Comparing Photos to Researched Photographers - 09.12.22
For this blog entry, I have compared my work to the researched photographers that were introduced to the class earlier in the unit. Their work and my work are shown below in each heading.
Robert Frank
Frank's work is shown on the left, whilst my work is shown on the right.
First, the use of film really solidifies similarities with the use of the same medium, whilst still being able to show originality within my photos and Robert Frank's photos.
I also shot on film a lot before the start of the course, but it was mostly using colour. Moving from colour film to black and white film encouraged me to care more about my subjects and intentions as a photographer rather than the colours of the image and what type of film I was using.
Developing and scanning were also much easier in black and white due to being able to effectively be my own development and scanning lab. I also can save money and time too when shooting mostly black and white film compared to colour film.
As shown, the work of Robert Frank uses the rule of thirds in his photo. I have also tried to use that as well to be able to capture photos as quickly as I can, without having to sacrifice framing within the subject.
I still feel like my photos cannot compare to the likes of a historic photographer such as Robert Frank, but I know that my composition and subject matter can show similarities in a way that can resemble his work.
Vivian Maier
Maier's work is shown on the left, whilst my work is shown on the right.
For her work, she uses a medium format camera whilst with mine, I just used a 35mm film camera just so that I can shoot more whilst carrying less on me when I am out and about.
For the shot chosen for comparison though, I used my trusty Sony A7 Mark II with a 24-240mm F3.5-F6.3. The body of the camera has In-Body Image Stabilisation (or IBIS for short) so that it reduces the chance of camera shake and motion blur due to shutter speed not being fast enough to eliminate blurred images, whilst with the massive focal range of 10 times from 24mm to 240mm. This is sure a travel lens, due to having such a massive focal range, but it does have a limitation of a small open aperture at the telephoto ranges.
The camera also has a high pixel count, which means I can edit in RAW (unprocessed photo format) to get the highest quality, even if I am cropping to a square format after shooting.
The photos are shown below;
As you can see, the way that the subject is facing away from me shows how I was inspired by the way Vivian Maier captured the gentlemen from the back with her photo.
I also liked my subject matter, as it shows a family and how much the father cares about his child, whilst the child looks in the distance with curiosity. The fatherly figure shows protection from what is going on in the background of the image.
I also changed the way that the shot was originally shot, which is shown below.
I think that making it square was a good idea, due to the background being distracting enough to take away from the raw emotion that the child and father are giving when I took this photo.
I also turned it into black and white, as this would add more emphasis on the subject matter, rather than the way that colour would distract from the viewer and the background as well.
Like what I have said about Robert Frank's work, I still feel like I cannot compare my work with theirs as they are some of the best street photographers in history.
Brandon Staton
Staton's work is shown on the left, whilst my work is shown on the right.
For this comparison, I would like to focus on this photograph, as this closely resembles my photograph.
I like the way that Brandon Staton focused more on the little details of the filmmaker and I immediately took notice of one of my shots that focused on the wedding ring of the individual in my photo.
Brandon's framing is very neutral compared to my framing, which I intended to do due to wanting to focus on the wedding ring and have it in the rule of thirds as well, to entice the viewer to notice the ring and to think about the symbolism of being in a committed, married relationship.
I feel like Brandon's photo is intriguing but very unorganised, due to having many rings and a very patterned dress which distracts from the subject matter of the photo, whilst my photo wants your attention towards the ring, which is the smallest detail that you can notice whilst viewing and thinking about why I have taken such a shot.