Fine Art Photography

Fine Art Photography

Fine art photography is simply photos that are taken in accordance to the artist’s vision. Fine art photos are in contrast from commercial and documentary photography as its purpose is not to record or sell. Fine art photos can portray many messages and concentrate on different themes and emotions. 

Ansel Adams 

Ansel Easton Adams born February 20, 1902 and died April 22, 1984, he was one of the greatest landscape photographers. He was also an environmentalist. He loved being outdoors and exploring nature, and his strong love of photography came from a family trip to Yosemite national park. In 1916. He started to take photographs professionally in the 1920s. His success as a photographer is down to his elegant and well composed, technically perfect natural landscape photos. His black-and-white landscape photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park, have been greatly used on calendars, posters, and in books. His reputation has been firmly established by his work being in exhibitions in practically every major art museum.

Ansel Adams along with other California Bay Area photographers, founded Group f/64, it was a protest against the sentimental and imitative style dominant in the turn-of-the-century, photographic trend of pictorial-ism. F/64 refers to the smallest lens opening on the camera through which light passes: images photographed at this setting produce a sharp focus and fine detail of subject matter. This group of photographers concentrated on exploring what they termed "straight" or pure photography. They focused on emphasising form and texture, rather than soft focus and emotionalism, and translated scale and detail into an organic, sometimes abstract, design. 

This image “Moon and Half-Dome, Yosemite, was photographed by Ansel Adams in 1960, its of a rocky cliff in America. This is a vertically framed image, viewing the cliff face of Half dome, one of the most iconic features of Yosemite Valley. Adams catches the fading moon above and slightly to the left of the   highest point of the mountain face. The sky is light around the moon and fades in to darkness behind the mountain. The contrast of black and white sharpens the details of the mountain like the cracks and dents and makes the viewer inquire  about them. Adams expresses his love of nature in this photo. He was once a resident of Yosemite Valley and thought it important to preserve its wilderness and the national park. Ansel composed this photo perfectly and strategically, finding the right angle to capture the moon rising over the mountain. Ansel photographed this mountain as he found it one of the most distinctively shaped mountain. The photo is darkened by the late afternoon shadows, this adds a mysterious atmosphere to the photo. Ansel Adams likes that he could capture this mountain in different lights that give it a different mood. This image is a long shot and even though the moon is one of the smallest parts in the photograph it is also one of the focal points and on its own makes up the center third of the image. The shadow at the bottom defines the bottom third.

This photograph, ‘The Tetons and the Snake River’, is Ansel Adams most famous photograph taken in 1942. It features a spectacular view of a mountain with ominous clouds seeming to settle at its top. This picture is in black and white which makes you look at the depth of the image. Adams is trying to show us that the focal point of the image is the beauty and deeper meaning of nature itself rather than the element of colour. The contrast of dark and light shades accentuates the definitions in this photograph. The mood of the photo is also changed when using black and white, it gives a more nostalgic and sombre energy to the image. Lines are important in this image, the curving line of the river leads the viewer back in to the image, without the river the image would be quite different. The river in this image stands out as it seems to lead to what we assume is the focal part of the image, the mountains in the background. It might have a hidden meaning, our life is one continuous path which leads to the focal point of our life, and the path is not the focal point but the way to the destination that we work toward achieving. Adams has perfectly framed this photo and chose to use a long shot in order to give us the full view of the beauty of this scene of nature. 

This photograph ‘Stream, Sea,  Clouds, Rodeo Beach’, was taken by Ansel Adams in 1962. We see a running stream of water, flowing in a curvy shape, almost like the sand has formed that way for the water to flow. The dark and light shades of the photo create interesting visuals. The clouds look light and fluffy, yet they also have a certain definition to the edges and a sense of sharpness. The clouds add character to the photo. Lines are important in this photo, we can see perfectly straight lines separating the clouds from the sea. This photo is beautiful with everything tying together. The stream flows in to the sea, the sea blends in with the clouds. The land around the stream helps you to see the shapes in this photo clearly and holds the image together. This photo is great as Adams captures the beauty of the unpredictable sea, which can form many shapes but he chose to capture it at this moment obviously fascinated by this view. This image looks like a long shot as you can see all the way to clouds and this angle creates depth to this photo. This photo is also composed perfectly in the rule of thirds with the stream centered in the second third.


