David Alan Harvey

I had the opportunity to go down to the GPP gallery this week and view the exhibition of photographs taken by David Alan Harvey. David has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1993, and is the founder of Burn Magazine, an award-winning and grant giving online and in print journal for emerging photographers.

The exhibition primarily revolved around selected images from his recent award winning limited edition book (based on a true story) which depicts the vibrancy and cultural energy of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Raw, sensual, fresh, real, and passionate, these photographs reflect a broad demographic spectrum, offering a peek into the lives of the rich, the glamorous, the poor, the humble and the everyday.

This was one of the images exhibited and I thought it to be a very compelling image. I think one of the reasons was the combination of the pastel colors (pink, blue and yellow) as well the composition. It almost as if I was there sitting on the beach looking up at this girl. I did wonder what segment of society she came from; was she from the rich (and spoilt) class or from the humble and poor (defiant). I couldn't really decide. In the end, I figured it was more the former than the latter; after all she was at the beach eating ice cream and generally enjoying herself.

Not all the images from this book was displayed at the exhibition and I can understand why. It's the Middle East and some of the images would have pushed the boundaries of what would be culturally acceptable I think. I went on the Magnum website and had a look at the entire book;  the book is a "visual novella that takes you deep in.. to a fictional night in Rio". Using that context to view the rest of the images made me think of a night of chaos and unbridled passions (and not necessarily in a good way). A lot of the images had a very confrontational almost harsh depiction of the subjects. Many of the images didn't appeal to me at all; both from a subject matter point of view (too raw; too sensual and sometimes both) as well as the technical style (shot with harsh lighting (flash head on) almost to emphasize the dreariness and desolation of some of the subjects.)

I spent a considerable amount of time looking at them but I could'nt really make up my mind about how I felt about all of them. Clearly the images are compelling otherwise I wouldn't have spent a long time thinking about them but I am not sure I would ever put them up on my living room wall.

The book design is quite amazing. Again, I saw a video showing the layout and it's really quite ingenious.

The exhibition also displayed some of his images from Divided Soul and his new limited edition series but these felt almost tame compared to the kind of imagery that was captured during this "fictional night" in Rio.

Train Your Gaze (1 & 2)

I started P&P by reading one of the recommended books in the reading list, “Train your Gaze, A Practical And Theoretical Introduction to Portrait Photography” by Roswell Angier The book has been divided into 12 distinct chapters covering a range of topics with regard to portraiture.  Each chapter talks about photographing people from different perspectives, gives context and real world examples and then ends the chapter with an assignment. The book is more about process of shooting portraits than about technical skills, although those are covered in the three appendices at the end of the book.

It’s a big book. Literally. Lots of information to absorb and as I work my way through it, I have decided that I will reflect and write up my thoughts as individual posts so quite possibly I may have several on this subject.!

Introduction & Chapter 1:

It never occurred to me that circumstances around asking someone for permission to take their picture could be different depending on whether you are speaking to a stranger or to someone you know. I doubt very much that I would differentiate. I usually walk up to people I know and ask them if I can take their picture. I don’t really say, “ I would like to take your portrait”. Having said that I do agree with Angier’s premise in that the two statements, namely, “I want to take your picture” and “I would like to make a portrait of you” clearly have two separate and distinct connotations. The first being more playful while the latter has a more serious connotation and this, therefore, may influence the behavior of the subject.

Maybe. I am not so sure. It might be cultural phenomena. I find that depending on whom I speak with, the reaction is somewhat different. In the Middle East and parts of Asia, a request to take a picture immediately results in that person straightening him or herself in front of the lens and becoming very serious. Stoicism seems to be the mode. Exceptions are usually when friends are celebrating and very comfortable with each other and that usually results in “hamming” it up in front of the camera. Then there’s the “say cheese” category. The camera comes and they say “Cheeeeese!” I have never seen a good “Say Cheese” image. It often looks fake to me. Sometimes, the subject even looks like they are grimacing instead of smiling.

On the other hand, some cultures are quite comfortable with the idea of having their pictures taken and that comfort usually comes out in the picture. I won’t get into more categorization because I don’t want to be accused of stereotyping. I think it’s more about the how the “privacy” is defined. I love street photography but I live in the Middle East where the idea of someone taking pictures of people on the street especially if the subject comes from conservative [Muslim] backgrounds is seriously frowned on. In fact, depending on whom you take a picture of, it’s a finable and even a jailable offense.

But I digress.

Going back to the book, while there is reference to the process of taking pictures of people, there is also about the presence of the photographer and how he / she interacts with the subject.

