Andreas Gursky

Andreas Gursky is a German visual artist, born in Leipzig in 1955, known for his large format architectural and landscape photographs.

Andreas Gursky

Between 1981 and 1987, Gursky studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he was heavily influenced by his teachers Hilla and Bernd Becher. The Bechers are known for their distinctive method of cataloging industrial machinery and architecture without any emotion or passion. Gursky's large scale photographs show a similar method.

99 cent

Before the 1990's, none of Gursky's images were digitally enhanced. However, since then he has openly admitted that he relies a lot on computers to edit and enhance his images. A lot of his photographs are taken from an elevated vantage point, which enables him to show scenes that are normally beyond reach. Some good examples are his '99 cent' photograph and the 'Chicaco Board of Trade' photograph.

Chicago Board of Trade

Whilst Gursky is very famous for his busy scenes full of colour, one mustn't forget his landscape photography. Gursky's 'Rhein II' photograph, depicting an empty landscape with the river Rhine flowing through it, sold at Christie's auction house in New York for $4.3m (£2.7m) in 2008. This makes it the most expensive photograph ever sold.

Rhein II

I am very torn when I look at Gursky's photographs. On the one hand, I really don't like his images. It's chaotic, it's too busy or in the case of 'Rhein II' it's simply too boring. But on the other hand, I totally get his work. I can see what his intentions were and I can see what makes these images so special. I suppose this is the difference between looking at something as the 'normal me' or as the 'photographer me'. One thing his images do for both 'me's' is mesmerise me. They have this abillity to make you look at them for long times and constantly find something different you didn't see before. Very special indeed.

Task 3 - Camera Types

There are many different camera types. From digital to film, 35mm to large format. Every single one has its advantages and disadvantages, so it can be confusing finding the right camera for the job. Below I will talk a little bit about some of the important types of cameras. First, let's talk about a few of the formats available in photography before we discuss the types of cameras using these different formats.

ISO 400 Fuji 135 Colour Film (35mm)

35mm

35mm film is probably the most popular film used by people today. Each image on the film is 36x24mm and is commonly known as "full-frame" format. In 1934, Kodak introduced it under the term '135'. The full-frame format has now been adopted by many high-end Digital SLR Cameras.

Original 120 and 620, Modern 120 Film

120 Film

120 film was created by Kodak for use with their 'Brownie' No. 2 camera. Intended for amateur photographers, it was quickly overtaken by the 35mm '135' film. However, together with its relative '220' film, it remains the only Medium Format film widely available for professionals and amateurs.

Medium Format (left) and 35mm (right)

Medium Format

Medium Format is a term used to refer to a certain type of film and the cameras that use this film. It is used for film, and cameras that use film, that is larger than 36x24mm but smaller than 4x5 inches. Anything bigger is referred to as 'Large Format', which I will discuss too. The image on the right shows the size comparison between 'Medium Format' and 35mm.

Large Format

Large Format film

Large Format refers to film or the cameras that use film larger than 4x5 inches (102×127 mm). The advantage is that a Large Format image has an area 16 times the size of standard 35mm, thus containing 16 times the resolution of a standard 35mm. This means Large Format images are of a much higher resolution and often contain much more detail. They're often used for images that have to be enlarged to a high magnification while still requiring a high level of detail.


Now that we've discussed a few popular types of film, let's talk about some of the different cameras that use these types of film.

Single Lens Reflex (SLR)

The inner workings of a SLR camera

SLR cameras are often 35mm, but can also be Medium Format. They use a prism and mirror system that allows the user to see directly through the lens, meaning "what you see is what you get". Unlike viewfinder cameras, where the image captured can differ a lot from what the user saw through the viewfinder. SLR cameras are available with many different lenses and many different lenses can be bought. Some examples are removable lenses, fixed lenses, prime lenses (fixed focal length) and zoom lenses (range of focal lengths). Before the SLR cameras, all cameras with a viewfinder had two light paths. One directly through the lens onto the film. The other above (Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras) or to the side (Rangefinder cameras). Because the two path were different, it meant the captured image could differ greatly from what the photographer had seen through the viewfinder.


