Introduction
The topic I chose to do the second part of my personal investigation is Architecture Photography. I have always enjoyed taking pictures of what surrounds me on a daily basis but not just simple objects. To me a building is like an art piece. There is lots of thought and work put in to create an art piece that you look at and enjoy. I have always enjoyed capturing very detailed photos of architectures like buildings or sculptures etc. The different outlines, different reflections and more can be captured to create a meaningful photo that can resemble a mood depending on the architecture and colours.
Photography Is An Art Of Selection Rather Than Investigation
The threshold concept I like to base the Architectural photography of is threshold concept number 4 'Photography Is An Art Of Selection Rather Than Investigation'. I think that this threshold concept suits this topic and my style of photography the most. I always choose to take a photo of whatever catches my eye. Whatever gives the best colour, detail, mood, meaning.
Paul Graham Interview
1. What is 'easy' about photography? What is 'difficult'?
Graham's first sentence was 'It's so easy it's ridiculous' which is a statement that I agree with a lot with. I personally have a style of taking pictures of what really looks appealing to me and what catches my eye. In Graham's words, he said 'It's a simple way of recording what you see' which is exactly what it is. The photo will always be from what you see and that is why it is easy.
It’s so easy that I can’t even begin.
The difficult part in Graham's eye is the timing. 'You didn't photograph it, because you didn't think it was worth it. And now it's too late, that moment has evaporated.' By saying why photography is difficult Graham relates to the Threshold concept number 6 'Photographs rely on chance, more or less'. Which is again a very valid point of why photography is very difficult. Timing has to be perfect, you have to the pictures of everything and anything and believe that each photo is going to come out perfect. Photographers can now overcome that fear of if I take a picture of this, I will run out of film since everything is digital and can store hundreds of pictures.
It’s so difficult because it’s everywhere, every place, all the time, even right now.
2. What does Paul Graham value about photography?
Graham values the timing of photography which is also the most difficult aspect of photography in his opinion. In his view, each photo has a different back story about the timing of the photo. 'Or are those contrived, dry and belaboured? Sometimes. Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim. For sure. Or is that just a lucky observation, some random moment caught by chance? Maybe. Is it an intuitive expression of liquid intelligence? Exactly. Or the distillation of years of looking seeing thinking photography. Definitely.'
Or are those contrived, dry and belaboured? Sometimes. Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim. For sure. Or is that just a lucky observation, some random moment caught by chance? Maybe. Is it an intuitive expression of liquid intelligence? Exactly. Or the distillation of years of looking seeing thinking photography. Definitely.
3. What advice does Paul Graham offer us about what to photograph?
Paul Graham gives us the idea that absolutely anything and everything can be photographed while listing different scenarios. I think that again really fits with my idea of architecture photography because he reminds me that I can take a picture of any architecture.
That’s the choice you are spoiled for, but just don’t let it stop you
4. How much planning should we do before getting started?
Graham says another thing that I completely agree with as a photographer. 'The more preplanned it is the less room there is for a surprise.' every time I take pictures I have a very broad idea of what I want my photos to represent or the basic idea of what I would like my photos to look like. Whether it is coloured or black and white, whether it is completely unique simplistic. I think that a broad theme helps but you should let your mind and creativity lead you of what you want to take pictures of.
Perhaps. Sometimes that works, sometimes it’s indulgent, but really it’s your choice, because you are also free to not make ‘sense’.
5. What makes photography 'beautiful'?
In Paul Graham's words, photography is like a massive project in your life. You put in all your mind into one thing and it is to take pictures and after you finish and you put out either a single photo or a collection of photos or a whole new photobook it is a really beautiful achievement.
Then one day it will be complete enough to believe it is finished. Made. Existing. Done. And in its own way: a contribution, and all that effort and frustration and time and money will fall away. It was worth it, because it is something real, that didn’t exist before you made it exist: a sentient work of art and power and sensitivity, that speaks of this world and your fellow human beings place within it. Isn’t that beautiful?
