Seb Janiak
Related to fantasy idea.
Seb Janiak’s work is what inspired this idea of making photographs that could never have happened. janiak’s photos remind me a lot of science fiction/fantasy films, such as A.I. and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. As these genres are my absolute favourites, it’s no wonder that Janiak’s photos draw me in. What I think is so wonderful, though, is that even though to many people they might seem a bit over the top, they actually manage to say something about the world. They aren’t just fantastical images that could never have happened. For example the photo of the Eiffel Tower under water speaks about global warming and the dangers of mistreating our planet. One day in the future, the Eiffel Tower might well be under water. The photo of the model who is made out of plastic speaks of beauty ideals today and how fixated we are on being perfect. Plastic surgery isn’t real beauty. You may as well be made out of plastic. 
I don’t see myself making images even remotely close to these. I haven’t got photoshop skills anywhere near as good as Janiaks, but I do like to take inspiration from his creativity. To have an idea like these and go for it. To not be scared of going for a crazy idea. Even though it may seem almost impossible. I like that.
William Eggleston
Related to portrait idea.
William Eggleston is not most famous for his portraits, but they feature every now and then in between his photographs of urban America. Eggleston photographs the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. He was the first photographer to make colour photographs accepted as art to hang in a gallery. The colour in his work may not look amazing today, but when he was ‘discovered’ in the seventies, it was considered groundbreaking. I see why. There is a quality to the colour in some of these photographs that is really beautiful. 
What I find particularly interesting, in relation to portraits, is the casualness of them. Eggleston didn’t take more than one photo of every subject, so what he’d get would be very random. I like that in some of the images you can’t see the face of the subject and in some of the images something other than the people seems to be the main focus of the image. The people are almost like an afterthought.
My favourite image of the ones I have picked out here, is the one below. I love the colour and the light. It looks like the photograph wss taken in the afternoon, as the sun is starting to go down. It gives a wonderful quality to the light. The colours are have a yellow tint and are not very contrasty. The sky is very pale, but you see a vague tint of blue. I really love the fact that the people are not the main focus of the image. They are hidden behind a car. At the same time, though, they are what your eyes are drawn to when you look at this image. They are the subject of the image even though they may not seem to be at first glance.
Bruce Weber
Related to portrait/fashion ideas.
Bruce Weber is another fashion/editorial photographer who does a lot of outside work. He uses natural light to his advantage, whether it be sunny or cloudy. His work is a bit more subtle than Peggy Sirota’s in the use of sunlight and that works really well. He doesn’t have the sun straight frontal like Sirota, but lets it be an accent in the portrait. For example in this first one here, you see the sunlight coming through in the top part of the photo, but it’s not an overpowering presence. It just highlights. I like Weber’s use of colour int his photograph as well. He uses bright colours, but they aren’t overpowering. Very natural, just like the light and the girls in the photo. It all goes very well together. This photograph has the kind of clarity which I like.
This photo has a much softer look than the one above. This I think is becasue of the lighting. There is no sun in this image and cloudy skies give a softer light. But even their expressions soften the image. I like that all the colours in this image match. Everything from the sand to their hair seems to blend well together. The only thing making a slight contrast is the man’s scarf. It brightens up as it is the strongest colour in the image. 
The two following images are both black and white. The second one has a slight colour cast to it, though. Weber has the same kind of feel to his images even when they are b&w. The first one her is quite bright and happy like the first image above and the second one, though still happy, has a much softer feel, like the second image above. I think this has to do with the crispness of the images. The first one is clearer and crisper than the second one.
The rest of his images that I have chosen all have the same feel as well. I really like his work.
Gregory Crewdson
Relevant to fantasy idea.
Gregory Crewdson is one of my favourite photographers. He takes photographs that really look like film stills and his photo shoots are like film productions becasue there are so many people working to get it right. Set designers, lighting technicians, make up artists etc. Most of Crewdson’s photos look like they are a bit unreal. Some of them could never have happened and some of them just look eerie. There is something off about them. A bit like a horror film..
Preliminary shots
Here are some shots I’ve taken as a start on the abstract idea. These are mostly based on Uta Barth’s work. They are taken with long exposure and most of them are purposely unfocused. They are all about light. I photographed some fire jugglers on bonfire night.
Robert Doisneau
Relevant to portrait idea.
Robert Doisneau photographed street life in black and white film. His work has a quality of candidness about it at the same time as it reminds me of film stills. The photographs look quite polished and perfect. I know for a fact that the photograph “The Kiss” (second from the bottom) was staged. It caused an uproar in its time when people found out. To begin with people thought it was a candid shot, a perfect capturing of a moment in time. When they found out it wasn’t they felt betrayed and decieved. Nowadays we’re more used to photographs being staged.
In this first photo of the accordian player, the people around him seem so perfectly placed, but at the same time it seems very casual and natural. I assume this isn’t staged like “The Kiss”, but it also seems like it could easily be a scene out of a film. I really like the composition and the format of the photo. There is so much to look at. All the details of the accordian player, the man in the background writing or drawing, the woman looking to the right out of the frame. It’s the kind of image that can keep you looking and asking questions for a long time. All of Doisneau’s images tell stories and some, like this one, tell many stories at the same time.
Day 19
Relevant to Portrait/Fashion idea.
Jeremy and Claire Weiss take photographs of people. most of their work is outdoors and they have a really happy feel in their images. I like that their images are very clear. The light is bright and the depth of field is usually broad. 
Peggy Sirota
Relevant to Fashion/Portrait ideas.
I think Peggy Sirota might be my new favourite editorial/fashion photographer. I absolutely adore her work! She uses a lot of sunlight in her outdoors photos. Her photos are light and happy and wonderful. I really love that fashion photographs can be this happy and not so serious all the time. My favourite colour is yellow and there’s a lot of that in these. =)
The image below is my favourite of these. I absolutely love it! I love the sunlight backlighting the model. I love the yellow flowers. I love that the model is in an unusual position and that she’s really happy. I love the colours. I love that the light and colours are quite soft. I love the focus. Her hand, which is the closest to the camera is out of focus. I love that her legs disappear into the light. Etc.
Ori Gersht – Rear Window
Relevant to abstract idea.
These images by Ori Gersht were taken out of his window. They are my favourite out of all his images. The images focus more on the colours of the sky than the city below. You see a small strip of the city, the lights, but it isn’t the main focus of the images. We see how the sky is affected by cities. The colours are more vibrant and varied because of pollution and the gleam of city lights. I absolutely love these images. They make us seems so little and unimportant. We’re just a tiny strip at the bottom. There’s the entire universe above us. 
