Photo Attribution – Goff James – Without Words 479, 2022
Copyright (c) 2022 Goff James – All Rights Reserved
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Photo Attribution – Goff James – ‘L.T.’, 2016
Copyright (c) 2022 Goff James – All Rights Reserved
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Photo Attribution – Goff James – Without Words 461, 1975
Copyright (c) 2022 Goff James – All Rights Reserved
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Photo Attribution, Goff James, Without Words 434. 2021
Copyright (c) 2021 Goff James – All Rights Reserved
View more photography by Goff James
Thank you for your visit
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Welcome followers and visitors to my blog and another update in my photography Beginner’s Guide to Photography.
This week I will be continuing to look at Portrait Photography and looking at an image by Irving Penn.
As I have stated in previous articles one can learn so much about photography by looking at; and, talking about other photographers’ work.
Portrait Photography may be defined as;
https://www.photographytips.com/page.cfm/368
http://www.photokonnexion.com/definition-portraiture/
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/portrait
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/portrait
A. Johnson
“A true portrait should, today and a hundred years from today, be the testimony of how this person looked and what kind of human being he was.”
Philippe Halsman
https://www.phototraces.com/creative-photography/famous-portrait-photographers/
The subject is framed within the image’s formal design.
The curving lines of the hat’s brim and coat collar draws the viewer’s eye in and around the frame to explore the entirety of the composition.
Lit from the left side of the frame combined with the creative use of light and shadow imbues the image with a dramatic intensity.
This arrangement isolates the subject and removes him from his own everyday reality.
The hat and dark overcoat are the only props utilised within the composition and facilitate an intense engagement not only between the subject and the photographer but also outwards to the viewer and beyond exuding a sense of stillness and serene spirituality.
The image presents a cool, even appraisal that neither assaults nor caresses the sitter.
“What I really try to do is photograph people at rest, in a state of serenity,’’
Irving Penn (interview with The New York Times Magazine, 1977)
Compositionally minimalistic in form the image presents the subject face half obscured receding in shadow.
It is a sparse lustrous head-and-shoulder portrait taken close-up, cropped within the constricting space of the square frame and set against a discreet neutral blurred background.
“…. As a result there is a greater emphasis on a subtle exploration of gesture and expression between photographer and sitter.”
Magdalene Keaney (Art Historian)
(Irving Penn Portraits. London: National Portrait Gallery, 2010, p. 7.)
The confrontational positioning of the subject close-up to the lens with its focus being directly upon the subject’s highlighted face, the shallow depth of field, precise clarity, severity and impassivity amplifies the sitter’s gesture, expression and powerful persona.
The lack of context confuses the viewer’s sense of scale and heightens awareness not just of the sitter’s face and what it reveals, but of what is unseen – the subject’s remoteness and possible vulnerability.
The image captures more than the subject’s character and individuality through the inclusion of the elaborate embroidery on the collar of the overcoat.
The tight cropping of Picasso’s face and deep highlight and shadow across it both flattens and breaks the image, into a series of abstract shapes and planes that reflect the cubist mantra of fragmentation.
As Mark Haworth-Booth states in his introduction to Irving Penn Fringes, (PaceWildensteinMacGill exhibition catalogue, 1996, n.p.) :
“ …[it] is literally reflected in Picasso’s left eye.”
“It represents not only the world beyond the viewfinder and studio, but also the tool of the current artist at work—the natural, ideally northern, daylight in which Penn preferred to work.”
There is a great deal of detail within the print including the photographer’s daylight studio in the reflection of Picasso’s left eye.
The image, at one level without a title, presents the rejection of any contextual narrative that readily identifies the sitter.
However the image’s title suggests otherwise through identifying the sitter.
This information arguably changes the context.
Through eschewing any defined background the subject assumes the central role, prompting viewers to focus on the very essence of the sitter,
“[Penn’s photographs] are not stories, but simply pictures.”
John Szarkowski
Director of photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art,
The close-up portrait is skilfully and almost perfectly centered around the sitter’s left eye with its penetrating look – a homage to Cubism.
