDEAS:
The snapshot type imagery which Eggleston created throughout his career, created anecdotal meaning about everyday aspects of life. The accessible and simplistic method of his photography, such as using the Kodak’s Brownie camera, meant that his work had a personal touch to subjects he had no direct personal link with. Color also represented a multitude of themes in his work such as the contrast between the new and the old, the ordinary and extraordinary, the man-made and the natural. In many senses he was a non-conformist, associating him as a prominent figure in the postmodernist art scene. He also explored a contemporary commercial printing process of dye transfer to see the ways in which this could contribute to the representation of color and how this could become the focal point instead of the selling of lifestyle, concepts or ideas. During his career there were a few occasions where Eggleston encountered the work of Andy Worhol, exposing him to other popular forms of mediums, contributing to his experimental photography style. Eggleston’s use of the anecdotal and everyday is set apart by his focus on details such as facial expression which can be seen in the image above. Throughout his career he pushed the boundaries of documentary photography associated with the works of Robert Frank and Walker Evans. His photography effectively captured the shift of life in the South from rural to cosmopolitan societies.
In the work above we can see an example of the extreme focus which Eggleston pays to the facial expressions and body language of the subjects. There is a clear contrast in character from the youthful appearance of the woman on the right and the sickly, pale and tired lady on the right hand side of the image. There is also an overall contrast of color from the left and right with the radiant blonde hair, African print dress and the dark, flat hair and blue toned dress. There is a distinct lack of facial expression with with the woman on the left as she lays on the sofa, in a lifeless and melancholy fashion, observed by the Goddess like presence of the light haired woman. The image provokes overall feelings of conflict and change. Opposed to the typical conventions of postmodernism, this image in particular follows close conventions of Tableau and Renaissance art with the stylized body language and dramatic lighting. This image very effectively showcases the postmodernist features which Eggleston focused on within his work.
Methods/ techniques/ processes:
Tableaux- staged photography which displays a pictorial narrative.
Key characteristics/ conventions : Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life. Building on late nineteenth-century precedents, artists around the world used new imagery, materials and techniques to create artworks that they felt better reflected the realities and hopes of modern societies.
Artists associated: Margareth Bourke-White
Key works: Grant Wood-American Gothic
Methods/ techniques/ processes:
photojournalism
avant-garde movement
POST-MODERNISM
Time period : Postmodernism is best understood by defining the modernist ethos it replaced – that of the ‘avant-garde’ who were active from 1860s to the 1950s. Postmodernism overturned the idea that there was one inherent meaning to a work of art or that this meaning was determined by the artist at the time of creation. Instead, the viewer became an important determiner of meaning, even allowed by some artists to participate in the work as in the case of some performance pieces.
Key characteristics/ conventions :
It is the movement away from modernism.
It involves the mixture of different art medium that reference political, cultural and historical issues.
The concept itself lacks rules, it’s up to the photographer to decide what messages they encode and how these messages are represented in an image.
In a way it’s initial motive was to challenge the idea of modernism.
Common targets of postmodernism and critical theory include universalist notions of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social progress. The ideas rejected by postmodernists include the idea of artistic development as goal-oriented, the notion that only men are artistic geniuses, and the outdated assumption that non-white races are inferior. Feminist art and minority art that challenged canonical ways of thinking are often included under the umbrella of postmodernism or seen as representations of it.
Artists associated: William Eggleston and Robert Rauschenberg.
The snapshot type imagery which Eggleston created throughout his career, created anecdotal meaning about everyday aspects of life. The accessible and simplistic method of his photography, such as using the Kodak’s Brownie camera, meant that his work had a personal touch to subjects he had no direct personal link with. Color also represented a multitude of themes in his work such as the contrast between the new and the old, the ordinary and extraordinary, the man-made and the natural. In many senses he was a non-conformist, associating him as a prominent figure in the postmodernist art scene. He also explored a contemporary commercial printing process of dye transfer to see the ways in which this could contribute to the representation of color and how this could become the focal point instead of the selling of lifestyle, concepts or ideas. During his career there were a few occasions where Eggleston encountered the work of Andy Worhol, exposing him to other popular forms of mediums, contributing to his experimental photography style. Eggleston’s use of the anecdotal and everyday is set apart by his focus on details such as facial expression which can be seen in the image above. Throughout his career he pushed the boundaries of documentary photography associated with the works of Robert Frank and Walker Evans. His photography effectively captured the shift of life in the South from rural to cosmopolitan societies.