Sam Taylor Wood

This photo comes from a series of Sam's photos called “Bram Stokers Chair” which apparently derives from the fact that like Dracula, the chair casts no shadow, and that creates an eerie, almost supernatural quality. The juxtaposition of the woman's shadow and the precariously balanced chair, all combine to produce an unsettling and strangely interesting image. In this photo the women has one foot on a chair that looks like it may fall and she is leaning off it. if you look closely at the image you can see that the right hand corner of the floor is in dark lighting. This shows you that the lighting is coming in form the left to the right and this is what produces her shadow on the wall. This is image is composed of a long shot as focal point takes up almost the full frame height. This photo is definitely posed and it looks the face of the woman is deliberately not visible which also reinforces mystery. Along with the fact that the artist decided to take the photo with her wearing only her vest and underwear plays with ideas of sexuality, vulnerability and jeopardy. The photo is obviously edited because no one can tilt on a chair like that.

Once again we see a woman suspended in the air. The way she is posing, her body looks relaxed and like she is floating. Again she is in an empty room and by herself, giving the audience a feeling that she is lonely. Also the fact she is in front of a window could suggest she is looking out of it, maybe she is trapped and is yearning to escape. This photo is a long shot as it shows the background. This photo has bright natural daylight coming through the window.

This photo shows a women who appears to be held above the ground by bunches of balloons tied around her body. The lighting on this images is focused on the women and causes a shadow of her body to form on the floor. The background is black which draws attention to the woman and along with the shadows in the corners, it creates an eerie atmosphere.  This photo is composed of a long shot to show the background. It looks like she is hanging in mid air and the balloons are holding up dead weight. The artist may be suggesting that she is dead and the balloons are carrying her away, maybe to heaven? This image has a supernatural quality to it.

All of Sam Taylor Woods work have the same technique, with each one being of a woman suspended in the air, with varying degrees of lighting. She allows frames them all similarly with most of them being long shots and the woman/ main image being the focal point of the photo. There is also a reoccurring use of shadow through some of her work, where a shadow appears behind the subject. In her photos, the woman is always alone but the use of a shadow could show that she is in fact not always alone. Her works tend to have a surreal theme. The images are based on things that are not possible in this life. In her photos the main surrealism is her attempts to float in air or fly.

Documentary Photography

Documentary photography

Documentary photography is a popular form of photography used that records both significant and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically categorized as professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people.

Jacob Ris

Jacob Riis was born May 3, 1849 and died May 26, 1914. He was a Danish American social reformer, journalist and social documentary photographer. He is known for using his photographic and journalistic talents to help expose poverty in New York City; those impoverished New Yorkers were the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He is considered one of the fathers of photography due to his very early adoption of flash in photography . While living in New York, Riis experienced poverty and became a police reporter writing about the quality of life in the slums. He attempted to alleviate the bad living conditions of poor people by exposing their living conditions to the middle and upper classes.

This photo called Street Arabs in their sleeping Quarters was taken by Jacob Riis in the 1880s, three young boys are pictured sleeping on a barrel next to a building. These boys look homeless and living in poor conditions. This photo was taken in black and white and you can see the lighting of the photo has been affected by the flash of the camera and natural daylight. If you look at the photo you can see there is a glare on the skin that is showing and on some of the surroundings like the floor and the stairs. This image is a long shot. The boys are most likely pretending to be asleep and whether they are homeless is not entirely clear. Their clothing indicates that they are poor as their trousers appear to be short and there are some tears in their clothing.

The photograph ”Hebrew Master Ready for Sabbath Eve in a Coal Cellar” is a strong portrayal of the struggle to maintain tradition amidst extreme poverty. This image shows a bearded Jew preparing for the Sabbath eve in a coal cellar on Ludlow Street. It is 1900 and he lives in a coal cellar; but there is still a Sabbath loaf on the grimy table in front of him despite him living in poverty he will fight to be a devoted Jew. Jacob Ris manipulates the focus of the lens and the flash light, he forces the eye to opt its way from object to object, to choose between a challah loaf and a shovel, a dirty coat and a sign in Hebrew. Riis seems not to pay  attention to any element in particular in the photograph, which gives the impression of disengagement and total impartiality. You can tell that flash is used from the glare on the man’s face. Riis often used his framing to emphasize this quality further. In this photograph, the seemingly illogical placement of the right-hand edge, where a figure is cut off leaving only a pair of hands holding a shovel, combines with the overall tilt of the frame to give an unsettled look to the image. In fact, this picture is so carefully composed and purposeful that it demands that ill-formed appearance. The shovel in the right hand side of the picture shows the inappropriateness of the coal cellar as a home. We are seeing a dedicated Jew being interrupted from his devotions by the rude work around him. The loaf of bread is close to the centre of the image and separated from the other objects on the table, this signifies the emphasis to the religious nature of this moment.

