Keld Helmer-Petersen was a Danish photographer who was inspired by Albert Renger-Patzsch. He became famous through his colour photographs but he also published several books of black and white images that explore dramatic contrasts of tone. Some of these photos were only black and white without any tones as they had been removed.
Helmer-Petersen published his first photobook, “122 Colour Photographs” in 1948. His work was then noticed for its inventive photos, which he turned landscapes and buildings into abstract patterns. He embraced coloured photos as black and white photos were only seen as being serious.
My interpretation
Before
Firstly i picked out 5 images which I liked and then I changed the lighting by using threshold, after doing that one of the images didn’t respond well and it turned into a black smudge. I then cropped the images to cut out some of the smudged areas and focus on the silhouette. With the photo of the boat i decided to invert the image and focus on the boat being black instead of white as that’s what Helmer-Petersen focused on, there were also some white dots so I used the black pen to colour them out.
Keld Helmer-Petersen was a Danish photographer who was recognised in the 1940s and 1950s for his abstract colour photographs. In his book (Black light) he considered the space around us and the world we live in through abstract an contrasting images.
Images made up of prints, drawings, objects, bits and pieces. The third in a series of three books
I used Photoshop to create bold and contrasting images inspired by Helmer-Petersens’ work from Black Light. To accomplish this I used the threshold tool and changed the lighting and shadowing of the images below.
Keld Helmer-Petersen is one of the most influential Danish photographers in the 20th Century, inspired by Albert Renger-Patzsch. He was an international pioneer in colour photography and was a central figure in not only Danish but also European modernist photography. He continuously experimented and challenged the many possibilities of the photographic image. In 1956 Helmer-Petersen established himself as a professional architecture photographer, he achieved fame for his colour photographs but he also published several books of black and white images that explore dramatic contrasts of tone. All mid tones have been removed. He created and found these images, using both cameras and flat bed scanners to achieve the effects he was looking for. These books are beautifully designed and encourage us to consider the space around the image.
The threshold tool creates a silhouette and it flattens 3D objects and creates a strong, dramatic contrast between the black and white tones.
The image allows the viewer to sense either a calm or eerie mood. The bare twigs on the trees gives the viewer a sense of loneliness or depression as there is arguably no life on the trees. One could link bare trees to winter,which is cold, and can be a miserable time of year for some people.
On the other hand, one could also interpret this image as calming as there isn’t much going on with it and nothing is too busy.
In addition, only the front of the twigs are in focus which allows the viewer to see all the little details on the twigs and even see the little buds that are beginning to form on them.
The image is black and white which also gives the impression that the image is made to create a sense of loneliness and depression.
The twigs have a reasonably smooth texture which could be interpreted to show that life is normally simple however there will always be little bumps in the road. No one’s life is perfect.
