Archimboldo

I said i would track down this painter -”Renaissance Mannerist  — Giuseppe Arcimboldo, (also spelled Arcimboldi), royal painter and imperial party planner to sixteenth-century Italian emperors; Ferdinand I, Maximilian II, and Rudolf II” – it says on this website

And yes, of course photorgaphers have tried to do the same.

here’s one – Carl Warner – go to ‘website’ then ‘fotographics’.

Related posts

• No related posts.

Update on Robert Capa

This might be useful for some of you (Chris – you listening?) – a review of the Robert Capa exhibition at The Barbican…

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article5197168.ece

Related posts

• Photography and the Law (1)
• Gerda Taro – War Photography at The Barbican (0)
• Barbican Exhibition (0)

Antony Crossfield

And while we are at it, here is one of my favourites from last year – if you aspire to Photoshop mastery, this could be a test of your skills…

Foreign Body 3, 2005

Lambda print – 122cm x 127.38cm

website – www.antonycrossfield.com and of course many other places thanks to Google Images.

And before you ask -

1 – i have no idea

2 – make your own mind up.  But do look closely – the images are set in deliberately stark backgrounds, which bring to prominence the carefully placed objects – here a camera, there some shoes…

Related posts

• No related posts.

In Pursuit of the Surreal…

Today’s crop of photographers I owe to having coffee with one of the technicians at the Arts Institute… Thanks, Andy.

The first is Loretta Lux.  You can guess that is a made-up name – she does a Banksie, keeping her identity hidden.  Her work takes well lit and styled images and massively reworks them in Photoshop to create skin tones reminiscent of a 16th Century Florentine painter – Bronzino.  She also exaggerates head size, all contributing to a faintly disturbing view of childhood. See what you think.

“The Drummer” – Ilfochrome  © 2004 Loretta Lux

Her website is here.

The next one to look at is Teun Hocks – a Dutch artist much in the vein of the Robert and Shana Parkeharrison from a previous post. Hocks photographs himself in a set piece tableau, then paints over the print in oils.  I couldn’t get his website to work – but there are many sites out there with his work on.

Untitled (man with twigs) Teun Hocks 2005 oil on toned gelatin silver print

Last for today is Simen Johan – more unworldly images, carefully contrived and lit.  His website is one of the most annoying I have seen for a while – www.simenjohan.com.  This will give you a flavour…

Simen Johan – Untitled 131

Related posts

• Photogravure – Delicate Tones (0)

And back the other way – crisp Black & Whites…

After the subtlties of photogravure, a small treat for those who like street photography – and crisp Black & Whites…

Try his site – www.markushartel.com/galleries/ – it’s Flash, but easy to use.  I like the Subway stuff….

Related posts

• Jason Francisco (0)
• Photography Competition and other things… (0)
• Doing Street Photography (0)

Painting with Light

This came from a sudden thought to suggest to Jane she tries light painting with her flowers – dark room, long exposure, using a torch to paint in the shape of the subject – and i started to look through what I could find.

And i found this.  I think Adrian had something along these lines in the last week or so – the Abbey Road idea.  This does it in spades.  If you think the world is dull and dark at this time of year, go add your own light.

I think this guy may have had help…

Eric Staller

I found the images at www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/01/painting-with-light.html, a blog which often has good art stuff.  Staller’s own website is pants.

Oh go on – try this page too – www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/08/sublime-sensual-smoke-art.html

and www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/11/liquid-art-droplet-photography.html

and my favourite, from last year www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/06/vertical-grass-art.html

Related posts

• Night Photography (0)
• More Low Light Photography – painting with light (1)
• Something to think about… (0)
• Night Time Photography (0)

Photogravure – Delicate Tones

I was pursuing a thread of research this morning – i am much taken with the quality of ’surface’ in the photograph – and cam across this site explaining and promoting the photogravure process.  I had heard of it as a printing process, but had no great understanding of the complex craft skills needed, or that some still used it.  This is is a way to print images using fine art print techniques, in a printing press – not through a photographic process.

So what is the relevance to your digital processes?  These are monochrome images, generally warm, subtle blacks, with a sensitivity at the other end of the scale from the hard black and whites of say Bill Brandt.  This rendition softens the image, making it mysterious and imprecise, making the viewer work harder to get below the surface.  Some of the photographers currently using the process do work that haunts the imagination anyway – the printing complements the content wonderfully.

Marlene MacCallum- Strange Chambers: Stairway

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison  – The Sower, 2002

Eikoh Hosoe  -  Awakenings, Barakei #29, 1961

Have a look at the website The Art of the Photogravure – perhaps just the contemporary practitioners – and think about the effect created by the process.  Do you have images that would work with this sort of treatment?  I’m sure somewhere on the internet there will be a Photoshop recipe to get this sort of effect.

(This is the closest I could find – www.alternativephotography.com/articles/art051.html – let me know if find anything, please – or post a comment here.)

Ross – can we have a proper look at your Meatyard image next week – thought it looked fabulous, would like to see how you did it….

Related posts

• New Ideas, Old Technology (0)
• In Pursuit of the Surreal… (0)

Nick Knight

And carrying with the David Bailey fashion theme – just discovered this guy.  Well worth a look for a wide range of work – from powerful B&W reportage to fashion and beyond.

Jane – some good flowers!  try http://www.nickknight.com/main.html

From here…

to here…

Related posts

• Richard Avedon (0)

Bryan Adams

As we coverd David Bailey this week, i got him mix up with Bryan Adams but i though these two people have a bit in common as we spoke About people and there contacts, this guy does have some Good Portraits of Famus people like amy winehouse, but i wonder if people like me and you just as good as him at taking photos, would get the responce he does simply because were not famus for anything else.

Bryan Adams Profile:
born in canada in 1958 and quit school for music at 15.
well known for his music in the 80s 90s.
since 2000 Bryan adams has Risen in Prominence as a Photographer, Specialising in Fashion Shoots and Portraits.
He has also Work for many Magazines such as Zoo.

just some people Adams has taken photos of are, Amy Winehouse, Pink, Take That, Lindsay Lohan, Wayne Rooney and i belive the Queen to.

link to his photos http://www.bryanadams.com/index.php?target=photography

Related posts

• London trip – possible exhibition for 2010 (0)

Stephen Shore: On the Road

I enjoyed the way you all engaged with this image yesterday…

Not sure we bottomed out the discussion, so thought I would put it back up here.  A lot of you are coming at this – understandably – from the ‘pictorialist’ viewpoint – looking for all the formal compositional techniques to make it a pleasing image, to please you – the viewer.

Photography does other things too – it can be something that documents what is there, and perhaps more than that.  At one level, this is a record of Shore ‘being there’ – an aspect of the America he sought to record on his road trip across and through it.

But look beyond the empty crossroads – there is a small cluster of houses – some sign of people living here.  This is an empty photograph – but emptiness is as meaningful as fullness, isn’t it?  To what extent does the emptiness of this image reflect what it might feel like to be, to live in this place?

It is also i suspect true that images like this have a greater resonance for Americans, or those familiar with this sort of American landscape – have a look at Tim Connor’s thoughts.  I have no idea who he is, but thought he makes some useful points…

Related posts

• No related posts.