“You don’t take pictures with your camera. You take pictures with your mind and heart.” – Arnold Newman.

Arnold Newman was born on March 3rd 1918, and passed away on June 6th 2006 as an American photographer who was greatly known for his environmental portraits of mainly artists and politicians. He was also widely known for his still life images which were described as “abstract”.

Examples of his environmental portraiture:

Examples of his still life:

The first ever environmental portraits were created by Newman, as he was seen to push the boundaries of traditional portrait photography during the 20th century. Newman’s passion for photography began in the 1920’s, and started taking environmental portraits in the 1940’s. He included a variety of famous people in his portraits, swell as scientists, workers, composers and political leaders.

Image Analysis:

I chose to analyse this portrait by Newman because it differs from Sander’s work. This is because often Sander’s backgrounds are dull and dark, so we can focus on the subject in the image. However the background in this image is quite chaotic, which distracts the viewer from looking at the subject. This image intrigued me because usually in environmental portraits the subject is centred, and standing up. This shows us they know what they are doing and portray dominance in the photo. This photo is unique to the others because the subject is sat down, and looks overwhelmed by the mess around him. This tells us that his profession is very busy and difficult.

What I like about Newman’s work is all his photos are pure and raw. They capture the true reality and events happening at the time, rather than editing them to what he thinks the viewers will like. The people in his photos are never specifically posing for the camera, instead they are acting out their proper duties. In a way, this makes us feel more connected to them by understanding how their job really is. I will take inspiration from Newman when creating my own images. I will have some where the subject is not using for the camera, to create a sense of realism. Yet I will also have some where poses and props are used to make them more effective and intriguing.

Visual:

• Messy
• Chaotic
• Intimidating
• Dull
• Background is the main focus rather than the subject
• Bright lighting
• Depth of field is large

Emotional:

• I feel sympathetic towards the subject as he looks overwhelmed
• Stress
• Work overload
• Uneasy
• Sense of unhappiness

Technical:

• Balanced composition from either side of the subject, which distracts us
• Line of symmetry
• Lighting is coming from the camera, so the image is bright
• Lots of distractions around the subject, which makes us focus on the background

Conceptual:

• This image was taken in Essen, Germany in 1963.

• ” Mr. Newman’s portraits were defined by his sitter’s environments, which led him to be known as the “father of the environmental portrait.”

More examples of his environmental portraits:

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

August Sander was a famous German photographer, born in 1876 and sadly passed in 1964. His passion for photography began to grow when he was a teenager, and by his twenties he was operating his own portrait studio. Sander began his most famous project in the 1920s, named “People of the 20th Century”. This project includes over 600 photos divided into 7 volumes and nearly 50 portfolios. The majority of Sander’s images in this project are in black and white, reflecting the time he was taking portraits. This is also attractive to modern viewers because it shows us what times were likes in the 1920s, which makes us feel closer to the photographer.

Sander captured this image in black and white like all of his other photos. However this one stood out from the rest to me because of the emotion on the man’s face as he is the subject of the image. He is displaying a face of exhaustion, which makes me feel sympathetic towards him. This implies that maybe he does not feel passionate towards his job, and could portray the difficult times in the 1920s. I noticed the background of this image was plain and dull, which could also imply that there is nothing exciting about his job, which again tells us he is miserable. This makes me question why Sander took this photo, and perhaps he is trying to pass a message through it.

This is another image taken by August Sander in 1926. I chose to analyse this image because it differs from the one above in terms of emotion. In this photo, the emotion on the craftsmans face shows more anger, and portrays more dominance than the previous. The subject’s facial expression is one of frustration, and shows us he maybe dislikes his profession also. The subject of the photograph is also centred, which I have noticed is a common theme in Sander’s work. The background is again dull, which contrasts well with the subject making him stand out more. This makes it easy for the viewer to focus on the subject’s emotions. The use of the man holding a prop for the photo also allows us to make the connection between the subject and his job. I think this image creates an emotional response through his body language and facial expressions by the way he is staring into the camera with an intimidating manner.

My original photo:

My editing Process:

My photo after editing:

To achieve this photo, I went down to the studio and completed my camera set up in order for my photo to reach its full potential. I placed my tools onto a plain neutral piece of card which allows the brush to be the focus point in the image. The angle of my camera was placed at a birds-eye view, because it looks similar to Walker Evans’ photos, and gives the photo a sense of uniqueness.

