Oakvillains: 2012

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Portrait Photographer Research Assignmen

Photo taken by Arthur Sasse

On March 14, 1951 Albert Einstein had turned 72 years old, photographers and journalists all over the Princeton campus were attempting to get pictures of the world famous theoretical physicist on his birthday. Being fed up with all of the sudden media attention when Arthur Sasse asked Einstein to smile for a photo and instead Einstein stuck his tongue out instead of trying to reason with him. Sasse decided to snap the picture anyway and what came from it was one of the most iconic photographs of Einstein ever snapped. The photo originally contained 2 other people but it has been cropped to make Einstein the main focus. It has very natural lighting and the framing is very even probably due to it being cropped afterwards. The photo illustrates the playful and mischievous nature of the often times very seriously seen physicist and is a very famous shot, put up in classrooms and school’s all around the world.

Photo taken by Alberto Korda

The iconic photo of famous Marxist revolutionary Che Guevera at the ceremony in Havana dedicated to the victims of a supposed CIA planned explosion in Cuba who were at the time trying to undermine all communist regimes, shows his pain and sadness but also rage and stoic nature. The photo originally had a small portion of another person and a palm tree in it but had been cut down in order to provide a sense of timelessness and separation from time and place. It uses a low angle shot pointing upwards which creates a sense of great power and strength in the subject and the image was definitely one of the aspects that launched the iconic nature of Che Guevera from somewhat known leader to cultural legend. When the photographer Alberto Korda took the picture he knew right away that it would lead to something special and indeed it did: the photo of Che is one of the most commonly reproduced photos in the world.

Photo taken by Leonard McCombe

The first image of the Marlboro Man cowboy came out in 1949 in Life magazine and to this day remains one of the most famous ad campaigns known by older generations. The campaign had attempted to make smoking filtered cigarettes go from a feminine activity to a more masculine by using a rugged looking masculine man and it had basically succeeded. The photo uses natural lighting of the sun and contains a large amount of texture such as the stubble of his beard and sideburns in order to create more of a sense of masculinity. The framing of the shot is from the neck down in order to contain his ripped bandannas and neckerchiefs to make the image seem manlier, had it just been from the head and the hat it would have made the cowboy ad somewhat less effective but the shot is perfectly suited for its task. The Marlboro Man later died of lung cancer.

Monday, 5 November 2012

October Theme: Autumn Pictures

Reflection Self Portrait

1. Why did you pick this particular image over the others?
I enjoyed how it was a somewhat meta way of going about the project and the way my face was framed out of the first layer and out of focus, but yet still focused inside of the layers of mirrors.
2. How did you setup / compose your photo
Set up a portable mirror in front of my larger bathroom mirror and rested the camera on the top of the smaller mirror pointing downwards. I also angled the mirror so that my face would show up in the 2nd and 3rd reflection layers and then focused in on the portable mirror rather then the washroom mirror.
3. What stands out the most when you first see it?
The lens of the camera catches my eye first but then you look forward into the actual reflections and the focused part of the image which is my face in the reflections.
4. What leads your eye around from place to place?
The unfocused outside part of the image frames the inner section of it in a way that leads the eyes into the mirror and your brain attempts to figure out how exactly the picture works and what reflection is on top and what is underneath.
5. What title(s) could you give this artwork?

Perception Inception.