Rinko Kawauchi

Rinko Kawauchi is a Japanese photographer whose photographs of situations that we can be oblivious too appear delicate and beautiful. The series of Rinko Kawauchi that I mostly looked into were her 'cui cui' series and 'the eyes and the ears' which were focused on moments that happened with the photographer’s family as well as normal experiences appearing dreamlike through applying lens flare. The Images Kawauchi shoots are in a 6x6 format that contains a shallow depth of field, through this technical aspect you are drawn to the subject as the main focal point, the subjects show defined detail and texture. The compositions of her these images vary however the center point of her photographs is never usually out of focus.The light in her photographs are mixture of quite light white and blue tones. Once kawauchi has taken the images post production is a main step to the outcome of her photographs and just as important.

 

My interpretation of Rinko kawauchi’s images started with the subject. After looking at her image of the hand holding the spoon I decided to take a photograph of a water being poured into a glass as the everyday task isn't something we linger on or class as a moment. I took the photograph digitally as I wasn't able to use the same medium as Kawauchi, therefore I just changed the format to match by cropping. Like Kawauchi's images that I researched i gave my subject a shallow depth of field with the foreground high in focus creating a delicate, soft atmosphere as the water pours into the glass which produces a similar vibe to Rinko's. the post production process involved altering the white balance and lightness to fit with the theme of Kawauchi's photographs.                                   

Martin Parr

British photographer Martin Parr is known for his varied documentary projects involving our British culture. I am looking at his recent photograph developed from his black and white images. From watching a documentary on Martin Parr from "The Genius of Photography" I understand the technical aspects that he uses as well as his subject matter. I look at his documentary photography on how he captures traits of our nationality through consumerism and Britishness. The particular series I will be looking into to interpret is his ‘common sense’ series which he shot both in the UK and abroad portraying global consumerism, his intention as a documentary photographer is to ‘exploit reality of place and a mythology of a place.' His photographs give off a pessimistic view on the world avoiding faces and concentrating more on the subject. I looked into his photographs of food which are highly saturated, he shot these using a macro lens and ring flash which bring out the colour and detail of the food as well as giving a shine to the texture of it making it look less appealing.

To interpret one of Martin Parr's images of food I looked at the two above and others from his series and I decided to go with chips covered in sauce, the reason for this choice in subject matter was because I find it a popular food that my generation in Britain choose to eat when in actual fact the taste and how its made isn't appealing at all therefore I portrayed that in a Martin Parr style. Using a Macro lens and ring flash which highlighted the texture of the sauce and corners of the chips,  I then angled the camera slightly over the food with not too much negative space and then saturated the colours in post-production. Next time to improve the image in relation to Martin Parr I angle the camera slightly higher over the food avoiding the backdrop.

Daido Moriyama

Daido Moriyama is a Japanese Photographer whose approach to photography is different to many that I have researched. After watching a documentary on him in Japan I understand his way of taking his photographs. Referring himself to a stray dog as he goes around Shinjuku with a compact camera taking his photographs: as to other people it isn't intimidating. His choose to look through the lens at what he is capturing varies therefore they do not always turn out straight with a landscape view. I also looked at his photo book ‘ByeBye’ photography which shows his images full bleed and you feel as though they are going to burst out the pages as you flick through them which revert to how he takes his images. His style of images of his New York photographs are similar to the ones taken in Japan. His Images are shot on black and white film with a high contrast.


  From looking at Daido’s photography through the street alleys of Japan and New York especially the two above; my interpretation on his photography involved exploring the busy New York City and in Times Square I began to take images to capture the busy streets from different angles and directions and like Moriyama not giving to much away of anything specific which is why there is a slant to my image showing little bits of cars, people and then buildings. As I shot in digital and not film, I put the camera to a high ISO to give a grainy effect like his. It was in post-production where I turned the image to black and white as well as altering the levels to give a high contrast to the photograph.  

Photography Style

Martin Parr - Common Sense

What distnguishes a Martin Parr photograph?

• The technical aspects are that in Parr's common sense series he uses a macro lens for taking his image. His images are also very saturated now, developed from his black and white images.
• A cultural aspect is how Martin Parr try's to capture the times we live in through photography as a documentary photographer which has always been his intention, as well as how he 'exploits reality of place and a mythology of a place.' 
• Parr's subject matter is the same consumerism, britishness and trates of nationality. His photographs show a pessimistic view of the world, avoiding faces and focused on more everyday things overtime. With his subjects having become conceptual his style never breaches of absurd. 