Chapter 1, therefore, is entitled “About Looking”. What struck me about this chapter was the reference to a series of images taken by Richard Avedon called “The Family”. Images taken of very important and powerful people, mostly men. Images shot in a very deliberate and confrontational manner. According to Angiers, Avedon would not speak to his subjects while he was shooting. For the entire session he would walk around the room, with a cable release in his hand, staring at the subject but not saying a word. The result was a set of images where you could see the subject re-acting to the photographer’s gaze. Reactions ranging from defiance, seriousness, discomfort, maybe even nervousness. These portraits are referred to by Angiers as being “aggressive personal statements…. It ‘s more about confrontation with the subject acknowledging and returning the photographer’s gaze.” A very interesting concept; Angier’s relates this technique to the early days of photography when due to the slow speed of cameras the subject was to require very still for an extended period of time to get their image on film. Thus, the seriousness and the stiff poses. While that makes sense to me, it’s not something I would be comfortable trying out as suggested in the assignment.

I don’t want to take pictures that have that kind of confrontational element to it. I don’t like it. I don’t think I could stand in front of a subject for 15 minutes much less an hour and not make an attempt to put them at ease.  I thought about the assignment for quite a while. In my mind, I tried different alternatives for possibly completely this assignment but in the end I found myself completely overwhelmed by the whole concept.

Chapter 2: “Self Portrait, No Face”

This chapter begins with a short history of the practice of portrait photography. Angier’s narrates the practice beginning with Louis Daguerre’s announcement in 1839 of having invented a way of fixing an image in a camera. In all of the early explorations into portrait photography, the key element was the face, which had to be visible in all images. What was most interesting to me and very unlike what many contemporary photographers espouse, early portrait photography had very little to do with establishing the character or personality of the subject; rather it focused more on the concept of the persona as a mask. In all of the early portraits (both those displayed in the book and ones I have seen on the web), this is demonstrated by the gravity with which the subjects view the photographer. One has absolutely no inkling about who these people really are. Angier’s then goes on to talk about the work of various photographers who went on to try and reflect more than the outer façade that was presented to the viewer.

From that point he then begins a discussion on the concept of self portraits and examines the work of a number of photographers: Lee Friedlander, John Coplans, Jo Spence and Shirin Neshat. What is common in all of these bodies of work is that the self-portrait in itself do not reveal much of what is behind the image and often the viewers are left wondering about the meaning behind the image. There is ambiguity which “is supported by the absence of a complete face”. In short, according to Angiers, without a face, a portrait may evoke a strong reaction from the view and at the same time thwart any attempts to understand the image itself resulting in multiple interpretations and often leaving the viewer frustrated.

I found that I also had a similar reaction to the body of work discussed in this chapter. Some of the self portraits were quite compelling and intriguing, while others were a bit too graphic and evoked strong reaction from me (not necessarily positive in nature). I can’t say I liked the work of Coplans or Spence. I found their images too confrontational and somewhat disturbing.  On the other hand, I liked Friedlander and Nesbit’s self-portraits. I thought they were compelling enough without evoking over strong negative feelings.

Most interestingly, according to Angiers, if this concept of a portrait with no face is extended to self-portraits, you as your own subject are not in control of how that self-portrait will essentially turn out. You may end up with images of your own self that you do not like or even understand. This premise completely resonated with me. I don’t really like standing in front of a camera. Reading this chapter made me a bit introspective. Why don’t l like standing in front of the camera? I suppose it may be lack of courage to a certain extent (afraid of what I might see and not like) and perhaps to a certain extent also not liking the feeling of not being in control. Maybe it has something to do with self-esteem and confidence? What ever it may, reading this chapter has certainly put me in a very introspective mood.

Ragubir Singh

I was recommended by my tutor to look at the work of Raghubir Singh (1942-1999). Raghubir was a self-taught photographer who worked in India and lived in Paris, London and New York and during his career worked with National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Time. In the early 1970s, he was one of the first photographers to reinvent the use of color at a time when color photography was still a marginal art form. His work has been acclaimed for their organization of space and reflect multiple aspects of India at the time. I have to say that I was really struck by some of his images. I loved his color images; they are really vivid and the subject matter is so close to my heart, documentary style street photography. He captures wonderful colors but at the same time his images are evocative and tell wonderful stories. Because of his wonderful treatment I was reminded of Steve McCurry's work which has the same brilliant use of color.

I was also struck by his approach, according to his 2004 retrospective, he created “a documentary-style vision was neither sugarcoated, nor abject, nor controllingly omniscient”. I like that. I don’t see why documentary style photography has to be only about documenting social issues like hunger, poverty, crime etc. It can extend to documenting life (which is often banal) and culture.

