August Sander

“If we can create portraits of subjects that are true, we thereby in effect create a mirror of the times.” August Sander

Sander started photography when he was a teenager and when he came to his twenties was operating a portrait studio. Although he had a studio, Sander would travel across Germany with a large-format camera to find people who would not normally come to him for photos. Sander worked on his project (people of the twentieth century) through a period of large social and political change which spanned the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime. This project took Sander his whole career as he tried to capture people in Germany of all working backgrounds and segments of society. The project adapted and evolved throughout the time he was doing it splitting into seven groups; ‘The Farmer’, ‘The Skilled Tradesman’, ‘The Woman’, ‘Classes and Professions’, ‘The Artists’, ‘The City’ and ‘The Last People’.

Sanders work was a source of inspiration for other upcoming photographers including Walker Evans, Bernd and Hilla Becher etc. He also changed the way that many people look at portrait photography, also informed the way people see gender and class.

Image analysis

This image shows a Nazi soldier who has a pilots mask at the top of his head. Not to long before this image was taken, the Nazis impounded unsold copies of his book ‘face of our time’ and destroyed its printing blocks. Sander then abandoned his project to do landscape photography. This persons facial expression makes him look sort of normal, but the person behind the face could be completely different, aggressive and brutal because of him being a Nazi soldier. He could of done things which would not be even slightly acceptable in this day and age, because of the war and the person that was in charge of Germany.

Alec Soth

Soth is a photographer who is best known for capturing the Midwestern USA. Soth’s early work (and most popular project/book) “Sleeping by the Mississippi”, gained him a lot of attention by art critics. These art critics said that his photographs conveyed a strong sense of intimacy with the landscape. Soth was extremely shy as a child a was driven to start pursuing portrait photography after seeing the portrait images created by Diane Arbus. After his initial success with “sleeping by the Mississippi” Soth went on to create and publish another photo book in 2006 called “Niagara”. For this project he photographed people and places around Niagara Falls and has since then produced two more books.

Image analysis

This image shows a man (Charles) dressed in work overalls holding two model airplanes. Soth had spotted this mans house while travelling along the Mississippi and admired the glass room which had been built at the top of the house. Soth waited for Charles to come home from work and when he arrived back he was wearing these work overalls which Soth though would be perfect for a portrait photo. Charles showed Soth around the glass room and then thought to show him his model airplanes which Soth also wanted to be in the photo. Charles took Soth to the roof to take some photographs. This image represents the inner child of adults with Charles still having an interest in model airplanes which is normally something a child would enjoy.