Liam Frankland

For my final project, I didn't have any sort of inspiration in mind when deciding my theme. So I've decided to look into what artists have also made projects out of pictures of left-behind objects. Liam Frankland is a photographer that specializes in observational photography and has a tendency to incorporate landscapes into his works. He aims to capture areas that humans have left their mark in and tries to look for particularly unusual things, even if it's not the most noteworthy subject or environment. His project "Lost and Found Photography" follows similar principals and ideas.

"Lost and Found Photography" originally came from another project, a 50mm project called "This or That". Frankland claims to have always had a fascination with discarded items and the emerging theme during his other project inspired him to start "Lost and Found Photography". He often found during this project that the objects were placed out in the open or in easily noticeable areas. When he would photograph the objects he would first observe it at all possible angles to find the best composition. He tried to isolate the object as much as possible and appears to have refrained from moving them too much. 

"Lost and Found Photography" is an incredibly similar concept to what I did for my inspiration project. Frankland seems to have also felt that the item's original position is incredibly important for the photograph. I feel his photographs convey a sense of emptiness with how the lost objects are viewed. It really shows just the kinds of things we leave behind and disregard as we go about our day. Though he went for a much wider area to photograph than just classrooms.

Antonin Kratochvil

Antonin is a photographer who's work is taken during trips. In regards to his professional photographs, he appears to have very few photographs that were taken in what would be considered actual studio spaces. His photographs are taken very much in the moment to the point where it's not uncommon for a few of them to look blurry and out of focus. His photographs are largely taken in black and white, with color either being used for a dedicated series or very sparingly. Largely series have a melancholy or solemn tone to them, the most pleasant these photographs get is neutral.

Antonin is another photographer that seems to be more than content on showing the world how it is.  He works with what he sees often through snap judgments, content with even just the vague feeling of the subject. He seems to favor moody lights and heavy contrast with his photographs. His series will generally have human subjects at some point but they can vary in frequency, there will usually be at least one picture with a person. I'd say the environment is more of the main focus of a lot of his photographs and he considers humans to be a part of that environment.   

I'd say I like his photographs, though I'm surprised he's able to include such blurry ones amongst all the other crisp shots. The in the moment shots he takes really clicks with me and it shows really showcases the trip he was on and his goal. I'm impressed with some of the situations he was able to photograph and I'm wondering how he managed to get away with some them like the imprisonment ones. I guess it's possible that those were staged but it didn't really feel like it. Honestly, the pictures he does that feel like they were completely staged feel out of place compared to the rest.

  

Sebastiào Salgado

Salgado's photographs cover a large range of subjects but very few of his photographs cover subjects that would be considered "familiar" to people living in first world countries. And the recognizable sights he does have are modified in some way. In terms of how many subjects are present in his photos, there's almost always at least one, and if there's more than one they're generally in huge groups. Even photographs that at first appear devoid of life are oftentimes just zoomed out enough that the figures aren't immediately recognizable. He also tends to use the wide-angle lens for a number of shots.

When he photographs people, I feel like he tries to choose subjects that would cause viewers to feel uncomfortable on some level or at least alienated. He chooses subjects from such far off places, showing their cultures and their struggles. Not every photograph is meant to show a tragedy but there are a lot of pictures of disasters and poor living conditions. However, there are images of people going about their lives happier than the other pictures. When his pictures are focused on animals they often feel out of this reality, having a mystical sort of feel to it.

I like Salgado's work, it shows off parts of the world people either don't get to see or pointedly ignore.It's a negative part of life that needs to be addressed even if it's not pertinent to the viewer's life. They help foster feelings of empathy which are needed to really function in social settings like how our society is set up. His distance shots give an excellent sense of scale as to how many people are there even if we can't see any individuals in the crowds. His use of the wide-angle lens adds a lot to his photographs and I don't think they would have the same impact without it.   

