Photography & Photographers

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson is a renowned French artist and photographer who is considered a pioneer of what we know as street photography today and a master of capturing candid photography, to Henri Cartier-Bresson photography was all about capturing a decisive movement and a moment in time that can be remembered. Born in 1908, Henri Cartier-Bresson went on to study painting throughout the 1920’s while taking an interest in photography throughout his studies, he later went on to start drawing and sketching throughout his later years in the 1970’s. Henri Cartier-Bresson has won multiple awards for his photographic work over the years including the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in 1981 and there Hasselblad Award in 1982, his work has been a huge inspiration for photographers over the years and his work focuses on the geometry of the landscape and making those work in harmony with the composition to create an interesting image.^[1]

I have included some of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work below to demonstrate his focus on street photography and how he uses the geometry of the landscape to create interesting photographic compositions.

 

 

 

Alexander Rodchenko

Alexander Rodchenko is a Russian graphic designer, artist, painter and photographer who we had previously looked at in our IXD101 and IXD102 modules last semester. Born in 1891, Alexander Rodchenko is often recognised as a pioneer and founding father of the Russian Constructivist movement, initially working as a graphic designer and painter Rodchenko found his passion in photography throughout the later years of his career. His photographic work is extremely interesting as he chooses to use very abstract angles shot from above or below to create interesting and dynamic photographic compositions, this is evident throughout a lot of his work.^[2]

I have included some of Alexander Rodchenko’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

Edward Weston

Edward Weston is an American photographer, born in 1886 Edward Weston primarily focuses his work towards still-life and portraiture photography, while his work is not limited to these photographic styles his work is widely recognised through these forms of photography. Initially from Illinois in the United States of America Edward Weston is well know for his photographic work throughout the crucial years of photography where he worked on nude portraits, still-life images, industrial settings and landscape photography, his work is often recognised by its monochromatic effect and creative use of camera and photographic techniques.^[3]

I have included some of Edward Weston’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham is an award-winning American photographer from Portland, Oregon who was born in 1883, she is widely recognised for her work in botanical photography, nude portraitures and industrial landscapes. Her work extends beyond these bounds into street photography, studio photography and commercial photography, often being considered as the “grandmother of photography” as she worked with photography through its most crucial development over the years.^[4]

I have included some of Imogen Cunningham’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams is a renowned American photographer from San Francisco, California. Born in 1902, Ansel Adams is widely recognised from his black and white landscape photography of the American landscape, over the years Ansel’s work has gained huge recognition throughout photography and the photographic industry having won numerous awards for his work in addition to having his work featured in multiple exhibitions across the world. Ansel went on to meet Edward Weston in 1927 where they began to lay the foundation for the renowned photography community, The f/64 Group, which was founded half a decade later in 1932.^[5]

I have included some of Ansel Adams photographic work below.

 

 

 

Eve Arnold

Eve Arnold is an American born photographer with Russian heritage born in Philadelphia, USA. She initially found a passion for photography in the 1940’s and went on to study photography at the New York New School of Social Research in 1948. After graduating and deciding to travel to China and resorting back to the United Kingdom Eve Arnold joined the Magnum Photos creative agency in the late 1950’s and was the first women to ever join the agency, she began to gain recognition for her work in the 1960’s from her portraitures of Marilyn Monroe. Throughout her career she has had her work featured in numerous exhibitions around the world in addition to collecting multiple awards for her work in the photography sector, Eve has also written and published a series of books relating to photography and her life experiences.^[6] My favourite part about the quote below is “It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.”, I strongly agree with this statement as I have always thought that you don’t necessarily have to have the best equipment to achieve an outstanding final product and that it is ultimately down to the knowledge you have around the topic and how you utilise that to your advantage.

“If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument”

– Eve Arnold

I have included some of Eve Arnold’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

Annie Liebovitz

Annie Liebovitz is an American photographer who is widely recognised for her work in portraiture photography of famous celebrities, throughout her career she has won a number of awards for her work and is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern-day portraiture. In the 1970’s Annie Liebovits went on to work as a photographer and photojournalist for the infamous Rolling Stone Magazine, the image of John Lennon and Yoko Ono just before John Lennon’s death is possibly the most famous photo of Annie Liebovitz and it was taken on a polaroid camera.^[7]

I have included some of Annie Liebovitz’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

David Hockney

David Hockney is a multi-talented British artist and designer who works with a variety of mediums like graphic design, painting, stage design, printmaking, stage design and photography along with a number of others. He is best know for his quilted photographic composition which he called ‘joiners’, these where a series of polaroid images stitched together to create a completely different aesthetic, this style of photography was never seen before making David Hockney one of the early pioneers of photo-collage and even more modern forms of graphic design like photo manipulation in Photoshop where we can combine images together to create a new image all together – this is obviously more advanced than what Hockney had to work with back then.^[8]

I have included some of David Hockney’s work photographic work below.