Most of images were shot with a small format cameras. He was lucky in that he was able to meet and work with a number of master photographers during his life, including, Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank and Lee Friedlander.

Singh published 14 well-received books on the Ganges, Calcutta, Benares, his native Rajasthan, Grand Trunk Road, and the Hindustan Ambassador car, and today his work is part of the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, amongst others.

I have only managed to find some of his images on the web but what I saw were very compelling. I love the way he frames his images. A number his images are taken from inside of a car so you can see the view through the windscreen and at the same there is another image superimposed in the rear view mirror. Lots of work with reflections and mirrors which really speak to me.

Mama's got a brand new toy!

Right. I got it. The Leica M9 with a summicron 1:2/50 mm lens. Don't ask me how much it cost. Suffice to say, my bank account is empty. Do I care? Not really, I held the leica and completely lost my head. Now I know why car lovers love the Porche. The inside of the Porche is pretty basic but that doesn't matter. It's the style of the car and engine under it that matters. That's the leica M9. It's not an easy camera to use. I spent the week reading the manual and researching how to focus. I read up about zone focusing and tried it. A 100 hundred shots and all of them blurry. Yuck. I have no concept of distance really. I now have to learn and estimate with reasonable accuracy if my subject is 5 feet, 10 feet or 20 feet away. The Leica makes you more deliberative. You have think about what you are doing. No auto focus so it's hard work. I have read and seen the work of street photographers who use the Leica and I am in awe. How do they do it? Beautiful images taken so very fast. So far all my attempts at street photography with the camera suck. The LCD screen is basic. You can view the image but you can't tell if the image is sharp or not. One of the websites I reviewed advised that it was best if images are not deleted in camera. Pull them up in lightroom just to be sure.

White Balance is unpredictable sometimes. I tried all the settings but kept getting it wrong. Need to research more. In any case, they are all 18 MP dng files, I can fix WB in Lightroom.

Oh and let's not forget the prime lens. Beautiful amazing glass. But you can't zoom, you have zoom with your feet, back and forth. I am too much in the habit of using my zoom lens. I forget to move. Then I realize what I am doing and move. By then, sometime, the moment is gone. Very frustrating but I will get over it. I mean, c'mon, it' s a Leica. The pros so out weigh the cons.

The first day I chased my cat around the yard. Every single image was blurry. I tried zone focusing and was out of focus every single shot. Then for a brief moment, she stopped long enough for me to manually focus.

Straight out of the camera. Just look at the level of detail. I really didn't know what I could do more with it. It was an overcast day so the light wasn't good. Even then, just look at the level of detail. It just pops, feels almost 3 dimensional. I am not sure you can see clearly in the post but on my screen it's beautiful.

Then the same day just before sunset I went down to the local grocery store. Beautiful warm light was awash everywhere and I took this image.

Just lovely.

Day 2 and 3 continue to be an adventure in exploring. I shot everything I could indoors and outdoors. Low light was a pain, I haven't figured out the camera well enough to figure out how to manage that. Indoor lighting? Well as Zack Arias often says. Meh!

Florescent light was a pain; White balance going all crazy again. There's that strange green tinge that I can't get rid off.

But the image still pops..

What about outside in the light on a very overcast cloudy day??

Now that's beautiful. Absolutely minimal post processing, a bit on the exposure because I got over excited and forgot to open wide. But it still pops.

I am rambling I know. I feel delirious. I own a Leica. I don't how to use it well but I own a Leica and I'll get there.

"Mama's got a brand new toy and she sure is having fun with it."

Fahd (aka my son)

Trying out Snapseed

Found a nifty digital processing software called Snapseed. Really quite wonderful. I have loaded it on my iPhone, iPad and MAC. Had an image of these two girls walking away from me at a bday party. Used Snapseed to increase contrast and grunge up the background. Took all of five minutes. I could have added frames, converted to black and white, added tilt shift affects and a whole load of other post processing options.

I quite like it.

