Alfred Stieglitz – patterns in the sky

He was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was known for the New York art galleries that he ran in the early part of the 20th century, where he introduced avant-garde to many European artists to the U.S.

Harry Callahan – natural forms

Callahan left almost no written records—no diaries, letters, scrapbooks or teaching notes. His technical photographic method was to go out almost every morning, walk through the city he lived in and take numerous pictures. He then spent almost every afternoon making proof prints of that day’s best negatives. Yet, for all his photographic activity, Callahan, at his own estimation, produced no more than half a dozen final images a year. He worked with multiple exposures-double and triple exposure, blurs, large and small format film.

Compare and contrast-

Technical– The lighting in both photos have light and dark tones and different sections of the photo are in contrast with each other. In Alfred’s photo the clouds are very dark and grey as they are surrounding the small spot of sunlight that’s trying to shine through. The photo looks like it was taken in natural light as it’s of the sky which is a natural environment. Whereas the Harry’s photo contains extremely sharp contrasts between the black and white. The trees are completely black and the background surrounding them is white which makes the shape of the trees very visible. Both photos look like they’d be taken on a high shutter speed as no movement would be in the photos and neither photos look blurry. Harry’s photo is taken with a wide lens whereas Alfred’s photo is quite zoomed in to capture the sun peaking through. Both photos probably had to be on quite a high IOS level in order to capture the sunlight coming through the clouds(in Alfred’s photo) and the white background behind the trees(in Harry’s photo).

VISUAL- Both photos are of the natural environment but in a different form. Alfred’s photo is of the sky which both dark and light tones without any particular shape as it’s photographing the clouds and sun. The only repetition there is the clouds whereas in Harry’s photo repetition is clearly shown through the trees. In Alfred’s photo the shape of the trees are very defined because of the background being white which creates a very sharp contrast.

CONTEXTUAL- There isn’t much historical context behind both photos and not a personal meaning either. I think that both photos where just taken in order to show the different ways an abstract photo may be presented , as they chose to do that through nature.

CONCEPTUAL- I think that neither photographs have a meaning as it isn’t a photo that’s trying to get a message across to viewers as both of the photographs aren’t powerful enough. I think that both artists wanted to photograph the idea of ‘abstract’ in their own way.

MY RESPONSE- contact sheets;

Plan- I went out during the day when the sky wasn’t all blue and clear but neither when it was so cloudy you couldn’t see the sun. I wanted to capture the sun peaking and shining through the clouds. I then went out closer to the beach because that’s where the sky is the most open without any tall buildings surrounding it and I photographed the trees near it. I took photos of them because I knew when I edit them on Photoshop they would turn out similar to Harry’s style and they were very symmetrical due to the way I photographed them.

Evaluation

I took photos of the sky during the day time as Alfred’s photos are taken in the daylight and not at night. If I was to take the photos at night you wouldn’t be able to see the clouds. I waited till the sky was filled with dull clouds and photographed them from a low angle to create the perspective of looking up. I waited till the sun came out too in order to capture it peaking and shining through the clouds in the way that Alfred does. I also took photos of the nature when I found repetitive sections of it, such as trees being behind each other in a repetitive order.

My favourite images in black and white and cropped–

Overall I like how my photos turned out because I captured the sun coming through the clouds which creates a similar effect to Alfred and I think my photos turned out in a style similar to his. I also like how the second group of photos I took of the nature turned out because by turning them black and white , the background goes much lighter than the trees as they get completely darker and the shape of them becomes much more defined. The trees also turned out quite symmetrical and repetitive which makes it even more similar to Harry’s work.

Mood Board and Ideas

Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer, born in 1864, who has been said to be instrumental in making photography an accepted art form. One of the ways in which he did this, was through his photo series ‘Songs of The Sky’, from 1923 to 1934, where he explored patterns and rhythm created in the clouds. His aim for the viewer was to cause them to have the same emotional response as him, at the moment in time he took the photo, and to also display that the content of a photograph was different from its subject.

Image Analysis

This black and white photograph taken by Alfred Stieglitz, which is a part of his ‘Songs of The Sky’ series, displays a dramatic image of the sky in which the clouds are swirled around the photo, almost splitting it into two halves, a light side and a dark side. These streaks in the cloud’s curve create soft leading lines, causing your eyes to wrap around and be lead to the dark patch in the left hand of the photo. This area of the image strongly contrasts with the bright, highlighted, white clouds and the right half of the piece. In addition, the texture of this photo appears to be slightly rough and grainy, although this could be by choice or simply due to the time period in which this was taken, and the camera quality then.

You can see here that the lighting of this photograph must be natural as it is taken of the sky, and it also creates strong and dark shadows. I think that Stieglitz used a quick shutter speed here, as the clouds would have been moving, so he would need to do this in order to catch a crisp and sharp image. Also due to the fact that all of this frame is in focus, I believe that he used a small aperture, allowing for the whole of the image to be clearly seen and observed and creating a wide depth of field.

Furthermore, you can tell from the angle and the framing of this image, that Stieglitz was aiming to show a subjective point of view, creating an inclusive experience of that particular moment, like he does in his other pieces from the ‘Songs of The Sky’ series.

Stieglitz Inspired Photoshoot

Plan

Contact Sheets

For this photoshoot I used fast shutter speed to allow me to capture sharp images of the moving clouds and the patterns they create. As the light changed throughout the shoot, I had to change the ISO and the white balance with it. Where I didn’t do this you can see some of my images are over exposed, which I have crossed out in red as I won’t be editing them. Although the photographs highlighted in green are the images I will edit, as I believe they best link to the themes of repetition, patterns, rhythm, reflection and symmetry, whilst also displaying a clear and focused image.

Photoshop Development

To create images that looked similar to the work of Stieglitz, I used photoshop to convert these images into black and white, whilst also increasing the contrast and texture, and lowering the exposure with the camera raw filter. After this, I went back with the dodge and burn tool to further define the shadows and highlights.

Final Image

I think that this edited image from my photoshoot in the style of Stieglitz is my best, as the space left in the center creates an almost triangle and with it a focal point, which is framed by the surrounding clouds. I also believe that this image could link to the theme of symmetry, although both sides are not identical, if the photo were split vertically down the middle and mirrored, it would result in a very similar final image.

Alfred Stieglitz – patterns in the sky

Alfred Stieglitz recognized his achievement in maintaining the realism of photography while addressing the goals of modernism, Duncan Phillips considered Stieglitz’s photographs of clouds important in joining photographic objectivity and personal emotion in his images. Stieglitz photographed clouds from 1922 into the thirties. A symbolic aesthetic underlies these images, which became increasingly abstract equivalents of his own experiences, thoughts, and emotions. 

contact sheets

my photos inspired by Stieglitz

I liked the outcome of this photo shoot. I edited the images, making them black and white, lowered the exposure and made the clouds look more defined by upping the contrast to match Alfred Stieglitz- Patterns in the Sky.

What I like most about these photos is the contrast between the highlights and shadows and the way they contrast against each other, these photographs were taken in natural day light. I like, in some images, you can see the sunlight bursting through the clouds, or in some way trapped behind it. I like how in each picture the clouds are never the same, making each image different to another, this relates to how he saw his photographs as abstract equivalents of his own experiences, thoughts, and emotions, and how everyone’s thoughts and feelings are different, just like each pattern in the sky.

Alfred Stieglitz is one of the most significant contributors to the history of photography. Stieglitz contributed not only scientific and artistic photographic studies, but also introduced modern art to America and furthered the theory of photography as art.