Finally, I chose one of my best images that I had put a green flag on and rated it 5 stars. This technique is useful because it makes it easier for me to decide which photos I want to use and which ones I can retake / not use. I then cropped the image so there was less background around the paintbrush, and I edited the saturation of the photo because our artist inspiration Walker Evans often has his photos in low saturation for a dull effect.

Q1: What is the etymology (origin & history) of the word photography? 

Writing with light. 

Q2: What year was the first photograph made in camera? 
 

 1826 (Joseph Nicéphore Niépce)

 
Q3: When did the first photograph of a human appear? 
 

1838 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre) 
 

Q4: Who made the first ‘selfie’ 

Robert Cornelius (1839)  

Q5: When did the first colour photograph appear? 

1861 (James Clerk Maxwell) 
 

Q6: What do we mean by the word genre? 

 A style or category of art 

 
 Q7: What do we mean by the genre of still-life? 

An image that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world. 

 
Q8: What was the main purpose of the Pictorialist movement? 

To affirm photography as an art form 

Q9: How do we describe the term documentary photography? 
 

Capture images that truthfully portray people, places and events.  

 
Q10: What is exposure in photography? 
 

 To capture bright light. 

Q11: What controls exposure on your camera?  

Aperture, shutter speed, ISO. 

 

 
Q12: What control on our camera records moving objects? 
 

Shutter 

 
Q13: How do we explain depth of field? 

How much of your image is in focus. 

 
Q14: What factors affect Depth of Field? 

Lens aperture, distance from camera to subject, and lens focal length. 

 

Q15: What is composition in photography? 

The arrangement of visual elements within the frame. 

Q16: What is your understanding of aesthetics in art? 

Aesthetic qualities refer to the way and artwork looks and feels. 

Q17: What are contextual studies in photography? 

 To provide historial, cultural and theoterical understanding of images. 

 
Q18: How many images are captured on average every day worldwide? 
 

4.7 billion 

Q19: Which portrait is the most reproduced in the world? 
 The Queen (Elizabeth II) 

This photoshoot was inspired by Walker Evans and Darren Harvey Regan. We were experimenting with singular tools at first like Evans did, as he successfully portrays the significance of them through capturing one tool at a time. This is effective as it signals to the viewer the importance of the tool, and overall how useful they are in everyday life. In order to make these photos look productive, I ensured I had perfected the lighting set up and background, by going to the studio and capturing my photos from a birds eye view. Then I used my own imagination with no inspiration and took photos of multiple tools together which allows the viewers focal point to flow through each object in the image. I ensured to keep my background plain and neutral so the importance of the tools are still prominent.

Walker Evans – Beauty of the Common Tool – 1955.

Walker Evans was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work documenting The Great Depression. He was born on November 3rd, 1905, and passed away April 10th, 1975. His most characteristic images show American still life through outdoor advertising, the beginning of its automobile culture and domestic interiors.

Evans captured simple and flat, man-made objects with little shadowing to show the significance of the objects and valuing them. This adds a dark, old and almost scary feel to his images. Additionally, he doesn’t use much colour in his work, it is mainly based on shadows which helps create the common dull theme. He captures photos with a narrow depth of field to keep the viewers eye focused on the tools in his images, which prevents distraction.

My interpretation of Formalism:

Darren Harvey Regan –

Darren Harvey Regan is a photographer born in 1974, in Exeter. He was interested in the idea that photographs do not just exist to show things, but are physical things that become objects themselves. Regan was heavily inspired by Walker Evans after his portfolio “Beauty of the Common Tool” was released in 1955. Regan took inspiration from this, and began capturing valuable, man-made tools to signify the importance of them in day-to-day life. I believe Regan’s work is unique to other photographers, as he merged 2 tools together for creativity. He merged a wrench with a pair of pliers, and a Mason’s trowel with a pair of scissors. This was effective for the viewer because it is more intriguing than one tool in an image. It also makes us question what the relation is between the two tools and why the artist captured them together.

With this specific image, Regan successfully shows the value of the tool in his image by using a white background with no shadow. This also contrasts to Evan’s work as he often corporates shadows to show the depth of the tools. This could represent the fact he has modernised his photos.