The Grand Mosque in Monochrome

Living in the United Arab Emirates, I had the opportunity to visit the Shaikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi one morning and I decided that this beautiful monument would be a fitting subject for one of my OCA photography assignments.  I chose the mosque because first, I was absolutely captivated by the sheer scale and beauty of this landmark building. It has been estimated that 20,000 people can gather to pray in this mosque. There are many noteworthy elements in the design of the Mosque.  I love the beautiful shape and form of the many domes and  minarets, the beautiful calligraphy and mosaic work done on the walls (exterior and interior), the long corridors, the gold leaf work on the pillars, the beautiful crystal chandeliers to just name a few I used my fujix100 to shoot these images so all of the images were shot with 23 mm (35 mm equivalent in full frame).  In an ideal situation, I would have loved to be able to go back to the Mosque but it's about 2 hours away from where I live and I just couldn't find time to go back repeatedly. I think that to really bring out the best in shooting these type of projects one really should have the opportunity to go back to the site to re-shoot images after some period of evaluation and contemplation but often this is not possible. I do plan to keep adding to my collection of this Mosque by going back there (but it was just not possible in the time frame I had set myself to finish the assignment).

I was also hoping to shoot the images on a cloudy day so that I could also capture some texture in the sky. Unfortunately, on the day of the shooting, the sky was very clear, nary a cloud in sight.

Saul Leither

Another great photographer discovered, Saul Leither was born in 1928 and began taking pictures from an early age. In 1948, he began taking color photographs and his portfolio of color images is what drew me to this man. Saul helped formed “The New York School” of photographers in the 1940s and 1950s. The New York School refers to a loosely defined group of photographers who lived and worked in New York City during the 30s, 40s and 50s. They shared influences, subjects and stylistic earmarks. They were basically street photographers who had other day jobs (working for magazines etc). As I mentioned in one of earlier posts, clearly no one has ever made money from being a street photographer. Leither also worked as a fashion photographer and was published in a number of well know fashion magazines. The interesting thing about his work is the painterly quality to his color images. While researching his life, I discovered that he had developed an early interest in painting and had actually moved to New York to become an artist.

He is quoted as saying in an interview “I started out as a fashion photographer. One cannot say that I was successful but there was enough work to keep me busy. I collaborated with Harper’s Bazaar and other magazines. I had work and I made a living. At the same time, I took my own photographs.

I spent a great deal of my life being ignored. I was always very happy that way. Being ignored is a great privilege. That is how I think I learnt to see what others do not see and to react to situations differently. I simply looked at the world, not really prepared for anything”

I find that to be a very unique perspective and something i can so relate to it. In many ways, being ignored freed him to do what he did best. His color images are very vibrant and the colors are brilliantly saturated. Each one of his images brings a new perspective to it. I especially love the images that he has taken through frosted windows and glass. It’s something I enjoy doing as well. I like to be able to take images with my car window up (it has a interesting polarizing affect) and though shop windows, mirrors and other reflective objects.

Some of his images also have a wonderfully abstract quality to it; you can just make out that it’s the edge of an umbrella, the reflection of a car, the silhouette of a person through a store window. And the colours. Oh the colors. Outstanding.

Frank Horvat

While on my flight to Zurich from Budapest, I was flicking through the in-flight magazine and came across an article featuring the work of Frank Horvat, an internationally renowned photojournalist and fashion photographer. As always, I find some elements of photojournalism fascinating and what particularly attracted me about his work, besides the basic fact that both his imagery and in many cases, storytelling was compelling, was that he had spent 6 months in Pakistan during the 1950s. The 1950s and 1960s are two of my favorite decades with regard to glamour and style. It was in the 1950s that the west moved from the austerity of the 1940s to the prosperity of the 1960s. It was the era of optimism and hope. After World War II had ended, many people believed that the worst was over and that the future would be one filled with peace and prosperity (Little did they know, that after a few decades, that hope would be decimated but that’s a story for another day so I won’t go there J). It was also the time of the Cold War, Martin Luther King and JFK.  Flicking through this magazine and looking through the body of work presented, I was enthralled once again. The images presented in the magazine were in black and white and were absolutely brilliant. Once I got home to Dubai, I googled his work  to try and find more of it.

Frank Horvat was born in 1928 in Abbazia, Italy (formerly Austro-Hungary, now Opatija, Croatia). Having traded his stamp collection for a 35mm camera at the age of fifteen, he was an accomplished photographer by 1950, when he met Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson (a close friend ever since) during his first trip to Paris, and decided to become a photojournalist.  (How brilliant is that?).

In the early 50's, after traveling to Pakistan and India as a freelance photographer, Horvat settled in London, working for Life and the Picture Post. In 1955, Horvat moved to Paris, where he still lives, and became a fashion photographer—using the techniques of photojournalism: real life situations, available light, and 35mm cameras. (What a wonderful concept!)

Frank Horvat is considered to be a pioneer of what has come to be regarded as a golden age of fashion photography—In the late 1950's and early 1960's, Horvat worked for Jardin des Modes, Elle, Glamour, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar, while also an associate member of the Magnum agency.