 

 

 

Masumi Hayashi

Masumi Hayashi is an American artist, educator and photographer best know for her photo-collage style of photography, throughout her work it is evident that she creates a panoramic photo-collage effect. In the 1970’s Masumi Hayashi went on to gain a Bachelors and Masters degree in Fine Arts at UCLA and Florida State University, her work began to gain recognition and is now featured in a number of different museums and exhibitions around the world including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and The Columbus Museum of Art in London.^[9]

I have included some of Masumi Hayashi’s photographic work below.

 

 

Gina Glover

Gina Glover is a British artist, photographer and lecturer who is best know for her work in landscape photography, her more recent work has extended into macro photography for medical clients where she creates a blend between science and art. Gina initially studied Fine Art at the Chelsea School of Art and Photography and has went on to build an extremely successful career, now having her work featured in multiple exhibitions and mususeams around the world.^[10] I personally think that her latest style of macro photography has been an inspiration for the previous liquid display screen that Apple had released as backgrounds for their devices.

I have included some of Gina Glover’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

Chase Jarvis

Chase Jarvis is another multi-talented artist, entrepreneur and director who is widely know for his photographic work, he was recognised at one of the Top 30 influential photographers by the PDN magazine and has won numerous awards for his work throughout his career. Although Chase is recognised for his photography he has also worked with film-making and fine-art in addition to regularly attending lectures at prestigious universities and colleges around the world and being featured in TED talks across the globe, in addition to all this Chase Jarvis has also written and published a series of book publications. In 2008 Chase Jarvis went on to develop and launch the first HDdSLR camera ever made alongside the photography tech giant, Nikon.^[11]

I have included some of Chase Jarvis’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

Dan Tobin Smith

Dan Tobin Smith is a renowned photographer and director who is best know for his work in still-life and installation photography, with over 15 years experience Dan Tobin Smith has gained a huge reputation from his works throughout his career having his work featured in various museums around the world in addition to winning various awards for his creations. his creative use of objects to create real-life art reminds me a lot of the Dismaland art exhibition by Banksy which was a series of real live sculptures in a depressing version of Disney. Dan Tobin Smith uses a lot of bright, vibrant colours and creative lighting techniques.^[12] I find his alphabet series extremely interesting as he has created art that can only be visualised from one perspective in addition to using real-world object to replicate the letterform of a typeface, I have always found it intriguing how artists create this sort of art using lighting and shadows to create other forms of art in the background.

I have included some of Dan Tobin Smith’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

Chris Jordan

Born in 1963, Chris Jordan is an American artist, filmmaker and photographer who is widely recognised for his photography of junk and rubbish. I find that Chris Jordans photographic work is a huge statement of awareness to how mass consumption are ruining our planet and how humans are destroy the world through pollution and waste. Chris Jordans work also focuses on bright, vibrant colours on dull, bland backgrounds creating a nice contrast between colour. I personally think Chris Jordan’s work is a great method of raising awareness for how we are treating our planet and how we could benefit with recycling our waste products.^[13]

I have included some of Chris Jordan’s photographic work below.

 

 

 

 

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References & Sources

1. Wikipedia. 2022. Henri Cartier-Bresson – Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
2. Wikipedia. 2022. Alexander Rodchenko – Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rodchenko. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
3. WESTON GALLERY. 2022. Edward Weston — WESTON GALLERY. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.westongallery.com/original-works-by/edward-weston. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
4. Wikipedia. 2022. Imogen Cunningham – Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imogen_Cunningham. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
5. The Ansel Adams Gallery. 2022. Ansel Adams Biography – A Photographer & Environmentalist. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.anseladams.com/ansel-adams-bio/. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
6. Magnum Photos. 2022. Eve Arnold • Photographer Profile • Magnum Photos. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/eve-arnold/. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
7. Wikipedia. 2022. Annie Leibovitz – Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Leibovitz. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
8. David Hockney | Photography and Biography. 2022. David Hockney | Photography and Biography. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.famousphotographers.net/david-hockney. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
9. Wikipedia. 2022. Masumi Hayashi (photographer) – Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masumi_Hayashi_(photographer). [Accessed 19 February 2022].
10. Gina Glover. 2022. About — Gina Glover. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ginaglover.com/about. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
11. Chase Jarvis Photography. 2022. Bio – Chase Jarvis Photography. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.chasejarvis.com/bio/. [Accessed 19 February 2022].
12. Dan Tobin Smith. 2022. . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.dantobinsmith.com/info/. [Accessed 19 February 2022].