raid
Dad Photographer
Paul,
You are getting "too classy"!
I am down to earth.
You are getting "too classy"!
I am down to earth.
--s
Well-known
At the moment I´m developing ideas to take portraits in Van Gogh- style. Backgrounds, lighting, clothing,..... that painter is one of my very favourites in the arts world, and I hope to take some aspects of his style into my photographic life. Last weekend I begun with sunflowers......
paulfish4570
Veteran
then there is kuvvy, and his digital "prints" ...
paulfish4570
Veteran
w. eugene smith ...
Rodchenko
Olympian
Where do you even start with answering a question like this? I could just put a great long list of photographers whose images I admire, and who have affected the way I shoot, but perhaps I could limit myself to a few who have signposted changes of direction.
Firstly, I started out with no particular ideas in mind, but was quickly making political photomontages influenced by Peter Kennard and John Heartfield. That's how I came across the work of Rodchenko, whose photos still astonish me whenever I see them. At that point, he was barely heard of, and so, when i came to this forum, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to adopt the name to give him a bit more publicity. As it happens, in the intervening years, he's become much better known, and I've had a couple of sideways comments from other folk suggesting I was trying to in some way compare myself to him. Yes, I'd love to be in that league, but it serves as a reminder to myself to keep striving to improve.
Anyway, Rodchenko got me interested in street photography, so I was led to the greats of the art, including, of course, Suschitsky, Kertesz, Tudor-Hart and, most of all, Hardy & Brandt, and the Picture Post kind of crowd, with a clear idea of a new future emerging in the 50s, and photography being part of the language which was to get us there.
But I was still an observer. An outsider. Behind the lens, which was, i admit, part of the attraction of being the one holding the camera. We can never be objective. This was the period when I was reading, and there were some significant influences at the time. Firstly, the great Photography/Politics magazine, which managed (I think) two issues, but had amazing content about the use of images. Secondly, Susan Sontag. Now a lot of us have read her book, On Photography, and some think it's all suitable for Pseuds' Corner, while others think it is the last word on the art. I'm somewhere in the middle, along with most of you, I guess. But she does help you to think.
Two other books: Thinking Photography, edited by Victor Burgin, and Ways of Seeing by John Berger, which is not specifically about photography, though that is something that Berger was interested in. WOS is about how we understand images.
From P/P, I was influenced by the work of Jo Spence and Phototherapy. While I am not very convinced by therapy as a whole, I could see how acknowledging my own involvement in the process of image making was long overdue, and I produced a series of images exploring myself and my attitudes. I found Nan Goldin interesting at this point for the very personal aspect of her photos, even if they were technically poor and a bit self-obsessed.
Lastly before the break, I encountered Mapplethorpe. Whatever you may think of the content of his images, you would have to admit that his technical mastery is breathtaking. I have a book with beautiful large plates, and there is only one photo I am not really taken by, which is called The Coral Sea, I think. It's a ship in the fog. Meh.
I realised that, despite my gear geekery (I was into my rangefinders by this point), I needed to sharpen up my technique. That led, by a bit of a route, into my concentration on medium format with my GS645.
The gap in my photography came when my remaining gear was stolen. I'd given away a lot of the classic stuff to a collector friend when I became a parent. But the theft of the Fuji, in particular, and the replacement with inadequate gear just put a stop to anything creative for a few years, although I did continue to do the occasional parody of the New Colour Documentarists (Fox, Parr et al) for my own amusement.
I came back to photography from recording cycle rides, but it was a while before things took off again. And, even now, I can't really think of a contemporary photographer I would want to emulate. Fay Godwin or Heather Angel, perhaps. But I'm still looking back to the classics for most of my inspiration.
So I'm stuck in the past with a bunch of socialists photographing the street in the hope of changing our society for the better. There are worse places to be.
Firstly, I started out with no particular ideas in mind, but was quickly making political photomontages influenced by Peter Kennard and John Heartfield. That's how I came across the work of Rodchenko, whose photos still astonish me whenever I see them. At that point, he was barely heard of, and so, when i came to this forum, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to adopt the name to give him a bit more publicity. As it happens, in the intervening years, he's become much better known, and I've had a couple of sideways comments from other folk suggesting I was trying to in some way compare myself to him. Yes, I'd love to be in that league, but it serves as a reminder to myself to keep striving to improve.
Anyway, Rodchenko got me interested in street photography, so I was led to the greats of the art, including, of course, Suschitsky, Kertesz, Tudor-Hart and, most of all, Hardy & Brandt, and the Picture Post kind of crowd, with a clear idea of a new future emerging in the 50s, and photography being part of the language which was to get us there.
But I was still an observer. An outsider. Behind the lens, which was, i admit, part of the attraction of being the one holding the camera. We can never be objective. This was the period when I was reading, and there were some significant influences at the time. Firstly, the great Photography/Politics magazine, which managed (I think) two issues, but had amazing content about the use of images. Secondly, Susan Sontag. Now a lot of us have read her book, On Photography, and some think it's all suitable for Pseuds' Corner, while others think it is the last word on the art. I'm somewhere in the middle, along with most of you, I guess. But she does help you to think.
Two other books: Thinking Photography, edited by Victor Burgin, and Ways of Seeing by John Berger, which is not specifically about photography, though that is something that Berger was interested in. WOS is about how we understand images.
From P/P, I was influenced by the work of Jo Spence and Phototherapy. While I am not very convinced by therapy as a whole, I could see how acknowledging my own involvement in the process of image making was long overdue, and I produced a series of images exploring myself and my attitudes. I found Nan Goldin interesting at this point for the very personal aspect of her photos, even if they were technically poor and a bit self-obsessed.
Lastly before the break, I encountered Mapplethorpe. Whatever you may think of the content of his images, you would have to admit that his technical mastery is breathtaking. I have a book with beautiful large plates, and there is only one photo I am not really taken by, which is called The Coral Sea, I think. It's a ship in the fog. Meh.
I realised that, despite my gear geekery (I was into my rangefinders by this point), I needed to sharpen up my technique. That led, by a bit of a route, into my concentration on medium format with my GS645.
The gap in my photography came when my remaining gear was stolen. I'd given away a lot of the classic stuff to a collector friend when I became a parent. But the theft of the Fuji, in particular, and the replacement with inadequate gear just put a stop to anything creative for a few years, although I did continue to do the occasional parody of the New Colour Documentarists (Fox, Parr et al) for my own amusement.
I came back to photography from recording cycle rides, but it was a while before things took off again. And, even now, I can't really think of a contemporary photographer I would want to emulate. Fay Godwin or Heather Angel, perhaps. But I'm still looking back to the classics for most of my inspiration.
So I'm stuck in the past with a bunch of socialists photographing the street in the hope of changing our society for the better. There are worse places to be.