Frank Horvat’s career is unusual in that it spans the history of modern photography, and not only that, but over the years, he has mastered most styles and photographic genres, competing with and often surpassing the work of the world’s best photographers in their fields. In the 50s he was a photojournalist, in the 60s he became a fashion photographer, in the 70s he focused on landscape and color. In the 80s, he produced photo essays on literature (Goethe in Sicily), sculpture (Degas' sculpture, Romanesque Figures), painting (Very Similar) and a written essay on photography itself (Entre-Vues). In the 90s, he was the first among the acknowledged masters to adopt digital techniques.

I am just overwhelmed reading about his accomplishments. It will probably take me forever to get through all his work.

The list of his contemporaries and close friends over the years reads like a veritable Who’s Who of photography. He remains, a living legend, having shared the stage with other world class photographers such as Édouard Boubat, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Richard Avedon, David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Josef Koudelka, Robert Doisneau, Jeanloup Sieff and Helmut Newton.

While he is constantly busy with various projects, Frank has also worked on adapting his extensive website and archiving  “Horvatland”, a site featuring hundreds of photographs from 1945 to the present day, interviews with his contemporaries and extensive biographical information, and present it as an iPad application, making his work accessible for a whole new generation to enjoy.

Frank Horvat’s website at: www.horvatland.com;

For the iPad app visit:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/horvatland/id474761739?l=us&ls=1&mt=8

Please do take a look. It’s so worth it.

Some of my favorites images of the body of work that I have seen so far:

Josef Sudek

I am planning on visiting Prague in August. Since starting this course, I look even more forward to my travels than I used to, it's not just the idea of visiting a new place or a place where I have had a good time and therefore want to visit, it' s the anticipation of taking pictures and finding those few shots that will bring pleasure to me. Anyway, I digress. again. The point is that now I try and do some research before visiting a new city to get an idea of the what kind of images I could possibly shoot and I also try and find out if there are any well known photographers from that region to see their work and maybe get some additional inspiration. After all, someone once set that all photographers walk on the shoulders of other great photographers...or something to that affect. So during my little foray into researching Prague, I ran into the work of Josef Sudek,  (17 March 1896, Kolín, Bohemia – 15 September 1976) a Czech photographer, best known for his photographs of Prague.

Sudek's photography is sometimes said to be modernist. But this is only true of a couple of years in the 1930s, during which he undertook commercial photography and thus worked "in the style of the times". Primarily, his personal photography is neo-romantic. Sudek was also some what of a recluse. He created an artistic document of his immediate surroundings. He was particularly fascinated with his home and garden, often shooting the window-glass that led to his garden (the famous The Window of My Atelier series). I was so completely fascinated by these images. I find them very original and poetic. It's quite amazing to me that someone can produce such beautifully compelling images from ordinary almost mundane objects.  I sit there and think of this wonderfully peaceful environment, rain pattering outside, I can image the inmates of this house lounging around, reading, working, generally contemplative all the while peaceful and contented. In this day and age, with all the chaos and strife in the world today, the financial problems, the stresses from hard living, the simplicity and the calmness of the window series appeal to me. The first one below is my absolute favorite and I am so going to try and get a large print of it to put in my room when I go to Prague.

Josef's early work included many series of light falling in the interior of St. Vitus cathederal. During and after World War II Sudek created haunting night-scapes and panoramas of Prague, photographed the wooded landscape of Bohemia, and the of course, the window-glass that led to his garden (the famous The Window of My Atelier series). He went on to photograph the crowded interior of his studio (the Labyrinths series).

His first Western show was at George Eastman House in 1974 and he published 16 books during his life.

Here are some more examples of his work to enjoy.

Paul Taggart

I was in the process of doing my usual lunch time googling when I ran across the work of Paul Taggart. Paul is a photojournalist living in Brooklyn NY. He covers both domestic and international assignments and has done work for Newsweek, Time, US News, World Report and the New York Times. I was struck by the first image that I saw on his website www.paultaggart.com. The image is of a bombed out shop in Lebanon, two people are sitting amongst the ruins dejected. It’s an extremely powerful image and I was completely struck by it. His images on SSCS volunteers on a Zodiac raft attempting to sabotage the Nissan Maru Whaling Vessel in Antarctica was also extremely powerful. His images of his trip to Congo also leave a strong impression.

I wasn’t able to download any of those images for this blog post so I would recommend a visit to his website. Well worth a look.