Alec Soth Interview
Watching this interview of Alec Soth one main thing stud out to me that I really like and that is Motivation. Soth explains how working and doing a full time job with photography or as he did in a dark room, it will take your motivation away. You have to have the experience of doing it on the side of another job and then doing it as a full time job but working for yourself and releasing photos. After sometime of working as a photographer for a news paper or a magazine etc. you will not have any freedom of taking pictures that you like.
Another thing I picked up from the interview is the exploration of different locations and content in photos. What gave Soth his big motivation and feeling that 'this exhibition is the first exhibition worth for more people to see' is exploration. His other work/exhibitions were him just simply going around in his city and taking simple pictures, but the 'Sleeping by the Mississippi' was when he actually put in a lot of effort going along the Mississippi river to take photos. It was his first work that he felt perfect about.
Another thing I picked up from the interview is the exploration of different locations and content in photos. What gave Soth his big motivation and feeling that 'this exhibition is the first exhibition worth for more people to see' is exploration. His other work/exhibitions were him just simply going around in his city and taking simple pictures, but the 'Sleeping by the Mississippi' was when he actually put in a lot of effort going along the Mississippi river to take photos. It was his first work that he felt perfect about.
Joel Meyerowitz
This interview with Joel Meyerowitz was to show the style of work and the beauty of photography by sharing stories about Robert Frank who was a very famous photographer. Meyerowitz told a a story of how Frank took pictures of these 2 young girls doing simple things like eating cookies and milk or playing with dolls and as the whole thing looked quite boring, Frank was moving around, making a rhythmic sound of the click of taking pictures after each girls small movement. Movements as simple like brushing her hair or changing the position of the doll. All of these small gestures complete lots of pictures of different changes and different movements around to create a fluidity in the photography.
Samuel Gottscho
Samuel Gottscho was an American architecture, landscape and nature photographer. He was a photographer in the late 1920's and early 30's so there aren't any interviews that we could find his personality and approach to photograpy. From my opinion he captures some of the best pictures that represent ''The Great Depression'''time. While he only started doing photography after he was 50 years old, before he was a lace salesman and he got to travel around the city and see so many different point of views of that time.
For me personally I really enjoy this style of photography. I think that when taking pictures of detailed architecture most hings come out when the photo is in black and white. I have only found out about Gottscho recently and I could say that mine and his styles of architecture photography are very similar and now I get a lot of inspiration from his work. I think that the time he took photos and was at the peak of his carrier was perfect. I wish that I could explore the New York city during the depression time.
For me personally I really enjoy this style of photography. I think that when taking pictures of detailed architecture most hings come out when the photo is in black and white. I have only found out about Gottscho recently and I could say that mine and his styles of architecture photography are very similar and now I get a lot of inspiration from his work. I think that the time he took photos and was at the peak of his carrier was perfect. I wish that I could explore the New York city during the depression time.
He bragged in interviews that he and a driver logged more than 5,000 miles on the streets of the city during the Depression
Photos That I have Done Before That I can Resemble To
Julius Shulman
In this interview Shulman goes over some of his most famous architecture photography. I really enjoy looking at the old school film photos. I like the idea of mixing the style of making some photos in black and white and some in colour, which is I think one of the things that define the style of Julius Shulman. In this short interview he also shows off the importance of people in pictures. His idea that the architecture in the photos needs to be functional works really well and is quite unusuall as not many photographers use people in their architecture photos. Shulman also reminds us of one of the main things of photography. 'All of these photographs tells a story.'
It is almost impossible to take pictures in the style of Julian Shulman. It was very difficult because the architecture is very different in London rather than in Los Angeles which is where Shulman took his pictures. The architecture in London is very crammed up and there is no open space as well as the fact that I have no access to different luxurious houses like in his photos. It is also difficult to replicate his main feature which is having people with the photos because of the virus it's impossible to recreate the setting like this.
