CHEEESE: 2015

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Photographer #16:Don McCullin

(1935)

McCullin was born in London and surprisingly he dropped out of school at 15. He signed up to National Service in the RAF, becoming a photographic assistant working on aerial reconnaissance printing. His very first photo was of The Guvners, a local Finsbury Park gang, which was a terrible gang who even committed murder - which appeared in The Observer in 1958. Most of his work brought out the evil and horrifying lifestyle that came with being part of a war and he went through hell trying to get each image which is why i respect him even more as a photographer and as a person. He was threatened numerous times and I found a quote of him saying "Sometimes it felt like I was carrying pieces of human flesh back home with me, not negatives. It's as if you are carrying the suffering of the people you have photographed." More recently he travels all over the world and is recognized as one of the best war-photographers in history which I thought was an amazing accomplishment.

http://www.hamiltonsgallery.com/artists/29-don-mccullin/biography/

Photographer #15: Steven Klein

My next photographer I chose was Steven Klein. Steven Klein’s fantasy-like and sexually charged photography has captivated the fashion industry for 28 years since his first professional job, shooting a Christian Dior campaign in 1985. Klein is regularly called to shoot campaigns for Balenciaga, Alexander Wang , Louis Vutton, Chanel, Christian Dior, Emporio Armani, Calvin Klein, Tom Ford, and Dolce & Gabanna. I like that each one of his images are almost inspirational and give off a message or a bold kind of fashion statement. “You give him a dress,” said Anna Wintour, “and he will give you a girl in a dress with a robot in a garden.” Dennis Freedman , the creative director of W, concurred, telling the New York Times, Klein’s work “is very much in sync with the idea that things are never what they really appear.” After reading that and seeing how unique his images are this man truly shocks me with every image. He is indeed the farthest thing from boring and unoriginal and it draws me into his work even more. It's almost like a black and white photo with a splash of color--his work is captivating.

http://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/steven-klein

Photographer #14: Sarah Maple

Sarah Maple completed a BA in Fine Art from Kingston University in 2007 and in the same year won the '4 New Sensations' award for emerging artists, run by The Saatchi Gallery. Sarah’s artwork, film and performances have been exhibited internationally at galleries and institutions including A.I.R Gallery (NY), AGO (Canada), the Southbank Centre (London), The New Art Exchange (Nottingham), Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast) and Kunisthoone (Estonia). Although her work is feminist and although she obviously is making a point in each picture, I like that she incorporates humor in her images almost giving her a bitchy yet sassy attitude that you just have to appreciate because it's so true. She makes being a lady not as bad as it may seem at times lol. She's one artist that makes me want to keep looking through her images just because each one is so unique from the other and I enjoy sarcasm and humor that also have an effect on people. Not only is her work moving, but it's funny too which probably makes audiences appreciate it even more.
http://www.sarahmaple.com/about/

Photographer #13: Jerry Uelsmann

1934-present

Jerry earned his BFA Degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1957 and his M.S. and M.F.A at Indiana University in 1960. He began teaching photography at the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1960. He made composite photographs with multiple negatives and a lot of darkroom work. It is said that he uses up to a dozen enlargers at a time to produce his final images. I found it interesting that he said "Most photographers carry many cameras with multiple attachments. Most photographers have one enlarger. I have half a dozen." --When beginning to create one of his photomontages, he has a strong intuitive sense of what he's looking for, some strategy for how to find it, and an understanding that mistakes are inevitable and are part of the creative process. (After reading that it really made me realize how essential mistakes are in photography because some "mistakes" really are blessings and help for a better image even if it is not exactly what you expected it to be) A day after he is done shooting his images he lays out his many different proof sheets, combines various contact prints, explores the visual possibilities, then brings the options into his darkroom. Once he has picked the images, he lays them in a number of enlargers that he owns in his darkroom, and moves the photo paper down the line and WA-LA! His image is beautifully created.

http://www.uelsmann.net/about.php

Photographer #12: Jenette Williams

Jennette Williams’ photographs are in numerous museum collections including The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum,The Nasher Museum, The Museum of Photographic Arts, The Addison Gallery and The Yale Art Gallery. Three books of her work, The Bathers (2009), Time Out(2004), and The Wet Class (1998) have been published as well. Her work inspired me in a way because she really put emphasis on the female body and as me being a female, it made me wonder why she put so much emphasis and effort into her work that reflected this body image. Jenette stated "these images have overlapping lives, artistic, cultural, personal. With these photographs I am engaging with traditions of representation, culture-specific concepts about the female form and femininity, and my own self-image as an American middle-aged (weaned on Twiggy) woman to re-envision ways of seeing and considering the nude female body." I admire her greatly for this.

http://lenscratch.com/2010/01/jennette-williams/

Photographer #11: Brian Duffy

(15 June 1933 – 31 May 2010)

Also known as "the man who shot the sixties,"Brian Duffy was an English photographer and film producer, best remembered for his fashion photography of the 1960s and 1970s, iconic Vidal Sassoon takes of hairstyle model Frankie Stein amongst many others, and his creation of the iconic “Aladdin Sane” image for David Bowie. It was said that he really put a hype on fashion photography. To me, his work is just extremely unique from his color assortment in photos, to the originality of his compositions. Duffy was quoted saying “The thing about the photograph is that theres’s no smell and in a sense it tells the truth and yet it is a lie”

http://c41.net/uncategorized/brian-duffy-the-man-who-shot-the-sixties/

Photography #10: Yousuf Karsh

December 23, 1908-July 13, 2002

Karsh was a Canadian photographer known for his portraits of important and famous men and women of politics. He was great at capturing portraits that were always posed and had a certain lighting. Karsh worked with an 8-by-10 view camera and many artificial lights. I also thought it was crazy that he was said to carry 350 pounds of equipment on his trips abroad. Yousuf was mainly known for his World War II portraits of Winston Churchill, Dwight D. Eisenhower and other leaders of the Allied cause, Karsh of Ottawa (which is what people reffered to him as) and he traveled all over the world to photograph political and military leaders, as well as celebrated writers, artists and entertainers. His portraits were featured in newspapers and magazines as well as in books.

http://www.karsh.org/

Photographer #9: Henri Cartier-Bresson

(1908–2004)

I think his work really interested me because he traveled around the world and had his camera alongside of him to capture his experiences as well. Once he left the army Cartier-Bresson traveled to Africa in 1931 to hunt antelope and boar. Although he was not a fan of hunting, hunting did spark his interest in photography. Cartier said "I adore shooting photographs," he'd later note. "It's like being a hunter. But some hunters are vegetarians—which is my relationship to photography." After his trip to Africa, Cartier-Bresson purchased his first 35mm Leica. Cartier-Bresson believed that all edits should be done when the image was made. His equipment load was often light: a 50mm lens and if he needed it, a longer 90mm lens.I thought this was odd yet awesome because most photographers usually put a lot of work and effort into the post-picture when it comes to editing but not him.

http://www.biography.com/people/henri-cartier-bresson-9240139