Ami Vitale

While doing my usual browsing on the web for interesting photographers, I came across another photojournalist and travel photographer whose work really stands out in my eyes, Ami Vitale. Based in Montana, Ami is a contract photographer for National Geographic and is her body of work is absolutely outstanding. She lived in Kashmir for a number of years and has the most compelling images from so many countries. She has done an amazing photojournalist pieces on Kashmir, Gujarat, parts of India, Bhutan and Afghanistan to a name a few. Her website is so worth a visit. Her work reminds me a lot of Steve McCurry. The images are all rich, vibrant and some of them of with absolutely stunning imagery.

You really have to visit this website.

Her website is www.amivitale.com

And oh ... She shoots with Nikon.

Soul Rebel

On March 4^th, Soul Rebel, an exhibition of select images from the life of legendary musician  by David Burnett was kicked off at the Gulf Photo Plus space. This is a photographic glimpse into the life of legendary musician Bob Marley as portrayed by the internationally acclaimed photographer, David Burnett.

A photojournalist with over four decades in the field, Burnett has been named one of the “100 Most Important People in Photography” by American Photo Magazine. A staple contributor to TIME magazine, Burnett has documented many key events in the making of history, photographing issues of war and politics, both famous and anonymous.

In 2009 Burnett published “Soul Rebel: An Intimate Portrait of Bob Marley” containing more than 200 portraits of the charismatic performer.  The book shared many previously unpublished photographs of Marley, as captured by Burnett following their initial meeting in 1976 while on assignment. TIME magazine had sent Burnett to cover the Reggae movement in Jamaica, which led him to a meeting with Marley who was relatively unknown at that time. This rare glimpse into the intimate life of Marley spans the course of his rise to international stardom, and unveils perspectives of his energetic performances, as well as the quieter moments behind the scenes.

Some of these images are also available on David’s website:

http://www.davidburnett.com/index.html;

While many of the images are capture the viewers attention, my favorites were these two:

I highly recommend that everyone go check out David's work on his website. I am doubly excited because I have managed to sign up for workshop which is being taught by him. It's a walkabout in an old part of Dubai. I can't wait.

Dorothea Lange - "Migrant Mother"

While researching masters of photography, I came across a image called “Migrant Mother” which was taken by a photographer called Dorothea Lange in 1936. I was absolutely enthralled by this image. Even when I didn’t know anything about the context in which this image was shot, the photograph had such strong documentary qualities- a mother with her children, resilient in the face of adversity and extreme poverty.  On researching the image further, I learnt that it was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936 and this image turned out to be one of the best known and iconic images from that era.

Dorothea Lange (May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and influenced the development of documentary photography. A lot of her images are quite poignant and reflective of the consequences of the depression era and the internment of Japanese Americans.  She covered the rounding up of Japanese Americans and their internment in relocation camps, highlighting Manzanar, the first of the permanent internment camps. To many observers, her photograph of Japanese-American children pledging allegiance to the flag shortly before they were sent to internment camps is a haunting reminder of this policy of detaining people without charging them with any crime or affording them any appeal.

For me personally, images like these are forever imprinted in my mind.

Migrant Mother image, Destitute peapickers in California; a 32 year old mother of seven children. February 1936." (retouched version); Nipomo, California; Available from: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html; Accessed: January 18th, 2012.

.

Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko

Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko ( 5 December [O.S. 23 November] 1891 – December 3, 1956) was a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. Rodchenko is considered to be one of the most versatile Constructivist and Productivist artists to emerge after the Russian Revolution. He worked as a painter and graphic designer before turning to photomontage and photography. I googled "Contructivist Art" and came up with the following Wikipedia explanation. "Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th century, influencing major trends such as Bauhaus and the De Stijl movement. Its influence was pervasive, with major impacts upon architecture, graphic and industrial design, theatre, film, dance, fashion and to some extent music."

Constructivists rejected the idea of 'art for art's sake,' and insisted it should serve a useful purpose in society.

It was for this reason that Rodchenko moved away from fine art and applied it to more useful activities such as design, architecture and photography.

For Rodchenko, design was not a matter of aesthetics. It was a catalyst for social change. Concerned with the need for analytical-documentary photo series, he often shot his subjects from odd angles—usually high above or below—to shock the viewer and to postpone recognition. He wrote: "One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again."

Clearly Rodchenko has had a major influence on photography. I am sure everyone is aware of the basic rules of composition in photography, in particular, "fill the frame" and "change your viewpoint".

I personally liked a number of his images. I have attached some of my favorites at the end of the post.

But while I do agree with the idea of art being functional, I also think that there is no reason not to have art on a standalone basis as well. Otherwise, we would miss out on the opportunity to see wonderful work. After all, art also serves to feed the soul.

