Albert Renger-Patzsch (June 22, 1897 – September 27, 1966) was a German Photographer associated with the new objectivity. He was born in Würzburg and began taking photographs at the age of twelve and after service in the First World War he had his first museum exhibition in 1927.

Albert Renger-Patzsch’s attitude towards photography involved exploring light, rhythm, line, texture, repetition and many more. He published his famous book ‘The World is Beautiful’ in 1928 which consisted of 100 images which had a lot of detail. Patzch’s work is sharply focused and matter-of-fact style. His work references the aesthetic of The New Objectivity that became quite popular during the Weimar Republic in Germany (1919 – 1933).

Patzsch’s ideas and values of photography are similar to an American photographer called Edward Weston. Weston is known as one of the most innovative and influential American Photographers and one of the masters of 20th century photography. Over his 40 year career, Weston took photos of many different subjects such as including landscapes, still lives, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies. Similar to Patzsch, after taking photos of cities and subjects in cities, he went to the countryside and took photos of rocks, trees, rivers and more. Over this 2 year stay in nature, he produced 1,400 negative images using his 8 by 10 camera.

My Photos

Repetition

Half of my images are that of symmetrical patterns inside my house. They are similar to some of Renger-Patzsch’s photos as they are symmetrical but random at the same time. For example the image of the bookcase is very aligned and symmetrical but at the same time random as the books are not perfectly symmetrical or the same.

Final Outcome

I believe the image above is the best from the photo shoot above. This is because i have used the metal railing to frame the incinerator. I have also edited the contrast, curves and cropped it so that the rule of thirds line up with the metal railing.

A contact sheet is similar to a negative but in positive colors. This contains thumbnail images of all the photos from the shoot. This makes it very easy for you to see what images you like and what might need improvement or removal.

The purpose of a contact sheet is to be able to quickly scan a series of images to find the keepers or the ones chosen to be enlarged.

Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German born photographer living in the twentieth century. He is widely associated with the New Objectivity movement taking place in Germany. This movement was against the idea of expressionism. In Renger-Patzsch’s work order and tradition can be seen clearly throughout, this is what expressionism challenged. Expressionism sort out to express emotion rather than nature and tradition, this is what the New Objectivity and Renger-Patzsch’s work doesn’t capture.

Analysis

In his work it is clear that Renger-Patzsch uses tone and light to create depth. He contrasts very dark tones with very light tones. He also uses lots of repetition in his work, this repetition can be seen in the shapes he finds.

In the first image the repetition is obvious. The lines in the photo cross the image diagonally creating a triangular shape in the top right half of the image. The crevices in the wall create dark triangular shadows, these contrast with the tone on the outer walls which is a lighter grey. The round shapes on top of the crevices create a rhythm that flows to the background of the photo.

In the second image repetition can be seen in the lines. these lines are shown on the sides of the building and the way the building is shaped. A depth is given with the way Renger-Patzsch angled his camera. Dark, black tones sit beneath the lighter grey and white tones in the sky and on the front of the building. A rough texture is captured on the side of the building which is in direct contrast with the flat sky.

Response

A contact sheet is a a group of images all put together in an order. On one contact sheet will be all the images from one photo shoot. They help to archive the negatives to be quickly scanned.

This is a contact sheet from one of my photo shoots. It is of the back of a bench and has been edited into black and white to capture the shadows and the highlights. I also changed the contrast so the highlights were more visible.

The formal elements are used by famous photographers all around the world. They are the parts that create some of the most praised images in the world. They help create interesting and professional images.

In class I took photos of paper shaped and folded in different ways using different backdrops and lighting.

Analysis

Light – In my second and third image the lighting is quite harsh and creates dark, contrasting shadows. This was done by using downward facing, close lighting. In my fifth image the lighting is softer creating less contrast in tones and fainter lines.

Line – In my fourth photo the lines are quite abstract and unnatural due to the way I crumpled the paper. This contrasts with the sharp, straight lines on the edges of the paper. In my first image the lines are very harsh and impactful. This is also due to the lighting coming from the side.

Repetition – There are repetition of triangular shapes in my second and third image and in my first image the lines repeat and are parallel.

Space – In my third photo there is a sense of depth due to the way it folds behind each other. I think all the photos have a depth to them because of the way they are set out and folded.

Texture – The lines in the photo would feel sharp and flat whereas some of the crumpled paper would feel more rough.

Tone – In all my photos a range of tones can be seen. In my first and second image the tone fades and is not as sharp as the other images. They also don’t contain as dark shapes and lines.

Colour – In my first and last image the dominant colour is black with hints of grey and white. This is different to the other photos where the dominant colour is white and grey.

Composition – In my second and last image the paper has been arranged into a sort of pyramid formation.