Today we opened up Adobe Lightroom and created a new collection called “Tools”. I then selected all my photos of tools that I took in yesterdays lesson, and ranked them based on how good they are and how accurate they are to the inspired artist’s. This gives us a good idea on which images we would like to use in the future on projects etc. The images that are ranked green are my best photos, they are the ones I like the most and will definitely use in projects etc. The yellow images are the ones that I could potentially still use, however improvements could be made. For example, most of my yellow images do not have good angles, or are slightly blurry. The photos that I ranked red are ones I will not be using in my projects.

In photography, I use a DLSR Canon camera to take photos, because it ensures they all have good quality and there are various different ways I can adjust my images. This camera is extremely beneficial for photography as it allows me to change the shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

• The shutter speed is the length of time from the moment the shutter opens and this then allows light into the camera. A fast shutter speed will create a short exposure, whereas as a slower shutter speed will create a long exposure. This is because the shutter is open for a longer period of time which allows more light into the camera.
• The aperture is the opening of the lens’s diagram through which light passes through. Having a smaller aperture creates a sharper image.
• The ISO ( International standard organization) is an image sensitivity in a numerical value. Having a higher ISO can lower the quality of your photo and degrade is which will cause your photos to be grainy or “noisy”.

We used this app to begin experimenting with different apertures, shutter speeds and ISO, which was helpful because it allowed us to decide which ones look best for each specific photo. We then could apply these skills to when we actually use the cameras, which saves time and we could identify which ones would benefit the photos most.

Aperture

Aperture controls the size of the lens opening which allows light into your camera.

Opening the lens more or having a low f-stop number (e.g. f/1.4) blurs the background/foreground around your subject. This is known as a shallow depth of field.

Keeping the lens more closed or having a high f-stop number (e.g. f/16) keeps the photo sharp throughout. This is known as a wide depth of field.

Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed is the amount of time the shutter is open to expose the image sensor to light.

Slow shutter speeds expose more light to the image sensor so still objects will have more detail and moving objects will appear to have more motion/be blurry.

Faster shutter speeds means less light is exposed to the image sensor and moving objects appear more still.

ISO

The ISO of a camera selects how much light the image sensor detects.

Too much light on a sunny day can cause overexposed shots so a lower ISO would be preferred.

Too little light in a shady room or day can cause grainy images.

The general rule is to use the lowest ISO possible to get the most detail possible.

Exposure Meter

 The Exposure Meter is your final check before you snap a shot. It shows you how well your aperture, ISO and shutter speed are working together. It is used as a guide to show exposure.

There are seven basic elements to photographic art in formalism. Formalism is that photographers have to impose order, bring structure to what they photograph. ” A photograph without structure is like a sentence without grammar.”

These formal and visual elements (such as line, shape, repetition, rhythm, balance etc.) are shared with other works of art. But photographs also have a specific grammar – flatness, frame, time, focus etc. 

The seven basic elements of formalism are:

Line – line is one of the most important elements considered in photography, as they guide the eye around the image. improper arrangement of lines can take away the strength of the subject matter of the photo. Lines are either straight, curved, or a combination of the two. Lines can be solid, dashed or interrupted, implied, or psychological. They can be vertical, horizontal, or somewhere in-between.

Shape – shape in photography is the 2D appearance of objects captured by the camera. Shape can be highly influenced by the lighting of your photo: by taking a photo where the shape is emphasised, place the lighting either directly in front or behind the object. There are two basic types of shapes: geometric (or regular) and organic.

Form – form refers to when shape takes on 3D. Form is created by shadows and highlights on an object in the photograph. Form is very important, because without the 3d effect, most images can look flat and dull.

Texture – texture in photography refers to the visual quality of the surface of an object, revealed through a variety of colour, tone and depth. texture brings life and vibrancy to images which would otherwise appear uninspiring and perhaps boring.

Colour – colour is one of the main compositions a photographer can use in their images, as other elements such as tone and mood are dependent on it. How a photographer combines various colours in their work has an influence on how the viewer looks at the image, and how they evoke emotion.

Size – size in photography is the term given to describe the height and width of an image, although it can be manipulated by the camera. Larger camera sensors gather more light, which is excellent for low light photography.