Dan Holdsworth's Autopia

Dan holdsworth is one of the photographers that my tutor recommended I check out. Specifically, he pointed me in the direction of his photo project called Autopia.  Dan Holdsworth photographs transitional architectural spaces and remote landscapes generally at nighttime, the results of which are quite dynamic and very interesting. The link to his series ‘Autopia’ is http://www.danholdsworth.com/projects/autopia Autopia is a series consisting of four images. I was actually quite struck by them all. My favorite though is third image in the series.

For one thing, I have been thinking of trying to find ways to compose images similar to this one. I have been practising at night but I have to say that I still havent figured out how to get the clarity right. When I saw it, I was stunned by the fact that this represents an image that I have been trying to take and not quite getting there. In fact there is a similar road in Dubai that I would like have a go at, unfortunately, its always busy!!

This image speaks to me from a narrative perspective as well as the technical composition. The curving road symbolizes a long road, life as I see it, with twists and turns, the end not clear. One can also see a little bit ahead, some parts are more brightly lit than others. wWhile the end is not clearly in sight, the fact that the lights continue till the end of the image symbolize that as we tread down this road, the path will light up as we progress.

From a compositional point of view, the image is beautifully composed. Dan beautifully captures the curve in the road, the main elements are tack sharp. I love the way the sky moves from blue to black. I really wish I had more technical information on how he made the shot.

The Magic that is Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is a very Famous National Geographic Photographer. I doubt that there too many people on the planet who have not come across his work one time or the other. His images can be found on his website http://www.stevemccurry.com/galleries. I would really recommend that you go to the website to see the images. I have inserted some of them in this post but frankly you have to see them on his site so you can actually appreiciate the image quality and the vivid colors.

While a lot of his images are absolutely unforgettable, he is most famous for his portrait of a young Afghani girl called Sharbat Gula. It's one of my all time favorites. This portrait is so compelling. It takes my breath away. I absolutely love the haunted look of this girl, the way her eyes reflect light.

I read somewhere that he went back a couple of decades later, found Sharbat Gula and re-photographed her with her husband's permission. I saw that the photograph of that older woman and I remember thinking that maybe it would have been better not to have found it. The picture of the young girl filled me with the hope that she would have found some peace and fulfillment. The picture of that girl as a woman and mother showed me that her life continued to be hard.

All his portraits are absolutely stunning. I couldn't find a single one that did not speak to me or imbue in me a sense of wonder. I would so love to be able to capture that feeling in my portraits.

In fact, his entire website hosts a brilliant collection of images. I could find a single one that I didn't like or one that didn't appeal to me. The images are vivid and beautifully composed. I really wish I could get a better understanding of how he manages to produce consistently colorful and compelling imagery in his work.

Even his images on War were horribly mesmerizing.

Interestingly, for each one of his images, I was able to identify a single or many of the design elements that I have read about in the OCA coursework so far. That's relatively new for me. I usually can identify design elements like symmetrical or S-curves and rule of thirds but OCA work has definitely made me far more aware of design elements and the role that they play in making an image work.

Given that I couldn't possibly pick out any images that I didn't like, I have decided to pick out a few where design elements that I am reading about in the OCA coursework appear distinctly.

Implied Triangles

Steve McCurry (Date Unknown),Three Men in a niche, Kashmir; Available from: http://www.stevemccurry.com/fine-art-prints; Accessed: December 20th 2011.

Steve McCurry (Date Unknown),Men on steps, India; Available from: http://www.stevemccurry.com/fine-art-prints; Accessed: December 20th 2011.

Balance:

Steve McCurry (Date Unknown), Backstage Ballerina, Yugoslavia; Available from: http://www.stevemccurry.com/fine-art-prints; Accessed: December 20th 2011.

Curves/ Movement:

Steve McCurry (Date Unknown), Fishman on Inle Lake, Burma; Available from: http://www.stevemccurry.com/fine-art-prints; Accessed: December 20th 2011.

Patterns / Rhythm:

Steve McCurry (Date Unknown), Fishermen At Weligama, Sri Lanka; Available from: http://www.stevemccurry.com/fine-art-prints; Accessed: December 20th 2011.

Street Photography by Alan Wilson

I was surfing the web looking for examples of images of street photography when I found the most wonderful website. These images were all shot by Alan Wilson and his website is link is http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/. I actually wrote to him and got permission to use his images on my blog. In the course of that email exchange, Alan mentioned that all of these images were taken with Film which explains a lot in terms of how he managed to get that wonderful black and white gritty feel to the images. Of course, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed as well because I would love to be able to turn out digital images like these and I was hoping to be able to get some tips from the master on how they would turn.