The photograph ‘children sleeping in Mulberry Street (1890) is an image of three young boys sleeping on a stairway. This image shows the living conditions of young homeless children in New York City. Jacob Riis wanted to change the living conditions for the people and started to do this through his work. He made people aware of the poverty in New York City through these photos. The country was in depression at the time this photo was taken and the photo shows you the seriousness of the situation as children are in vulnerable positions. Riis was trying to evoke feelings of guilt through this photo and  make people feel somewhat responsible for the situations of others and inspire them to act on it and stop their suffering. The concerning message of the photo is that children were struggling to eat, find shelter and be safe. The setting of the photo shows three young boys sleeping in a small space. Two of the boys are sleeping one on top of the other and the other boy leaning against the brick wall sleeping.  Looking at the mise en scene, their clothing indicates that they are poor as they haven’t got any shoes and their trousers appear to be short.  We can also see this photo has been taken in black and white with the lighting of the photo being affected by the flash of the camera and natural daylight. If you look at the photo you can see there is a glare on the skin that is showing. This image consist of a long shot and it seems that the camera was facing dead on the subjects. The boys are obviously pretending to be asleep and whether they are homeless or not remains a question open to modern. You can also see a gate in the photo which could suggest that the children where forced in to this space or maybe they felt protected by the gate being there. The photo brings up more than one issue and is not a one state problem. The poor where victims of economic slavery and the image says that we need to take action because as a country we are doing something wrong when our children are living on the streets. 

The credibility of Riis’s photographs can be challenged for many reasons. In his autobiography, he tells of the tenement inhabitants’ reaction to his group photographing them. He says that he is aware that his party carried terror. His team of men often invaded houses late at night armed with big pistols which they shot of recklessly which must not be very reassuring for the subjects. So it would seem that the factual basis of some photos taken by him were undermined by the terror introduced by Riis and his staff.

The power gained by the result of this intrusion in the early morning hours by Riis favoured Riis and his team because it provided him with an opportunity to capture the darkness and horrible conditions of tenement life. The flash powder Riis used often shocked his subjects and exaggerated the actual appearances of the tenements because it provided harsh shadows and lighting. All of these factors have led questioning the credibility of his photographs.

Jim Goldberg

Jim Goldberg was born in 1953 in New Haven, Connecticut. His work reflects long-term, in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations. Through his photographs he tackled difficult subject matter. His revolutionary use of image and text has made him one of today’s most influential photographers. Goldberg's documentary storytelling is both formally ambitious and self-questioning. Recently Goldberg has been developing an autobiographical body of work using text and photographs to create a visual and written diary; ‘Another Story’. Goldberg is inspired by his ingoing interest in people and their positions in society as a function of broader cultural policies and practices. 

This photograph is called Syed Saibor Rahaman from Bangladesh. It is a portrait of a young man, he is wearing casual clothes, a white shirt and jeans. He’s standing against a white wall and his figure is outlined in red. This image consists of a long shot and the man is the central image. Goldberg often encourages the subject(s) to write on the Polaroid portrait. This man has simply written “My dream is to go to Europe”. The writing is in the language of the person who is writing it, which adds mystery to the story, yet still seems to engage the viewer. The addition of the text shares with us the man’s inspiration and longing to go to Europe. This portrait has a less devastating message than other portraits by Goldberg.

This is a photo from Goldberg’s Rich and Poor project. The boy has wrote on the image “It’s kind of stinky living in this hotel. I don’t have nothing only $10. I keep waiting for someone to come in the door and give me money but nobody ever will. These few words have a powerful impact on this image. The writing gives the subject a voice. This image shows a boy named Joe, sitting on what we assume is his bed in his hotel. Considering the mise en scene, we can see by his shirt that he is wearing normal clothes but nothing expensive looking. There is lighting on one side of his face, this could suggest that there is a window adding natural daylight to the image. The shadow on the right side of his body add a feeling of mystery to the image. This photo is a long shot but we are drawn in by his solemn expression. The way the framing is cut makes the room appear to be small further showing his underprivileged living conditions. The text gives us a fragmented narrative of this boy’s life and along with image evokes feelings of sadness and longing. The message of this image is that boy is longing for someone to help him and wants to live a better life.