Depth – simply, depth of field in photography is how much your image is in focus. It is the photographers job to tell a story through their images, so how the image is focused is important for the photographer to consider. If an object is close to the camera and is in focus, the photographer is telling the viewer where to look.

Examples of Formalism:

These images are great examples of formalism in photography, as they portray abstract reality by eliminating social and spatial context. This means the viewer is able to focus on only the object in the image and will not get distracted by the background.

Formalism Poster:

Q1. Where and when did still life originate?

• The early 1600s from Dutch and Northern European paintings

Q2. What does colonialism mean?

• Control by one power over a dependent area or people

Q3. How did colonialism impact the still life?

• It introduced new materials and techniques.

Q4. what do you see in early still life paintings?

• Variety of foods, flowers and occasionally skulls.

Q5. What could they symbolize?

• They could symbolize wealth and power in some cases and others maybe death, and lack of time which is shown in the paintings with skulls and or hourglasses.

Still Life Mood Board:

What is Still Life in photography?

Still life photography is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. It gives you the opportunity to experiment with light, materials, textures and subjects in a controlled setting.

The term ‘still life’ comes from the Dutch word ‘still-even’ and is popular genre in photography, which captures many inanimate objects. It originated from Dutch colonialism where the Dutch would take objects such as fruit from other countries, and photograph them to show their wealth and value. Often, the most common objects captured in still life is fruit or flowers, as they portray wealth and success.

Introduction to Still Life:

The term ‘still life’ comes from the Dutch word ‘still-even’ and is popular genre in photography, which captures many inanimate objects. It originated from Dutch colonialism where the Dutch would take objects such as fruit from other countries, and photograph them to show their wealth and value. Often, the most common objects captured in still life is fruit or flowers, as they portray wealth and success. Still Life photography is useful because it gives modern day photographers an insight of photography from several years ago, and allows them to recreate and expand on others work. Many still life photographers include objects such as fruits, flowers and jewellery or skulls in their work, as it adds an ancient effect. Additionally, most still life photographers use dark lighting and backgrounds to take their photos, which makes the images look eerie and creepy.

Still Life Mind map of ideas:

Objects:

• Pearls
• Gold
• Flowers
• Jewellery
• Can place lots of small objects together to create one big object

Fruits:

• Fruits such as apples, bananas and oranges can be placed on a black cloth to give a still life effect, usually in abnormal arrangements
• Both new and old fruits can be placed in the same image to show a sequence of aging, this adds a sense of realism.

Nature:

• Nature is often incorporated into still life photography, through the use of different leaves/ flowers etc
• Leaf arrangement
• Variety of colours, shapes and sizes in plants

Background:

• Most photographers use a dark background, sometimes a black cloth to emphasise the darkness. This prevents the viewer from being distracted by the objects.

Some examples of still life photography and research behind them:

Paulette Tavormina:

Paulette Tavormina is an American still-life photographer who was born and works in New York. She is best known for her series, Natura Morta, which is inspired by 17th century Dutch and Spanish painters. Her interest in photography grew in the 1900s, and has progressed ever since.

Olivia Parker:

Olivia Parker is a Manchester based, American still-life photographer. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1941. Parker began her career as a painter, but quickly turned her attention to photography by creating photographic assemblages of natural objects.

Still Life Image Analysis:

Here is a still life image that I have chosen to analyse. I chose this photo because it has lots of different objects in it, rather than just a few of the same thing. This makes it eye-catching for the viewer, and leaves them questioning the objects in the image. In this photo, the lighting is natural, therefore it is quite bright. This differs from other photographers still life work because a common theme in this genre is dark and dull lighting, which sets a mysterious mood throughout. This is interesting because clearly the photographer wants to highlight an eerie theme in the photo.

The black cloth that the objects are placed on also looks very old and creased, which adds to the mystery and seems as if the photographer has tried to make the photo look ancient. This is effective because it inspires modern day photographers and shows them what ancient photography was like.

The artist has also used common objects in this image such as fruits, skulls and nature. These three combined immediately set an intimidating and eerie mood to the photo, and can make the viewer quite uncomfortable. The angle that this photograph was taken at is also unnatural. This is because all of the objects are arranged in a specific way, where they are all slightly tilted to the side rather than being straight on from the camera. Overall, I think I could create similar images to these photographers by going to the studio, using a dark background and dim lighting to capture an irregular arrangement of a variety of objects.