Medium Format SLR

Medium Format SLR cameras are the same as normal SLR cameras, but use Medium Format film instead of the 35mm film. This means that there isn't a standard size to the prints. Instead, the image size is only restricted by the size of the film. Therefore, the images could be anything from 36x24mm to 4x5 inches.

Twin Lens Reflex (TLR)

Classic Rolleiflex TLR

TLR cameras are cameras, as the name suggests, with 2 lenses. Both lenses are of the same focal length. One lens is the photographic objective lens (the lens that takes the actual photograph), while the other is the lens connected to the viewfinder. The viewfinder is usually positioned on the top or the side and mirrors used to get the scene from the lens to the viewfinder. TLR cameras most often use the Medium Format '120' film, although there are a lot of examples of TLR cameras using different formats. There are no general purpose Digital TLR cameras, since the era of the TLR camera ended long before the Digital era began. The only exception is the rather expensive Rollei Mini-Digi, which was introduced in 2004 as more of a collector's camera.

Large Format Cameras

Most Large Format cameras are 'view cameras'. These cameras have a front and a back part which are called 'standards'. The front standard contains the 'lens pane' (which as the name suggests contains the lens) and the back standard contains the 'film pane' (which contains the film). The bellows is a flexible box, pleated like an accordion, that sits in between the two standards and makes it so the standards can be shifted and tilted. This shift and tilt movement was especially good for architectural and close-up photographers, because it gave them a better control of rendering perspective and increase apparent depth of field. It would help them solve otherwise impossible depth of field problems and they could create special effects that would be impossible to create with conventional fixed-plane fixed-lens cameras.


 Instant Cameras (Polaroid)

Instant cameras are cameras that use self-developing film and generate a developed film image. The most popular instant cameras were formerly made by Polaroid Corporation. 

Polaroid SX-70

The original idea, by Edwin Land, behind this type of camera was that they would be easy to use for everyone. In the early days, a photographer would take a picture and pull a large tab at the back of the camera, which would pull the negative over the positive. The image would then go through some rollers to spread the developing agent. After waiting the required time, the photographer would open a little hatch at the back of the camera and would peel the positive from the negative. He would then need to coat the black and white positive in a fixing agent, which would prevent fading. This was a messy procedure which led to the development of coater less instant pack film which didn't need this coat of fixing agent anymore. 

2 photographs taken on instant film

The later integral film cameras, such as the Polaroid SX-70 shown above, managed to really bring Edwin Land's idea to life. The photographer would simply take the photograph and the camera would do the rest. It would adjust exposure, take care of focus and simply eject the photograph which would then develop without needing any intervention from the photographer. In October 2009, Polaroid announced they would bring back their classic instant film cameras after they announced a year before that production was to be stopped.


Rangefinder Camera

A Rangfinder camera is essentially a camera with a rangefinder fitted to it. A rangefinder is a mechanism which allows the photographer to measure the distance to his subjects, allowing him to take photographs that are super sharp. Most rangefinder cameras display two of the same images of the subject. One of the images moves when a wheel on the camera is turned. When the two images merge into one, the correct distance can be read off the wheel. Older cameras then needed that value transferred to the focus ring, giving the correct focus.

1947 Foca Rangefinder Camera

Nowadays, digital cameras have a rangefinding mechanism that measures the distance using electroaccoustic or electronic means. And of course also focus automatically using the autofocus.

Pinhole Camera

A pinhole camera is really simply a box, entirely light-proof, with a tiny hole on one side. The light will pass through the hole and project an inverted image of the scene on the other side. In other words, the image will be upside down. Because pinhole cameras require lenghty exposures, the shutter would be operated manually by using light-proof material to uncover and cover the pinhole. To create a photograph, the scene could be projected on photographic film for example. Once the scene has been exposed on the photographic film, the photographer would simply develop the film as normal.

The principle of a pinhole camera

It can be a little tricky to find the right size required for the pinhole. The smaller the pinhole, the sharper the image, but the image becomes dimmer too. If the pinhole is too small, the sharpness worsens due to diffraction.

