introduction
Around the time of the 1920's to the 1930's photographers started to become increasingly more interested in the capturing of surfaces and textures of objects with a camera. The photographers of this time and movement had a large inspiration for the work they were creating who was the american photographer who said "The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself". What this basically means is that Weston believed that the camera should purely be used for capturing the feeling and presence of an object. To change its form from 3D to 2D yet still retain the objects shape, surface, feel and texture. Whilst capturing surfaces might seem easy, it can actually prove very challenging to truly convey a 3D objects presence in just a smooth glossy image.
New Objectivity
The New Objectivity or Neue Sachlichkeit, came about in Germany around the 1920s and challenged expressionism. The new style presented an unsentimental reality, as opposed to other forms of expressionism which would have been a lot more abstract or idealistic. Otto Dix and George Grosz were two major trends who both demonstrated the horrible and devistating effects of World War I by attacking the evils of those in power and in their society.
Research of Artists
Jaromir Funke
Funk was born in 1896 and studied medicine, law and philosophy at the Charles University, however he did not graduate and instead turned to photography.
By the 1920's Funke had progressed to becoming an amateur photographer, beginning to experiment with things like constructivism, surrealism, poeticism, and expressionism creating unconventional pieces, as a form of pure photography playing on Edward Westons view that "the camera should be used for a recording of life". Soon after Funke became a very skilled and professional free lance photographer. His work really shows the value in everyday objects and things, taking away any information like colour which would cloud the object, its true meaning, and how Funke wanted the image to come across.
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Edward Weston"The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh."- Edward Weston, 1924
Weston took many photos of many different things, from peppers and vegetables to landscapes. He did this because of his interest in focusing on the physical surface and texture of various different items by zooming in and cropping out any unnecessary back ground so that every detail of the object or thing can be seen. These photos are taken in black and white because colour cameras had not yet been invented, however this compliments his photos bringing in high contrast, and more detail with sharper lines in lighter areas (where he wants the focus) and less detail with blurred edges (where he does not want the focus. |
Eileen Quinlan
Eileen Quinlan was born in 1972 in Boston. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1996 and got her Master of Fine Arts in 2005. She is a still-life photographer who uses medium and large format cameras too shoot with.
Quinlan uses cameras and mirrors to create abstractions and interest in her kaleidoscopic images by creating a physical set filled with things like smoke, mirrors (any reflective surface) and paper towels, which are some of her more popular materials that she rearranges and recombines in different shoots. She uses a medium to large format camera too shoot these sets, and her photos usually include bright colours, and beautiful textures to catch the eye.
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my response
For my surface of things response I was constantly on the look out for interesting surfaces, textures and feels to objects that I might come across at any time. Becuase of this all of these photos were taken on my IPhone 6 camera as I came acroos these images whilst out and about, however I think that the lower camera quality of the IPhone compared to most DSLR's maybe contributed the the photos as I quite like the almost faint grainy effect. In these photos bar a few I was looking for a nice high contrast between black and white were it would really make the surface i was focusing on stand out, using light and shadow to create this effect I also found it interesting how I was now able to observe the surface of the object in good light, as well as bad light, and I found that the surfaces texture and feel can change dramatically depending on the lighting conditions, I found this effect especially stood out in my 5th photo. My favourite images are the ones of the two shoes and the inside of the ash tray because of the highly defined surfaces of the ash, cigarette butts, brick wall and the two shoes.
Exploration of deeper meanings in photography
In this lesson I looked at photos from people like Eileen Quinlan for inspiration. I then manipulated and disrupted these images in ways which I thought appropriate based on how the image I was playing with made me feel, or think. Next step was too construct a short small but meaningful sentence for each of the photos, based on words that came in to my head whilst observing them. For example to me one of the photos looked "overlapped" which then made me think of "Nature" leading my mind too "Weeds" then how weeds are thought of or respected "Annoying, Unwanted, Killed, and Helpless", to me these words had connotations of things going on in the world similar too the hate of weeds, and how we feel about them like "Homophobia, Sexism, Discrimination and Racism" and then how these things are "wrong". This helped me to construct a sentence linked with the photo which portrayed one of its many deeper meanings "Humans value of life is Hypocritical and Unjust".
contemporary /modern photographic response
After completing my previous studies I made a view finder out of a peice of A2 paper, I glued an image to the front of it, drew loads of lines to add more interest and cut holes through it in different locations for my camera too look through. I wanted my view finder to give a feel of looking through a window at something, or just looking through something at another thing, this is why the holes I cut are neat and inline with the zebra crossing and window of the image that I glued on top the my A2 piece of paper. The photos above are completely unedited.
Experimenting with slides
The above images are projections of slides I made, out of salt, and different coloured inks. The little black squares that can be seen are the little grains of salt in the slide, and the various colours are mixes of pink, red and yellow ink. Between the two photos I experimented with more or less salt and ink, playing with effects given when mixing the ink, and how it was applied, using my thumb print as seen on the right, and just blotting it on as seen on the left.
Compare and Contrast
New vision
-Looks inspired by Edward Weston. -This photo feels extremely industrial, due to the architecture of the constructions captured in the image. -Loads of dramatic shadows and shapes. -Extremely zoomed in, and close up. The construction fills the image. -Extremely dull colours, double exposed. |
Pictorialism.
-Photo looks as if it has been manipulated, soft like a painting. -Tree branches cover the image, along with very natural colours with the deep, heavy blues, greens and browns. -The silhouette of some men, combined with the dark and blurry image create an eerie effect. -Photo includes architecture. |