This photograph ‘Famous Dancer Who Was Trafficked’ is a black and white Polaroid photograph, it’s also a documental portrait as it’s about a famous dancer who was trafficked, hence the name. She is from Ukraine and the writing is in her language but it translates to “I was a dancer and sold to a man who was a terrorist- he held a gun to my head. Somehow I was rescued and escaped, but the fear has left scars on my heart. (and I will never be the same)” This text narrates the image and gives us insight in to her story. This image is a close up as the background is out of focus and we are made to focus on her face. Goldberg has Tipp-Exed out her face here, it adds a mood of mystery and could also signify the loss of her personality or identity highlighting the words “I will never be the same”. We are made to feel sympathy for the woman in this image. This photograph along with her words portrays her sadness and suffering as a woman in a sexist society.

These images by Goldberg are all narrative and we would believe them to be factual however there is always doubt that photographers set up the image and the subjects in the images are being posed. This would then make the image unreliable, the image would still be  portraying a message but the seriousness of what the image is portraying may be exaggerated or the opposite, understated. Also the images could be biased as the photograph could be taking them according to his views and class in society. 

Applications of photography

AO1: Describe different applications of photography

Advertising

Advertising photography is one of the most popular and well known forms of photography and a type of commercial photography. The fundamental aim for advertising photography is to produce the ultimate setting and make use of photography techniques in the best way possible in order to display the product in the most appealing way to the target audience. Photographers make use of various ideas and visuals to make a clear message of what the company want to convey. Photoshop is often used to improve the overall look of the product that is being advertised. Advertising photography can be used to promote many products such as fashion, cars, food and companies. Advertising photography is used in places such as on billboards, buses, bus stops. These are places where many people will see the advertisement, the image is usually the first thing you see on the advertisement and what you are more likely to remember than the information on it. Promoting products through advertising can help boost sales and increase customer interest for the product and allowing more people to know about it. Advertising can be split in to video advertisement or photography advertisement.

This is a 1940s cola ad targeting African Americans,

A young Ron Brown is the boy reaching for a bottle. 

The colours are dull as it only uses black and white. The image shows an old African American family. Overall, this ad is not very catching. 

This is a recent ad and you can already see it’s a lot more appealing with the use of bright colours and more writing and bolder fonts. Also this ad features celebrities which appeal to the target audience.

Photojournalism

Photojournalism is a form of journalism that uses images to tell a news story. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work is both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media. Photojournalism photography ranges from serious current affairs to paparazzi style photos, sports photography and travel photography.

This is a photograph taken by Wallace Hooper of the madras famine in India 

(1876-1878). The photographs he took during this time, especially this one were very powerful to convince a visual truth of the suffering of others.

Nowadays a lot of popular photojournalism is taken by the paparazzi of celebrities and tells us about what they get up to. This is not as an effective use of photojournalism such as earlier photojournalism which highlights important events.

Fashion Photography

Fashion Photography is a genre of photography devoted to displaying and advertising clothing and other fashion items. It is featured in magazines, catalogues, websites, etc. It’s the work of the photographer to make the images look eye-catching and show the intended design. Quite often fashion photography uses celebrities to increase the appeal to the audience because of the celebrity appeal. So for a person who works in fashion photography, their job is to promote a company’s clothing in the best way possible.

This is a vogue cover from 1950. The photo is quite plain with a pale background. There isn't much writing, just the title and the issue. The eye catching image itself uses bright colours but combined with the plain background, colours and minimal writing the cover looks dull and not very interesting to look at.

This is a recent vogue cover from 2010 with Nicole Kidman who is a famous celebrity. The covers main colour is bright red as it’s highlighted from her dress, lipstick and the background. There is plenty more writing on this page in a contrasting colour to the magazine which makes it stand out. The fashion element is definitely the main focus for this magazine by looking at the cover at what she’s wearing and her pose. It is overall more appealing to look at.

Fine Art Photography

Fine art photography is photography created purely to express the vision of the artist through photos. Unlike most types of photography, fine art photography doesn't have a core purpose like to promote a product or tell a story, it just has to look appealing. Photographers may go to different places for photographs and mostly try and fit as much as they can in to a photograph but still follow some of the rules of photography such as the rule of thirds. These photographs usually work freelance and will try and sell them to people for good amounts of money.