An example of a 20 minute exposure taken with a pinhole camera

 The Camera Obscura is a very well known example of the pinhole camera. Often, people would use a light-proof room with a little hole on the window side and project the scene on the walls of the room. It is often used for drawing or entertainment. In drawing, the scene would be projected onto paper, upside down, and traced for a perfect representation of the scene when turned around.

Image Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:135_fuji_film_macro.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Film_size_comparison.jpg

http://benneh.net/blog/tag/large-format

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/camera5.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/120_film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-lens_reflex_camera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_camera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_camera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_camera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangefinder_camera

Josef Hoflehner

Josef Hoflehner was born in 1955 in Wels, Austria and is famous for his black and white landscapes.

While he is now a famous photographer, Hoflehner grew up in a family where a camera was rarely used. So rare, that 3 Christmas holidays could be captured on one roll of film. At the age of 20, Hoflehner purchased his first camera and began to travel. Although Austria was a beautiful country with mountains and beautiful natural landscapes, it didn't have coastlines or deserts. It was missing the empty spaces where you could see the horizon unimpaired.

An early award in photography started his career and opened a lot of doors for him, professionally, and his career has continued to develop with amazing success.

Now, Hoflehner's prints feature in many public, private and corporate collections. One of the most notable being Polo Ralph Lauren. Hoflehner is also well known for his photograph series called 'Jet Airliner'.

I really like his photographs. The black and white images and the use of slow shutter speeds capture an almost dreamy landscape. The underexposed look to the images makes for very dark images, which enhance that dreamy feel. I also like the fact that some of his work looks really modern, while other landscapes are more traditional scenes. Definitely one of my favourites.

http://leakstev.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/josef-hoflehners-black-and-white-world.html

http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/weblog.php?/weblog/comments/2248/

http://www.lenscratch.com/2009/08/josef-hoflehner.html

http://www.photographersgallery.com/photo.asp?id=4421

http://fotogartistica.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/josef-hoflehner-paesaggi-in-bianco-e.html

http://www.josefhoflehner.com/jetairliner/14.html

Joe Cornish

Joe Cornish in a British landscape photographer, born in 1958 in Exeter in England, UK. Using mainly 5x4 cameras, he has produced a lot of work for the National Trust and has featured in many magazines such as 'Amateur Photographer' and 'Outdoor Photography'.

Joe Cornish

Cornish has published several books containing his images. He also teaches landscape photography and owns two galleries in North Yorkshire. His interest in photography started when he was studying art at Reading University. After graduating here he worked for four years as an assistant in London and Washington D.C.

For around a decade he used 35mm and 6x6 film cameras for his shots. In 1995 he started working with a Horseman SW 612 wide-angle camera and a year later he started working with the 5x4 cameras. It allowed him to develop the style that he is famous for today. He used these cameras up until 2008, after which he started to integrate four different digital formats. His love for large format work remains, but according to Cornish "times have changed".

The way Cornish works is all to do with the landscape. Developing a language of light and form that illuminates the subject, without attracting too much attention to the photographer. This is very visible in his images and it remains at the heart of his mission, according to Cornish.

My personal opinion of Cornish's work is one of admiration. I love his images. The use of light, the low angles of the shots and the colours are simply amazing. His choice of beautiful landscapes with always something in the foreground is beautiful. He ties in perfectly with our assignment on shutter speed, because he often uses a slow shutter speed to turn the waves or flow of water into a mist around the pebbles and rocks in the foreground. Being captivated by landscape photography myself, Cornish's work is something I would love to try and emulate in my own images. He is by far my favourite photographer.

Image Sources:
http://www.photobards.com/interview/joe-cornish-16.html
http://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2011/03/sunsets/
http://francessmithlandscapes.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/photographer-study-joe-cornish/
http://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/return-joe-cornish

Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1949. Whilst studying painting at the 'San Fransisco Art Institute' she tried to continue developing her photography skills. During this time she was influenced by photographers such as Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson. She started her career as Staff Photographer for 'Rolling Stone' magazine in 1970 and became their Chief Photographer in 1973.