The frame, divided into sections, bares the geometric abstraction of the artist’s Cubist period.
Other references to the style are rendered within the image, the embroidery on the overcoat, the eye, the strong tonal contrasts, the collar of the overcoat slicing, the face at an unconventional angle, the assembly of bold shapes the abstraction of the ear and the different lines dissecting the plane
The portrait may be compared with Picasso’s grey-toned ” Buste de femme “, 26 III, 1956
and “Portrait de femme à la robe verte”, 1956
In many ways Penn’s portrait of Picasso becomes more of a probable self-visualisation by Picasso rather than a regimented projection by the photographer of how a portrait should be.
The image of Pablo Picasso at La Californie, Cannes, possesses a duality of meaning that embraces two great masters, both subtly revealing themselves from different sides of the same lens.
I trust that you find some of these ideas useful within the context of your own photography.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and allow different ideas to develop as you go along.
Remember the things which I have referred to in previous articles about taking photos and creating photograms; the same applies to considering your own photos, other photographers’ work as well as applying different artist’s ideas too.
Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Experiment! Experiment! Experiment!
Remember there are no right or wrong answers or ways of doing it.
Your photographs are your world.
You can do what you like.
Don’t worry about the theory and trying to remember everything about how to take or consider how to look at or stage a photograph.
Don’t worry about what you might think is right or wrong in talking about or taking photographs.
Make mistakes. Laugh. Have fun. Just enjoy the process.
Happy Photography.
Thank you for your visit.
Art Photography Poetry
Reference List
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/IrvingPennArchives/portraitshttp://www.dptips-central.com/irving-penn.html
https://www.artofplatinum.wordpress.com/category/irving-penn-2/
http://www.npg.org.uk/about/press/irving-penn-portraits1.php
https://www.phillips.com/detail/IRVING-PENN/NY040210/22
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/recycled/2009/10/irving_penn_rip.html
http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/close-encounters
https://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-601-793-view-fashion-1-profile-penn-irving.html
https://www.widewalls.ch/photography-portraits/richard-avedon-marilyn-monroe/
Welcome followers and visitors to my blog and another update in my photography Beginner’s Guide to Photography.
This week I will be taking a look at Portrait Photography and looking at an image by Steve McCurry.
As I have stated in previous articles one can learn so much about photography by looking at; and, talking about other photographers’ work.
Portrait Photography may be defined as;
https://www.photographytips.com/page.cfm/368
http://www.photokonnexion.com/definition-portraiture/
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/portrait
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/portrait
Andrew Johnson,
“A true portrait should, today and a hundred years from today, be the testimony of how this person looked and what kind of human being he was.”
Philippe Halsman
https://www.phototraces.com/creative-photography/famous-portrait-photographers/
Source Attribution https://huxleyparlour.com/the-afghan-girl/
Compositionally the subject is set off centre of the image facing outwards towards the camera.
The slight shift the subject makes to the positioning of her haunting eyes inscribe a sense of dramatic movement imbued with a sense of unseen horror that floods the image with an intense raw energy.
The lighting appears to be natural and coming from both the front and right of frame and entering the space from slightly above and directly from behind the photographer.
The main focus is the subject’s face isolated by its clarity and sharpness within the encircling ragged head wrap which accentuates the piercing eloquent stare of the eyes.
The face has no significant dark shadowing causing no loss of the catchlights which flatters and intensifies the subject’s explosive emotive expression.
The rule of thirds subdivides the image compositionally into different spatial planes both horizontally and vertically across the frame.
If one views the image from bottom frame up it exemplifies the rule of thirds vertically and dictates how the image is laid out.
The lower third is composed of the subject’s right shoulder, directly in the foreground, which accentuates the turn of the child’s upper torso mantled in the leading lines of the folds in the rust red garment.
The middle third stretching from the girl’s chin to the top of her forehead, includes her face hair, part of the garment’s hood and background.
The top third accommodates the top of the subject’s head, hair, hood and the background.