The Many Lives of William Klein
William Klein is one of the most influential person in photography from his work in the 1950s. His work using a film camera was and is incredibly important in the society. From publishing the most influential photo book in history to making important political, fashion and documentary films. In my opinion, he perfectly portrayed the 50's society and surroundings. Klein's mentor Alex Lieberman was very inspiring and influential in his work with 'Vogue' and outside on his own projects. I don't think that there is similarity between them, but you can see the passion to go explore and create photos from Lieberman. For Klein, Lieberman was 'A 100% artist' which inspired him to do photography.
Something that makes the photos special now, is seeing Klein's personality. Even when the interview was filmed when he was 93, he was going out and talking to every person he could see next to him. The whole community was like a family taking care of each other. So it's very interesting imagining him going out at the peak of his career into Harlem and talking as well as creating art with people together.
For me personally, I don't enjoy looking at non-focused images/motion blurred because you can't see the details in the pictures, but in Klein's pictures, the motion blur is the detail, it makes you look for certain objects/find out what it is behind the blur.
Something that makes the photos special now, is seeing Klein's personality. Even when the interview was filmed when he was 93, he was going out and talking to every person he could see next to him. The whole community was like a family taking care of each other. So it's very interesting imagining him going out at the peak of his career into Harlem and talking as well as creating art with people together.
For me personally, I don't enjoy looking at non-focused images/motion blurred because you can't see the details in the pictures, but in Klein's pictures, the motion blur is the detail, it makes you look for certain objects/find out what it is behind the blur.
I tolerate New York, I love Paris''
Writing About Photography
What is happening in this image?
Kids playing with the toys/broken bike, mirror etc. out on the streets of New York in 1940
Why has the photographer stopped to make an image?
I think that the photographer chose to stop an take this image to portray how kids in poverty and in a rough 40's New York time, but still finding happiness and ways to enjoy life.
How would you describe the composition of this photograph?
The composition is quite simple to me. If you know how the 40's looks like then you would know that this is like a usual day of the 1940's. If you are in the modern day the photo looks like it is staged and its from an old movie set. Almost all of the kids are looking and standing in a different way, they are focused on pretty much different things.
Try to describe how this photographer was able to make to make an image like this?
I think that the Helen Levitt didn't spend a lot of time making it. I think that she just grabbed film camera and took a picture of a usual siting in the middle of the day in New York.
How might s/he work on a daily basis?
Just looking at this picture I think that Levitt just goes around and captures the day to day life of New York. She goes around and looks detailed at what are people doing.
What kind of camera might s/he have used?
I think that she uses a film camera.
How doe this image make you fell?
The image makes me feel like I am watching a old school movie. I think that it makes me feel this way because of the amount of detail that shows what life was like in the 1940's.
Photoshoot
In this photoshoot, I walked around Blackheath area trying to find some different architecture than usual. It is very hard to do that so I had some ideas of trying to capture the details and what makes architecture very interesting by switching between black & white and vintage, warm colour photos. I think this photoshoot is very unsuccessful because everything looks ordinary. I don't think that I found the architecture and the angle to make the building show its characteristics. I also tried capturing a few landscape pictures and architecture like gates etc. which I think went a bit better but overall the photoshoot looks a bit boring
Photoshoot Nr.2
Berenice Abbott
Berenice Abbott was an American photographer who had liked taking pictures of architecture in the 20th century New York, Paris, Berlin. I think a lot of her work showcases not only the architecture but provides you a feeling of whats around the picture, what is happening in the picture, during that day which is what I really like. I think that what I like the most about Abbott's photography is the showcase of the culture, the feeling and the quite repetitive style of photos just like any other 19th and 20th century New York architecture photos. Her early start of her career helped/created her passion to go out, learn and document the culture, the society and architecture of 20th century America and Europe.