Annie Leibovitz

Probably Leibovitz's most famous photograph is the one below of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, which was shot in 1980 for the cover of 'Rolling Stone' magazine. John Lennon was shot dead 5 hours later, making Leibovitz the last person to professionally photograph John Lennon. Leibovitz left 'Rolling Stone' magazine 10 years later and by that time, she had shot a total of 142 covers. Later she also worked for the magazines 'Vanity Fair' and 'Vogue'. Besides her successful editorial career for magazines, she also did the advertising campaigns for American Express and Gap. She also contributed often to the Got Milk? campaign.

The Queen of England

Scarlett Johansson

Leibovitz has photographed all sorts of celebrities, from the Queen of England to Scarlett Johansson. This is why she is one of the most well known photographer to the rich and famous.

Cover of 'Rolling Stone' magazine, featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Personally I quite like her photographs and style. She is very good at making her subjects look important and at times very sexy. I think her use of lighting is great. I especially like her photographs in which she creates an almost fairytale atmosphere, with lots of accesoiries and fancy clothes. Her Disney series is a good example of that.

Leibovitz's Disney series, featuring Jennifer Lopez

Image Sources:
http://kotobukian-eye.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/master-lens-anne-leibovitz-and-james.html
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/10/annie_excerpt200810
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/09/annie-leibovitz-photography-exhibition-wexner#slide=1
http://anthonylukephotography.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/annie-leibovitz-shoots-hollywood-stars.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Leibovitz

Assignment 3 - An Explanation of Field of View

The Field of View (FoV) is how much of a given scene is covered by your lens. How much can you see? A quite simple explanation can be given, using the focal lengths of your lenses. If you were to use a wide angled lens, such as the standard Canon 18-55mm kit lens, you will be able to see a lot more of your scene when using a focal length of 18mm, meaning it is a wide FoV. However, using a focal length of 55mm on that same lens will mean you have less of your scene visible, meaning it is a narrower FoV. If you were to go even further and use a lens with a focal length of 300mm, it would leave only a small section of your scene visible, simply because the FoV is so narrow.

The following image shows you exactly how wide or narrow your FoV would be at certain focal lengths.

I will try and illustrate what this would look like in practise, using some of my own photographs taken with focal lengths of 18mm, 55mm, 70mm and 300mm.

18mm

55mm

70mm

300mm

As you can see, there's a lot more of the scene visible in the photograph taken at a focal length of 18mm than there is in the photograph taken at 300mm. It's the same scene, but the FoV is much narrower at 300mm. For landscapes, photographers often use a wide FoV, to fit in as much of the landscape as possible.

Image Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pallotron/1803416154/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Assignment 4 - The Subtle Colour Differences in White Balance

Different sources of light will have different 'temperatures', which are measured in Kelvin (K). These temperatures range from cold to warm. A very cold light source will have a very low Kelvin reading, whereas a warm light source will have a high Kelving reading.

On your camera there will be different White Balance settings for different types of light. These settings can include: 

• 'Daylight' (Approx. 5200K)
• 'Shade' (Approx. 7000K)
• 'Cloudy' (Approx. 6000K)
• 'Tungsten Light' (3200K)
• 'White Fluorescent Light' (Approx. 4000K)
• 'Flash'.

Using the wrong setting for a certain type of light will result in a discoloured photograph. I will try to illustrate this with the help of my own photographs below.

'Daylight'

'Shade'

'Cloudy'

'Tungsten Light'

'Fluorescent White Light'

'Flash'

As you can see, the colours range from quite cold (blue tint) to quite warm (yellow/orange tint). So one should always make sure the right White Balance setting has been selected before taking the photograph, otherwise the result will not look how one would've wanted.

Assignment 2 - Shutter Speed... How does it work? (Motion Blur)

Shutter speed, also known as the exposure time, is basically the length of time the shutter of the camera is open. This, together with the Aperture, will determine the amount of light that will reach the film or sensor. Setting the correct Aperture and Shutter Speed will result in a correctly exposed photograph. A very fast shutter speed can be used to freeze fast-moving subjects, whereas a slow shutter speed can be used to intentionally blur subjects.