Herb Ritts

Herb Ritt's main focus in his photography is on human beings and the body. Nude photographs are fairly common in his work and he will use objects to help emphasis the human form. He also has a number of photographs focusing on the subject's face. He has very few photos that primarily feature animals so they feel a tad out of place alongside the rest of his work. The majority of his photographs are also in black and white with a smaller portion of the total work being in color.

His photographs are very intentionally framed and directed. While none of them looked particularly forced they were very deliberately framed. That's not a bad thing since this is a professional-level photographer. He takes care of how they're presented making sure only the negatives are in view, he doesn't go for the haphazard presentation. When his photographs have more than one figure he has a tendency to group them in close proximity.

 I'm not really sure how I feel about Ritt's work, I definitely don't hate it. I'd say that I find a lot his work intriguing, I'd say I prefer his black and white photos over the colored ones, but the subject for the black and white ones tend to be more varied so that's a bit unfair. The way he groups people up in really interesting to me. I also tend to dislike most nude photography but Ritt's more tolerable I guess. I'd say it's probably because of how it's used compared to a lot of other photographers I've seen.

Ralph Gibson

 Ralph Gibson's photographs don't share a specific themes like the other photographers that we looked at. However he does do a considerable amount of close up shots. He has a tendency to cut out small scenes from larger scenes. These scenes usually give enough context to piece together the larger picture. His photographs also tend to be very people oriented. With the ones lacking any human presence feeling odd and empty.

The shots all have good compositions. Most of the shots are deliberate and were taken after careful consideration and set up. While most of them are controlled there are a few that seem like they were taken spur of the moment. Those pictures seems to capture the lives of people that he saw as he was going about his day. For the most part they don't seem to knowledge that they're being photographed.

I can't say I feel any particular attachment to Gibson's photographs. I don't consider them bad but there aren't any that stand out to me in anyway. He clearly has skill that got him the place he has, but I wouldn't rush to see his work. I would say on average I like the pictures that show more than a small snippet of what's happening. So I guess I like his more casual photos than his more artsy ones.

Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna seems to prefer photographing landscapes or objects he finds in the environment. All of his professional photographs appear to be done in black and white. Whether it's a nature scene or a cityscape, the majority of them lack any human presence. His photographs are largely divided in series of where they were taken or a prevailing subject matter such as India or Birds. The travel theme really resonates with me.

His photographs are framed at unusual angles or distances. Very few are directly facing the scene being captured. Many of his photographs have a shadowy haze encroaching from the corners. This haze is present in the images that were taken straight on as well. This combination of factors give his work an ethereal feeling, like theres something more to them than we see. 


I personally find Kenna's work to be really interesting. He takes pieces of the world and makes them feel like something separate. They're undeniably real places and yet they feel almost dreamlike. They feel like a place for the viewer alone to explore, inviting yet empty. Even the pictures of famous sights like the Tajmahal feel off in interesting ways. 

Man Ray

The works the movements that inspired Ray the most were the ones that challenged peoples understanding. So it comes to no surprise that he would latch onto the surrealism movement. I'll be honest I've never been too into surrealism, most of it feels just feels too pretentious for me. However, the artists that go into these movements tend to have a high amount of skill and even if I don't care for the content I can recognize the craftsmanship. Man Ray is no exception to this statement.

Man Ray's photographs contain excellent use of space and interesting compositions. Even when there is only one thing in focus it's positioned in a way that leads your eye around. He manipulates the photographs in visually interesting ways even if their meaning can be hard to parse. There's a definite feeling that he cares about the end result of his photography. So that clear feeling of care makes the usual feelings of surrealist art a lot more palatable for me.

However, I still wouldn't say I particularly enjoy Man Ray's art as a whole. Overall I feel neutral towards his work. He has his fair share of photographs that feel are interesting but they're equally matched by the ones I dislike. This neutrality is likely coming from the fact that pictures like this aren't exactly new to me, at the time of the movement they were pushing new ground and there were certain charms and qualities that came with that. People can enjoy these photographs without placing themselves in the time they were created, but I feel like those who are able to think back to then have a much greater appreciation.