If one views the composition vertically from left to right the first third contains the left side of the subject’s face to the vertical edge of her nose.
The central third, which stretches to the top of her right cheek bone. It connects with a vertical line traversing the edge of her shoulder upwards passing her hidden ear and up to the top of the frame traversing the green vertical line observed in the background.
The final third is occupied with the subject’s shoulder, the remainder of her hair, hood and the blurred green background.
Where the lines of the horizontal and vertical planes intersect is where the main focal point of the image is housed – the strident defiant outward turned face and penetrating soul filled eyes.
The shallow depth of field, the contrasting complementary colours of red and green, the green and white of the eyes, the tanned flesh of the face with its muted tones and the blurring of the background infuse the portrait with significant emotive intensity and regal qualities of the sublime.
The composition is filled with a series of curving leading lines that not only provide a rhythmic energy within the image but draw the viewer to the very heart and focus of the image, the subject’s face and eyes.
These elements accentuate the young subject’s hidden femininity, fears and vulnerability.
The curving lines are counterpointed by the vertical lines of her nose and the horizontal structure of her brow bone; which, with the manner in which the image occupies its various spatial structure create a sense of stability revealing an internal strength and determination to survive against all the odds.
“ …I did know that there was a power and that there was something completely special and unusual and extraordinary about this look.”
Steve McCurry
I trust that you find some of these ideas useful within the context of your own photography.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and allow different ideas to develop as you go along.
Remember the things which I have referred to in previous articles about taking photos and creating photograms; the same applies to considering your own photos, other photographers’ work as well as applying different artist’s ideas too.
Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Experiment! Experiment! Experiment!
Remember there are no right or wrong answers or ways of doing it.
Your photographs are your world.
You can do what you like.
Don’t worry about the theory and trying to remember everything about how to take or consider how to look at or stage a photograph.
Don’t worry about what you might think is right or wrong in talking about or taking photographs.
Make mistakes. Laugh. Have fun. Just enjoy the process.
Happy Photography.
Thank you for your visit.
Art Photography Poetry
Reference List
http://www.earthporm.com/top-10-famous-portrait-photographers-around-world/
https://mackenziekerrigan.wordpress.com/photo-analysis/
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text/1
http://resourcemagonline.com/2015/01/12-top-tier-portrait-photographers-you-should-know/47073/
https://www.phototraces.com/creative-photography/famous-portrait-photographers/
Welcome followers and visitors to my blog and another update in my photography Beginner’s Guide to Photography.
This week I will be, again, taking a look at Conceptual Photography and looking at an image by Christopher Williams.
As I have stated in previous articles one can learn so much about photography by looking at; and, talking about other photographers’ work.
Conceptual Photography may be defined as;
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/conceptual-photography
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/conceptual-art
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/39542.aspx
The image, close cropped within the frame, presents a female model with one yellow towel wrapped around her hair and another around her bust.
The model is offset to the right side of the frame and takes up two thirds of the vertical and horizontal space.
The image presents a staged re-photographing of a Kodak illustration taken from an instruction manual for amateur photographers published in 1968.
The image overtly displays the typically hidden device of the Kodak colour bar—the “Three Point Reflection Guide” which was used by photographers to measure the trueness of a colour in a coloured image.
Consequently the dynamic tension within the image is accentuated with its inclusion in the portrait of the model.
The dominant colour within the image is the vibrant yellow an acknowledgement to Kodak’s advertising signature colour.
The pose echoes the functionality of catalogue shots, but invests the subject with the unreal sheen of advertising.
The relative pristine simplicity of the compositional elements of the image – the minimalist light palette of colours and the subject isolated against the jet-black background reveals the unexpected beauty and cultural resonance of commercial, industrial and instructional photography.
The immediate appeal of this image is the subversive manner in which CW draws attention to both photography as a process and the portrayal of an ideal feminine image. CW parodies aesthetic conventions of photographic representation, in particular, advertising imagery.