I will now try to demonstrate by showing some photographs I took.

Shutter Speed of 1/80

Shutter Speed of 1/4

Shutter Speed of 2"5

The following photographs were taken at night, on the field near my house, using a torch to create all sort of patterns. Because the shutter speed was so slow, the camera wasn't able to record the person waving the torch.

Shutter Speed of 10"

Shutter Speed of 10"

Shutter Speed of 4"

I hope this explains a little bit what Shutter Speed means and how it works.

Sally Mann

Sally Mann

Sally Mann is an American photographer who is best known for her large black and white photographs. She started with photographs of her children at first, but later photographed landscapes suggesting death and decay.

Sally Mann

 Born in Lexington, Virginia on May 1, 1951 as Sally Turner Munger, Mann was the third of 3 children and the only daughter. Her father, Robert S. Munger, was a general practitioner. Her mother, Elizabeth Evans Munger, ran the bookstore at Washington and Lee University in Lexington. She took up photography at The Putney School where she graduated in 1969. Her reason for taking up photography was simply to be alone with her boyfriend in the darkroom. She made her debut at Putney with an image of a nude classmate. Her father encouraged her interest in photography and his 5x7 camera became the basis of her use of large format cameras today.

After graduating, Mann worked as a photographer at Washington and Lee University where in the mid 1970's she photographed the construction of its new law school building, the Lewis Hall. This lead to her first one-woman exhibition in 1977 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. The images were included in her first book, Second Sight, which was published in 1984. She published a second collection, At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women, in 1988. This publication stimulated controversy. The images showed the confusing emotions and developing identities adolescent girls. The way it was printed made for a very dramatic and brooding mood in all her images.

Mann, however, is probably best known for her third collection which was published in 1992. Immediate Family consisted of 65 black and white photographs of her three children, all under the age of 10. The photographs showed typical children's activities, such as dressing up, napping, playing board games. Because many of the photographs were taken at the family's remote summer cabin along the river, where the children played and swam in the nude, there were also images of skinny dipping. Others explored darker themes, such as insecurity, sexuality and death. When the collection was released, the controversy was intense. There were even accusations of child pornography. One image of her 4 year old daughter (Virginia at 4) was even censored by the Wall Street Journal with black bars over her eyes, nipples and pubic area. Mann considered these photographs to be "natural through the eyes of a mother, since she has seen her children in every state: happy, sad, playful, sick, bloodied, angry and even naked.". Critics agreed and Time magazine even named her 'America's Best Photographer' in 2001, saying amongst other things: "No other collection of family photographs is remotely like it, in both its naked candor and the fervor of its maternal curiosity and care.". The New Republic considered it "one of the great photograph books of our time.".

In the mid 1990's, Mann began photographing landscapes. She used wet plate collodion 8x10 glass negatives and again used the same 100 year old 8x10 bellows view camera she had used for all her previous work. They were first seen in Still Time. Mann has published several more books, most of which consist of landscapes.

Currently, Mann is working on a series of self-portraits, a multipart study of the legacy of slavery in Virginia, and intimate images of her family and life. The latter, entitled "Marital Trust", spans 30 years and includes intimate details of her family life with her husband Larry Mann.

Emmit's Bloody Nose

Personally, looking her photographs including the ones of her little daughter in the nude, I can understand the controversy. However, being a father myself, I would have to agree with Sally Mann. Some of the photographs are beautiful and they capture her children exactly how a mother or a father would look look at their children. The problem is publishing them I think. Not everyone will agree it's right for images like this to be shown in public. Then, there are the darker themes that make for quite uncomfortable viewing in my opinion. Children lying down, almost as corpses. Or a toddler with a cigarette. However, looking at the photographs from a photographer's perspective I can definitely see the artistic and photogenic value. Still, overall, Mann is  a photographer with vision and a style to admire.



Image Sources:
http://jedispaz3.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/sally-mann/
http://phlearn.com/photographers/sally-mann
http://www.milkandbreadvintage.com/2011/10/sally-mann-photography.html