Inital Research for "Being Human" - 23.09.22
Being Human. To observe what others are doing in what they do, whether it is walking around or when others are with family or when they are lost or broken. That is what humans are. For this, it was best to go out and find photographers that took a lot of photos of people or what humans have done, either to each other or to the world, just anything that linked up to what humans are.
Robert Frank
Robert Frank's book "The Americans" was one of the books that were given to us in class. One of my favorite photos in that book was called Navy's Office, which is shown below.
What I felt/discovered about this photo was the way he showed the person in view, or rather, not in view. Without context, we can see that this person is a person of high importance as their shown shoes look very formal and expensive. It was also shot in black and white film, as this shot dated way back into the 1950s. The composition of the image is interesting as well, as we can only see the shoes in the image, but with it being in the rule of thirds and with framing with the door frame. The American flag is also shown, but it is way in the background which can be omitted from the image quite easily.
Some more of the photos from the book are shown below. Most ho his work actually surprisingly has points of interest within the 1/3 of the frame or uses the golden ratio composition with the point of interest within the ratio. He also experiments with patterns within people and objects, but most of his work in the Americans showcase the American culture at the time.
Vivian Maier
During the lesson, the lecturer made a comment about a documentary showing the life of Vivian Maier and her photography as well. As this was sort of research/something interesting to watch, I, of course, watched it. The documentary showed her photos that she shot and it also explained what her life was as well. She grew up in a small town in France and her mother was also a photographer. When she grew up, she moved to America and got a job in a small sewing factory. But during this time, she would think about wanting to be outside and experiencing the world through her own eyes. This was when she became a nanny and practised her photography. She would bring her camera with her all the time and would hoard news articles about stuff like death and rape and everything nasty during her time on the earth. But her work was left undiscovered until someone bought the negatives from bidding storage and now her work was some of the most renowned across the globe. One of her photos that I like is shown below;
(2013) Finding Vivian Maier
Being an avid fan of film photography, I instantly knew that the film format for this was Medium Format, instead of 35mm. Typically used for more detailed orientated work (due to being a bigger format and less grain in the image), this is a surprise as this format would not be the typical size that a street photographer would use. The square format also gives it a much more interesting look, as most photography these days use a wide aspect ratio. And of course, the use of black and white. The context also shows that the person is carrying what looks like parcels in both hands, whilst wearing a cowboy outfit. As most of her work was shot in New York, this would be something out of the ordinary in her day-to-day life. More of her work is shown below.
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Brandon Staton
During the Lesson, we also had a look at "The Humans of New York" which (to me) is a modern take on street photography. This type of photography is more about asking people if they want a photo taken of them, rather than having a look around and absorbing the information around you and looking for the photo. This is something completely different to my photographic style, but would also be a good idea to test out and see what type of image I can take with the person knowing whom I am rather than taking shots of random people that might not want themselves being taken photos of.
The photo below shows more of a traditional street photographer style in which he noticed a bunch of kids that wanted to take a photo, in which he did. What I like about the photo is more to do with the composition of the shot, as this is something that I am always looking to do in my photography, to take a frame within a frame of a shot. It is also clear what type of train this is, as there is nothing quite like the new york metro trains out there in the world. This was also printed on a double spread of a book, which is why there is a line down the middle of the frame, as it was difficult trying to merge both edges of the images together. There is also different photos that I like underneath.