In the work above we can see an example of the extreme focus which Eggleston pays to the facial expressions and body language of the subjects. There is a clear contrast in character from the youthful appearance of the woman on the right and the sickly, pale and tired lady on the right hand side of the image. There is also an overall contrast of color from the left and right with the radiant blonde hair, African print dress and the dark, flat hair and blue toned dress. There is a distinct lack of facial expression with with the woman on the left as she lays on the sofa, in a lifeless and melancholy fashion, observed by the Goddess like presence of the light haired woman. The image provokes overall feelings of conflict and change. Opposed to the typical conventions of postmodernism, this image in particular follows close conventions of Tableau and Renaissance art with the stylized body language and dramatic lighting. This image very effectively showcases the postmodernist features which Eggleston focused on within his work.
Methods/ techniques/ processes:
Tableaux- staged photography which displays a pictorial narrative.
Intertextuality – when you include others work.
Eclecticism – the mixture of styles.
Refiguration – re-structuring an original image.
Collaboration-working alongside other artists.
Pastiche – copying an original.
Re-cycling- using materials more than once.
Dadaism: Dada or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. Dadasim had an influence on postmodernism in its questioning of authenticity and originality. ‘Combined with the notion of appropriation, postmodernism often took the undermining of originality to the point of copyright infringement, even in the use of photographs with little or no alteration to the original.’ -The Art Story.
Time period: Postmodernism is best understood by defining the modernist ethos it replaced – that of the ‘avant-garde’ who were active from 1860s to the 1950s. Postmodernism overturned the idea that there was one inherent meaning to a work of art or that this meaning was determined by the artist at the time of creation. Instead, the viewer became an important determiner of meaning, even allowed by some artists to participate in the work as in the case of some performance pieces.
Key characteristics/ conventions : Common targets of postmodernism and critical theory include universalist notions of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social progress. The ideas rejected by postmodernists include the idea of artistic development as goal-oriented, the notion that only men are artistic geniuses, and the outdated assumption that non-white races are inferior. Feminist art and minority art that challenged canonical ways of thinking are often included under the umbrella of postmodernism or seen as representations of it.
Artists associated: William Eggleston and Robert Rauschenberg.
Dadaism: Dada or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century. Dadasim had an influence on postmodernism in its questioning of authenticity and originality. ‘Combined with the notion of appropriation, postmodernism often took the undermining of originality to the point of copyright infringement, even in the use of photographs with little or no alteration to the original.’ -The Art Story.
Key characteristics/ conventions :
It is the movement away from modernism.
It involves the mixture of different art medium that reference political, cultural and historical issues.
The concept itself lacks rules, it’s up to the photographer to decide what messages they encode and how these messages are represented in an image.
In a way it’s initial motive was to challenge the idea of modernism.
Methods/ techniques/ processes:
Tableaux- staged photography which displays a pictorial narrative.
Intertextuality – when you include others work.
Eclecticism – the mixture of styles.
Refiguration – re-structuring an original image.
Collaboration-working alongside other artists.
Pastiche – copying an original.
Re-cycling- using materials more than once.
STYLISTIC AND CONTEXTUAL IDEAS:
The snapshot type imagery which Eggleston created throughout his career, created anecdotal meaning about everyday aspects of life. The accessible and simplistic method of his photography, such as using the Kodak’s Brownie camera, meant that his work had a personal touch to subjects he had no direct personal link with. Color also represented a multitude of themes in his work such as the contrast between the new and the old, the ordinary and extraordinary, the man-made and the natural. In many senses he was a non-conformist, associating him as a prominent figure in the postmodernist art scene. He also explored a contemporary commercial printing process of dye transfer to see the ways in which this could contribute to the representation of color and how this could become the focal point instead of the selling of lifestyle, concepts or ideas. During his career there were a few occasions where Eggleston encountered the work of Andy Worhol, exposing him to other popular forms of mediums, contributing to his experimental photography style. Eggleston’s use of the anecdotal and everyday is set apart by his focus on details such as facial expression which can be seen in the image above. Throughout his career he pushed the boundaries of documentary photography associated with the works of Robert Frank and Walker Evans. His photography effectively captured the shift of life in the South from rural to cosmopolitan societies.