On first glance, this image appears to be a pristine, even sterile, commercial photograph, its model flashing the clean smile fetishised by contemporary advertising as if culled from brand fashion catalogues and magazines.
Once the image has been divorced from its original function, the first thing that is observed is not a photo that shows a woman who has just washed her hair; but, one that shows a model undertaking her daily strenuous job and the strains and pressures that she has to maintain to keep the artificial facade of ideal beauty for the length of time a photoshoot takes.
Upon closer inspection the image, with its shallow depth of field, reveals the artificiality of the scenario.
This is accentuated through use of the older subject and the minor imperfections that remain on her skin.
The creation of shaped shadow under the nose of the subject and under the cheeks and chin indicates placing the main light source above and directly behind the camera.
The angle of the shoot appears to indicate that the photographer was positioned underneath the light source and is use particularly for creating glamour style shots as it flatters the complexion of older subjects as it emphasises wrinkles less than side lighting.
Using these various devices the subject is released from her commercial moorings and appears both ordinary and vulnerable.
The image is technically precise recalling pre contemporary imagery and advertising, as well as invoking histories of art, photography and cinema.
The subversive nature of the image explores the use of photography as a medium in modern commercial advertising through questioning the stage sets of the art world and the publicity structures on which they rely.
The image’s provocative narrative draws the viewer’s attention to question photography’s integrity in a commercial orientated society: what it is, what it does and what it means at a time when it is so ubiquitous, covert and taken for granted.
Through the image’s narrative the viewer is led to review their own stance with regard to why there was a need to use a picture of a semi-clothed woman as an aid to learning how to take a picture – and whether this concept remains in situ in today’s modern world.
I trust that you find some of these ideas useful within the context of your own photography.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and allow different ideas to develop as you go along.
Remember what I referred to in previous articles about taking photos and creating photograms; the same applies to considering your own photos, other photographers’ work as well as applying different artist’s ideas too.
Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Experiment! Experiment! Experiment!
Remember there are no right or wrong answers or ways of doing it.
Your photographs are your world.
You can do what you like.
Don’t worry about the theory and trying to remember everything about how to take or consider how to look at or stage a photograph.
Don’t worry about what you might think is right or wrong in talking about or taking photographs.
Make mistakes. Laugh. Have fun. Just enjoy the process.
Happy Photography.
Thank you for your visit.
Art Photography Poetry
Reference List
http://www.collection.whitney.org/object/27531
https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1376
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/christopher-williams/
Welcome followers and visitors to another update in my Beginner’s guide to photography.
Today I will be talking about portrait photography; defining portrait photography, looking at, and analysing one of my own portraits titled “LT”.
As I have mentioned in previous articles it is good to take an in depth look at ones own images as well as other photographers’ work.
Photo “LT” Attribution, Goff James,
Copyright (c) 2021 Goff James – All Rights Reserved
Portrait Photography – Definition
Portrait photography may be defined as;
The Constructionist Approach is one in which an idea is constructed around the portrait and applied in studio and social photography. It is also used extensively in advertising and marketing when an idea has to be put across. A constructionist approach to portraiture is all about building emotion and atmosphere.
The Environmental Approach depicts the subject in their environment -work, leisure, social or family. They are depicted being involved in a particular activity related to themselves and reveals more about the subject and the subject’s identity. Such images can possess historical and social significance as primary sources of information.
The Candid Approach is where subjects are photographed without their knowledge going about their daily business. The danger with this approach is that it can be be invasive and exploitative. However candid photography is important as a historical source of information about people. Candid portraits are all about looseness and capturing the essence of a subject
The Creative Approach is where digital manipulation (and formerly darkroom manipulation) is brought to bear to produce images of people.
Reference Attribution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_photography
http://study.com/academy/lesson/portrait-photography-definition-techniques-tips.html
This image of “LT” is a staged photograph set up in the studio. The lighting set up was muted high key. The lighting coming from the left was set pointing downwards
The image is a narrow angled close up studio shot. The image possesses a shallow depth of field ensuring that the sitters face is clearly defined whilst the background is blurred.