In his email, Alan mentioned that he now working in color digital formats now and I am quite looking forward to seeing his images once he gets around to putting them up.

I found his work to be well composed and thought provoking. Actually, perhaps a bit too much thought provoking. I would be very curious to see if the same thoughts were also going through the Alan's mind when he shot the images. It might be that a lot of these are my own read into the images.

My all time favourite is the image below:

Alan Wilson (2002), Princes Street, Edinburgh, Available from: http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/ ; Accessed: December 18^th, 2011.

The first thing that came to mind when I looked at this image was that it was a wonderful example of two points within the frame. The second thought was how wonderfully dynamic this image is and not only because of the subjects themselves but the way they are placed. My eye went straight to the young woman and then across to the shirt on the wall. I liked the fact that there is nothing else to distract the viewer from those two images. If I recall correctly, the image on the T-shirt is that of Shiva, the Hindu God of destruction. In the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as "the standard of invincibility, might, and terror", as well as a figure of honor, delight, and brilliance. Within the frame, the image of the young woman comes across to me as primarily one who is defiant and angry. At the same time, she is very attractive (almost delightful). Both of the subjects within the frame are therefore linked symbolically and synergistically with each other.

Alan Wilson (2002), Waverley Station, Edinburgh, Available from: http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/ ; Accessed: December 18^th, 2011.

The second image that I quite liked was the one shot in Waverly Station. I like the way the figure (and I cannot tell if it's a man or a woman) seems to walking around in a circle. The arrows imply that there is circular movement to the whole image when in actually the figure is probably just standing still. In more basic form, I looked at that image and my first thought was "That's life, everything eventually comes full circle"

Alan Wilson (2004), Princes Street, Edinburgh, Available from: http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/ ; Accessed: December 18^th, 2011.

Then there is this one. How depressing and relevant in the context of today.

An image of a single human moment taken in 2004 but still valid today. I work in Banking and am constantly bombarded with stories of financial crisis, layoffs, bankrupty etc, it's really depressing. I know people who probably feel just like this man. This image so clearly shows the irony of life.

Alan Wilson (2003), Leith, Edinburgh, Available from: http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/ ; Accessed: December 18^th, 2011.

The fourth image that I picked out was because of the quote written in chalk on the street. The quotation was very familiar but I couldn't quite recall where I had seen or heard it. So of course I decided to google it.

I was pleasantly surprised to find it pop up as part of the dialogue from the eighth episode of the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was aired by NBC on November 8, 1968 and was written by Rik Vollaerts, and directed by Tony Leader. As a child I used to watch this TV series avidly. In fact to this day, I have a crush on Captain James T Kirk.

The overview of the story around this episode is that the crew of the Enterprise rush to stop an asteroid from colliding with a Federation world, but discover the asteroid is actually an inhabited generation ship. All the inhabitants of this ship, except for one, are unaware that their world is artificial. He is the one who basically quotes this line.

If you extend this line to more metaphorical level, then clearly the world today is pretty artificial and hollow. People are losing their sense of self worth, increasing lack of religious and cultural tolerance amongst many is leading to more and more conflict (very unnecessary and unfair, in my opinion) and there are unknown forces at play that clearly benefit from this scenario.

Back to the image itself, I like the way the bars curve around. The eye goes to the quote on the road then moves up across the bars to the two men standing in the corner. They could easily represent that segment of the world which is often misunderstood.

Alan Wilson (2004), Great Junction Street, Leith, Edinburgh, Available from: http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/ ; Accessed: December 18^th, 2011.

The image shows an interesting line of repeating patterns. The figure of the man breaks what would have been a bland composition.

Alan Wilson (2003), Nicolson Square; Available from: http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/; Accessed: December 18th, 2011.

I am running out of steam here. I think I can probably comment on a lot of more of Alan's work but my fingers hurt and I am going to have to stop for the time being. This one I like because of the content of the poster. It says Cold Mountain and there is a man who is obviously dressed up for the cold passing by. I like the way it kind of reflects the general feeling of the image i.e cold day in Edinburgh. I am not too sure about the pole in the middle but I am not too pushed about it because it blends quite nicely with the poster.

All in all, these were great images. Each of them tells me a story. I think the most important aspect of street photography is that documentary, almost story telling context of images. If I can get a series of images that tell the viewer a story, I think I would be lucky. There are lots more on the website so really worth visiting the website if you get a chance.