In the work above we can see an example of the extreme focus which Eggleston pays to the facial expressions and body language of the subjects. There is a clear contrast in character from the youthful appearance of the woman on the right and the sickly, pale and tired lady on the right hand side of the image. There is also an overall contrast of color from the left and right with the radiant blonde hair, African print dress and the dark, flat hair and blue toned dress. There is a distinct lack of facial expression with with the woman on the left as she lays on the sofa, in a lifeless and melancholy fashion, observed by the Goddess like presence of the light haired woman. The image provokes overall feelings of conflict and change. Opposed to the typical conventions of postmodernism, this image in particular follows close conventions of Tableau and Renaissance art with the stylized body language and dramatic lighting. This image very effectively showcases the postmodernist features which Eggleston focused on within his work.
In the studio using a still life set up with a colored background like Mirach does using a background color that contrast the base color to make the items in the images pop. Using old geometrical instruments from the math’s department this mage the images look a lot more like Milachs work with the bold structural lines going through the images.
First, I imported all the into light room and then went through a process of discarding and keeping all the images i wanted. I did this through the x and p keys of the key board. X was images to be discarded so they would come up with a little flag on the corner. I discard images when the were out of focus or i felt the composition wasn’t right. I used the P key to keep all the images that i felt i could take on to edit and have an effective final piece of of them. This is what in looks like in light room classic cc when all my images are highlighted that i want to take on to edit.
When editing in light room I use the develop section to edit my images. For this images i kept the temp and tint the same but then when on to lower the exposure slightly and up the contrast to give my images more of a vibrant contrast between the red background and the red bandage container. The highlights are increases as will so the sliver of the tin really stands out. The shadows are decreased so that you can see the real detail on the metal geometric shapes rather than it just being solid black lines. You can see bits on black paint flickering off and the joins where the metal has been forged together i feel that this adds another layer of depth to the image.
Before staring to edit this image i decide to crop it because the background was rather plain ether side and I didn’t fell like it brought anything to the image. Also the background slanted up on the right side of the images which i felt didn’t look as good as a crisp clean line for the background. This is because all the lines in the image are completely straight so i feel like it looks cleaner and sharper with a straight background.
I then went on the edit the cropped version of the photo.
Then i decided to see how the images would look in black and white as Ralph uses black and white images within a lot of his photo montages.
I then went on to edit my macro miniature people images making a lot of the images sharper so the look more chrisp and in focus to give the image more clarity and look more effective.
Rafal Milach celebrates people power in The First March of Gentlemen
Polish photographer, Rafal Milach. This body of work is a fictitious narration composed of authentic stories. Historical events related to the town of Września in Poland came to be the starting point for reflection on the protest and disciplinary mechanisms experienced under Communist rule. In the series of collages, the reality of the 1950s Poland ruled by the communists blends with the memory of the Września children strike from the beginning of the 20th century. This shift in time is not just a coincidence, as the problems which the project touches upon are universal, and may be seen as a metaphor for the contemporary social tensions and politics currently playing out in Poland . The project includes archive photos by Września photographer Ryszard Szczepaniak.
More than 100 students of the Catholic People’s School took part in a strike against the Germanisation of their education, which would aim to eradicate the Polish language from their teachings, and the physical violence used by teachers. The strike, though historically remembered for its triumph, is synonymous with Września, and over the years has become somewhat a cliché of association.
Silent, loud, peaceful, political – whatever form protest takes, the mobilisation of people to challenge authority has grown in confidence through history. The thing about protest is that the impact it desires is not instantaneous but, even though the results may take time to shape, they do eventually become manifest. It is, after all, the power of protest that began the domino effect of the disintegration of the Soviet-controlled communist regime in Poland in 1989. Sparked by dozens of workers’ strikes in coal mines and shipyards around the country, it was the demands of the people that propelled the Solidarity movement led by Lech Wałęsa into the first democratic government in almost half a century.
Skip ahead to present-day Warsaw, and the echoes of dissent can be heard upon the streets once again. Last time I spoke to Polish photographer Rafal Milach (for BJP’s September 2017 feature on the latest work from Sputnik Photos, the collective he co-founded), he told me that protesting the alarmingly fast political changes brought about by the PiS (Law and Justice) government felt like his new hobby. And he reiterates this today, speaking of the “permanent state of demonstration”.