This is one of the works of Ansel Adams from 1942. He was one of the most widely recognized fine art photographers of the 20th century. This photo captures the scenery in good detail and the lighting does manage to capture the depth of the clouds and reflection of the river. The lack of colour doesn't limit the photo as it adds to the expression and definition of the photograph. 

This photo of the flower is taken by Alex Greenshpun and the aim of this photographer is to freeze a moment in time and capture its most subtle and delicate essence. The use of a close up shot really defines the smooth edges of the petals and the elegance and delicacy of the flower. This is fine art at its best. Art for art sake that captures something beautiful.

Portraiture

Portraiture is photography of a person or group of people that displays their expression, personality, and mood of the subject. The focus of the photograph is usually the person's face, although the entire body and the background or context may be included. There can be formal and informal portrait photography, as a posed photo to a captured photo in the moment. When portrait photographs are composed and captured, the photographer has control over the lighting of the composition of the subject and can adjust direction and intensity of light. It is desirable to capture the subject's eyes and face in focus while allowing other less important elements to be rendered in a soft focus. At other times, portraits of individual features might be the focus of a composition such as the hands, eyes or part of the subject's torso.

This a portrait of Winston Churchill taken in 1900. Portraits at this time were generally of important people and royals, and tend to focus on their face.

Portraits today have not changed much from early Portraiture. The focus is still the same. However, we now have better equipment for photography and anyone can have a portrait taken of themselves, not just important people. 

Documentary Photography

Documentary photography is a popular form of photography used to record historical events. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures featuring people.

This photo was taken by Jacob Ris. It is documenting the living conditions of the poor in New York during the 1800s. This image looks like it was taken without the knowledge of the subjects. 

This photo is taken by Aaron Heuy, in Afghanistan, this is a more modern photo of documentary photography. It is obvious that photography equipment is better and improves the quality of the photo. This picture does look posed as the subject is directly in front of the camera and looks to be aware of the photo being taken.

Architectural Photography

Architectural photography is about capturing images of buildings and similar structures that are both aesthetically pleasing and accurate representations of their subjects. Architectural photographers, are usually skilled in the use of specialized techniques and equipment and an expert in visual representation.

This photo is of London Bridge in the 1800s. It’s not very aesthetically pleasing and doesn't look skillful and shows the lack of techniques and equipment at this time.

This is a modern photo of the gherkin in London. You can tell the photographer has carefully chosen their shot. This looks like a high up landscape/ scenery shot. The level of the camera allows you to see the sheer height and size of the building as well as the overall structure of it. There is much better techniques and equipment used in the 21^st century.

Medical Photography

Medical Photography is a specialised type of photography that documents the clinical presentation of patients, medical and surgical procedures, medical devices and specimens from autopsy. The practice requires a high level of technical skill to present the photograph free from misleading information that may cause misinterpretation. The photographs are used in clinical documentation, research, publication in scientific journals and teaching.  They record the work of healthcare professionals to assist in the planning of treatment and education of the public and other healthcare professionals. The nature of the work requires a respect for and sensitivity to people, an awareness of sterile procedures and an adherence to privacy legislation and policies.

This photo consists of a long shot that shows the medical equipment and doctors and nurses at work. The quality of the photo is poor suggesting the photographic equipment and techniques where older and we can see that the medical equipment was not as developed as it is today. 

This photo is a long shot and combined with the perfect angle shows the doctor at work clearly. This photo shows the advancement in medical equipment as well as the development of photography equipment and techniques.  

High Street Studio work

High street studio work is done in a studio and the photographer takes a number of pictures with different backgrounds and prop. The images can be developed for families to take home and have a copy of them to frame around their house. High street studio work is popularly used for wedding photos, model shoots and family shoots.

This is an example of high street studio work in the 1900s. It is a very formal family portrait consisting of a long shot. No one is smiling they are looking plain faced at the camera. The quality of the photo is poor suggesting the under developed photography equipment that was available at the time.

High street studio work today is more informal with the subjects in different poses and they can dress up, it’s not like early works of family portraits. The subjects are clearer and the photo has better lighting and more colour. This indicates better photographic equipment and techniques. This photo consists of a long shot also.

Illustration Photography

Illustration Photography is the visualization or a depiction made by an artist through a photograph.  Illustrations can be artistic images illustrating text, fashion, magazines or a book etc.  The aim of an illustration is to provide a visual representation of something.

This photograph is a visual representations of a woman.This photo looks abstract and maybe used to illustrate fashion. It is a close up as the background does not hold much importance as the subject and main image is the focal point.