If one views the image from the bottom up I have attempted to use the rule of thirds to dictate how the image is laid out.
The darker shaded area of the upper torso travels a third of the way up the image, the middle third is taken up with the hands and the top third is composed of the sitter’s head.
The image is also made up of approximately fifty percent brightly lit whilst the other half is dark. The muted half tone of the background and dark areas of the torso isolates the sitter silhouette. This counterpoint of light intensifies the dynamics of the image.
Compositionally there is a diagonal line that runs from the top left hand corner to the bottom right hand corner passing along the sitters right cheek bone down through the fingers and along the line of his left arm that creates two right-angled triangles.
The right angle to the left predominately contains the deep dark areas of the image. Whilst, the upturned right angle at the top of the image contains the lit areas of the left arm, hands and the left hand side of the face.
The central vertical line which travels from the top of the image downwards along the bridge of the nose, lips, chin and hands simulates the horizontal theme of thirds of the composition by dividing the frame vertically into thirds.
In this monochromatic image it was my intention to use the contrast of black and white to be the dominant factor within the composition. The dominance of the sitter’s eyes within the black and white setting accentuates the emotional intensity of the image.
The focal point of the image is the penetrating stare possessed in the sitter’s left eye. The pool of shade which surrounds that eye isolates it from the remainder of the composition.
The highlighting on the bridge of the nose draws the viewer’s own eyes in that direction and accentuates this area as the dominant focal point. The composition demonstrates a very good balance between the light and dark areas of the composition.
There is a scattering of dominant subjects across the whole image – that includes the sitter’s torso, his left arm, the hands and the face. All arranged around the two slightly offset equilateral triangles that are crated within the frame.
The first has its base resting along the bottom edge of the frame set between the sitter’s elbows and the sides of which rise and meet at the top of the hands.
The second hangs from the top frame and is pinpointed by the sides of the sitter’s temples and the point of the chin that creates an almost perfect X.
This configuration of placing the apex of the two triangles at the point of the chin creates an intersection that divides the sitter’s face symmetrically. One half in complete darkness the other half highlighted.
The vertical line created between the point of the chin and the point at the top of the bridge of the nose leads the viewer’s point of vision directly to the sitter’s eyes (though only one is visible) and in so doing accentuates the main focus of the image, the sitter’s left eye.
It is this feature, within the monochrome setting, that the viewer’s eyes are drawn to. There are no other distracting colours. It is the monochromatic nature of the composition that unifies the whole composition.
A pleasing counterpoint is created through only use of contrasting light and dark areas. The sitter emerges out of the darkness looking directly towards and confronts the viewer through making direct contact.
It is this provocative intimidating confrontation that directs the viewer’s own eyes towards the sitter’s lone visible eye. In so doing this ignites within the viewer a reasoned questioning of his or her own emotional state, fears and identity.
The whole image create a Freudian context within the composition which creates an intense emotional tension.
A strong sense of rhythm and movement is created through the different geometrical constructs within the composition.
The fluidity the flow of the many directional lines created within the composition by the arms, fingers, face, chin, curve of the shoulders and top of the nose which lead the viewer’s eyes directly to the main focal point – the sitter’s left eye.
More photography by Goff James
I trust that you find some of these ideas useful within the context of your own photography. Don’t be afraid to experiment and allow different ideas to develop as you go along.
Remember what I referred to in previous articles about taking photos and creating photograms; the same applies to considering your own photos, other photographers’ work as well as applying different artist’s ideas too.
Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Experiment! Experiment! Experiment!
Remember there are no right or wrong answers or ways of doing it.
Your photographs are your world.
You can do what you like.
Don’t worry about the theory and trying to remember everything about how to take or consider how to look at or stage a photograph.
Don’t worry about what you might think is right or wrong in talking about or taking photographs.
Make mistakes. Laugh. Have fun. Just enjoy the process.
Happy Photography.
Thank you for your visit.
I cordially invite you to subscribe to Goff James Art Photography Poetry at goffjamesart.wordpress.com (Doing so will allow you to be notified whenever new content is published on my blog.