 What aspects of his personality influences his image making?

• His obsession with collecting things, his collection of objects always had photographic images on them
• He has a tunnel vision therefore he sees what he wants to see
• He finds everyday things exciting (mundane)
• He thinks that surreal is important, it helps make us notice what we would previously ignore.     
• With photographs he collects ideas and puts them together to make sense of the world. 

After looking at Martin Parr's work we then looked at David Moriyama and saw how his work completely differs. Moriyama uses a compact camera and has been doing so over the past decade not wanting to stand out in the crowd he finds that this use is less intimidating. Along with his tilted photographs, his images are black and white and grainy, he is more about the impression the image has than the quality of it. His bye bye photography book shows his images bursting out of the page, almost as if once you open it you are consumed by his photographs. 

Surrealist Photography

Brassai's 'Sculpture involuntaire' 1933

Surrealism was a movement based in Paris in the mid 1920's.The unconscious mind was what the surrealists wanted to gain access to. These involved a persons desires, ideas, wishes and their thoughts that were socially 'unacceptable'.

This theory of 'the unconscious' relates to Freud's overall understanding of how the unaware part of us affects the things we are aware of. 'The methods he proposed' to unlock these chain of thoughts were what other surrealists used in their work. From this it shows how from surrealism art and language come together. The chances to freeze the process of the rational mind are what surrealist's were able to do through photography.

Brassai's photographs of involuntary sculptures are objects that get used everyday and his thoughts were that these particular objects show a trace of the person it belonged too. The involuntary aspect is that you do it without thinking, its the unconscious part of your mind coming through,the object was made into a sculpture by it being photographed. Here he highlights his by chance findings which shows the impact surrealism had on him.(Warner Marien, 2010:253)                    

Constructivism Bauhaus & Dada

Alex Rodchenko - Stairs 1930

After the Russian revolution in 1917 when the Bolsheviks came to power being replaced by the old autocracy. It was in 1921 when  Alexander Rodchenko declared that 'painting was dead' after exhibiting 3 monochrome paintings, it seemed it was outdated by socialist realism. Rodchenko being an Artist, painter, sculptor, photographer, graphic designer and teacher changed the organisation of the art schools and museums once he was appointed director. 

Constructivism was part of making comments on civilisation and highlighting art as a way of expressing their views for society.  Signifying intellectual constructs was what photography was about once Alexander Rodchenko challenged traditional photography after the 1920's, his slogan was "our duty is to experiment'. It was also the dada manifesto which spread to Berlin and Moscow that influenced Rodchenko where writers, artists and poets met to make art that was against war and were more focused on being politically neutral. 

'Stairs' by Alexander Rodchenko shows the key features of constructivism, breaking away from tradition with the black and white image you are able to see the contrasts in the photograph emphasising the shadow areas on the step. It renders an everyday image, with it not been shot straight on, instead it has a slanted view to it where its almost diagonal.The noticeable shapes and patterns from the stairs become clear too. The politics behind this was that the stairs reminisces the Eisenstein 1925 film battleship potemkin with the famous step scene which was a key moment in the history of the Russian revolution.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is the period of the 1960's to the modern day, this is said to be because of the reaction from modernism in terms of value. kitsch is a key feature with low art forms verses high art forms it is defined through its questioning of old limitations,  staging reality and trying to re-stage history. There is the idea that within postmodernism the original disappears being replaced with representations. With representations and rephotographed images it takes away the reality and raises questions about viewing context and the value of art.Cindy Sherman's untitled film stills concludes the definition of postmodernism. Postmodernism 'came to mean a rejection of themes and subjects that interested modernist artists' and here it is proved with Sherman resembling scenes from old B movies. Her stills show a media myth of a model interpreting stereotypical lives written by others. The difference before postmodernism is that is was 'brought up in the less image-saturated culture' with our life experiences not being raised by the media. 'While it once seemed that pictures had the function of interpreting reality, it now seems that they have usurped it' this highlights how postmodernism is almost destroying reality through representations,and Sherman does here by denying her own identity. This still image is quite cinematic which is typical of postmodernism with its refusal of narrative, the still is like a story without a story.