Milach was wary of this obvious reference point, but given the timing of the residency – which coincided with a series of massive street rallies demonstrating against the government’s grab for extra judiciary powers – he couldn’t ignore it. And so it ultimately formed the backbone of the resulting project. The First March of Gentlemen, a 72-page photobook composed of collages that mingle elements illustrating the 1902 Children’s Strike with characters that lived during the communist era a half-century later, delineates a fictitious narrative that can be read as a metaphor, commenting on the social and political tensions of the present day.
“The most important thing was to create a story that would be accessible to everyone because this is, in the first place, my vision of a society, in which individuals can protest in the public space, regardless of consequence,” he explains. “The initial idea of working with the archive was sustained, but the topic changed as I began looking for material that could occupy two spheres – discipline and pacification, and the sphere of freedom – and to bring these elements together in a series of collages.”
Milach found it in the work of local amateur photographer Ryszard Szczepaniak, and his archive of images shot in Września during the 1950s and 1960s. He photographed his and his brother’s friends in formal street poses, many of them while on leave from the military, some of whom came from the Armia Ludowa, a communist partisan force set up by the Polish Workers’ Party while under German occupation during World War II.
They pose for the camera, hands crossed and guns poised, but with a glimmer of a smirk at the side of their pursed lips. Those not in uniform are well-dressed, dandy-esque figures, standing around with cocked hips and cigarettes, their long dusters, waistcoats and hats beginning to show signs of wear.
“They were a poorer version of the glamour they probably knew from American films,” Milach observes. “This intrigued me… The photo shoots that Szczepaniak was doing were somehow detaching the guys from the context of contempt in those days. The 1950s in Poland was a pretty oppressive time in terms of the communist regime, and these guys were just having fun in some remote areas within Września county… posing, staging shooting scenes… It was like being part of the system, but making a joke out of it.”
By extension, Milach detaches them physically, cutting out the figures and pasting them onto brightly coloured backgrounds, hinting at ideas of contrast and displacement. The resulting book, beautifully designed by his wife, Ania Nałęcka-Milach, references a children’s exercise book in its choice of size and coloured papers, bound by a long red thread to contain its assembly.
The design is “like a toy, like a candy – something nice to look at and to touch,” Milach says. “But it’s only a camouflage; a beautiful skin to disguise these spheres, to somehow smuggle them into your daily life” – just like the jubilant propaganda posters of the 1950s, or the cheery chat shows on the newly nationalised television stations of today. Page by page, the singular figures in these candy-coloured landscapes are joined by gatherings of larger groups, and geometric shapes representing mathematical teaching aids begin to appear as symbolic cages.
As these structures grow to command the composition of each image, the positioning of the figures becomes more claustrophobic. The young men are trapped into constricted spaces, yet their faces remain fixed with an expression of naive indifference. Do they not understand that their freedoms are an illusion that is entirely under the control of a superior authority? Akin to a children’s animation, the scenes build, frame by frame, and then break down again.
“The linearity of the book is very important,” Milach says. “It has a certain structure that you read from the front to the back – gathering, deconstructing, pacifying and then again, it loops and the story repeats.”
The repetitiveness of the story is also key, he says, because whether it be the early or mid 20th century, or the protests of today, “the patterns are pretty much the same”. “But still, the people act and react, and this is the bottom line of the entire project,” he continues, “that you’re active and you’re responsive regardless of any possible consequence – that’s the story.”
Milach wouldn’t call himself an activist, nor is this book an object of activism, though you will often find him on the street campaigning with his peers. He is, however, a great believer in the power of the people’s voice, which he wants to encourage to grow louder. Rather than just preaching to the converted, he’s targeting the people who have taken a back seat.
“It is titled the ‘First March’ because it is the characters’ first experience of being an active citizen,” he says. “The ‘Gentlemen’ is just a figure of speech. It’s not a gender-related thing, it’s just a representation of some activated unit. To me it was rather a metaphor of being in some sort of bubble where you don’t really have to act because you are comfortable.”
Later, reflecting on his own actions within the bigger picture, he adds: “You have to use the tools that you have. Does art change the world? Or photography? I don’t think so, but it can be a tool. And it can be just a fraction of something bigger.”
After looking at still life images with a plane white background i decided to experiment with color and see what differences this made to the images and whether i liked it or not.
Using lightroom cc to edit a lot of my image is focused on making them look as vibrant as possible whole at the same time not having the background over power the image as a whole and the objects become lost within the image.