Art Photography Poetry
Hollywood Glamour
Hollywood glamour
Slowly removing the masks
Revealing the truth
Matthew Rolston (1955 -) The American photographer was ‘discovered’ by Andy Warhol, who commissioned portraits for proto-celebrity magazine, Interview, soon followed by assignments for Rolling Stone, from founding editor Jann Wenner, and from Vanity Fair magazine, under editors Tina Brown and later, Graydon Carter.
This sparked an extraordinary career, with photographs published in Interview, Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and over 100 covers of Rolling Stone. Rolston’s images are notable for their glamorous lighting and detail-rich sets.
Rolston’s work has helped define the contemporary aesthetics of American portrait photography. His photographs have been exhibited worldwide and are in the permanent collections of LACMA and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. as well as many others.
Bio Reference Attributionhttp://www.faheykleingallery.com/artists/matthew-rolston
Photo 1 Attribution, © Matthew Rolston, Jodie Foster, 1991 (Director II, Los Angeles,
© MRPI (Courtesy Fahey/Klein, Los Angeles).
Source Attribution https://lookonline.com/lifestyle/la-happenings-by-merle-ginsberg/
Senryū Attribution Goff James, Hollywood Glamour
Copyright (c) 2021 Goff James – All Rights Reserved
More senryū poems by Goff James
Photo 2 Attribution © Film Magic/Paul Archuleta, Matthew Rolston, (Date Unstated)
Source Attribution http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQaAgD2sCxZdRRQnU7q4KjRC5p6qflzRc-BkXZATc7xVY1bxhMXvO0tKmxssbV_
Thank you for your visit.
I cordially invite you to subscribe to Goff James Art Photography Poetry at goffjamesart.wordpress.com (Doing so will allow you to be notified whenever new content is published on my blog.
Art Photography Poetry
A Brief Moment Shared
A brief moment shared
Bound together in life’s ways
Fleeting escapism
Susan Meiselas ( 1948 -) is an American documentary photographer who lives and works in New York.
Meiselas is the author of Carnival Strippers (1976), Nicaragua (1981), Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History (1997), Pandora’s Box (2001), Encounters with the Dani (2003) Prince Street Girls (2016), A Room Of Their Own (2017) and Tar Beach (2020).
She has co-edited two published collections: El Salvador, Work of 30 Photographers (1983) and Chile from Within (1990), rereleased as an e-book in 2013, and also co-directed two films: Living at Risk (1985) and Pictures from a Revolution (1991) with Richard P. Rogers and Alfred Guzzetti.
Meiselas is well known for her documentation of human rights issues in Latin America. Her photographs are included in North American and international collections.
In 1992 she was made a MacArthur Fellow, received a Guggenheim Fellowship (2015), and most recently the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2019) and the first Women in Motion Award from Kering and the Rencontres d’Arles.
Mediations, a survey exhibition of her work from the 1970s to present was recently exhibited at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Jeu de Paume, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Instituto Moreira Salles in São Paulo.
Photo 1 Attribution, © Susan Meiselas, Carol and Jojo, Rockaway Beach, 1978
Source Attribution https://www.susanmeiselas.com/new-york/prince-street-girls/#id=photos
Senryū Attribution Goff James, A Brief Moment Shared
Copyright (c) 2021 Goff James – All Rights Reserved
More senryū poems by Goff James
Bio Reference Attribution https://www.susanmeiselas.com/info#id=bio
Photo 2 Attribution © Kevin Grady Radcliff, Susan Meiselas, (Date Unstated)
Source Attribution https://apanational.org/events/entry/apa-ny-susan-meiselas-in-her-own-words/
Thank you for your visit.
Please feel free to share the link to this blog post on your favourite social media networks.
I cordially invite you to subscribe to Goff James Art Photography Poetry at goffjamesart.wordpress.com (Doing so will allow you to be notified whenever new content is published on my blog).
Art Photography Poetry
Art, Music, Photography, Poetry and Quotations 