Paul Strand was one of the greatest and most influential photographers of the 20th century whose images have defined the way fine art and documentary photography is understood and practised today. Paul Strand was an influential photographer and early icon of the “straight photography” school. In contrast to Pictorialism, “Straight Photography” was a move to “pure photography” which was loosely defined as having stylistic traits that were not manipulated heavily to mimic other art forms such as painting. A modernist, Strand was highly influenced by Alfred Stieglitz and Charles Sheeler. Wall Street is a platinum palladium print photograph by the American photographer Paul Strand taken in 1915.
This photograph show the formal elements line, shape and tones. The photo is of a bridge which is made up of very intricate lines clearly seen in the photo also creating a sort of pattern. Shape is shown in the lines which are crossing and creating triangular shapes and also in the arch which are very prominent. The photo is also black and white with contrasting dark tones on a light grey/ white background. Because the photo has many different areas and focus points this creates a very interesting and busy photo. |
The photo also shows the formal element shape and tone as well as form. The photo is of the shadow of a bridge or similar structure that is also made up of many lines and intricate detail. The photo shows that the bridge or structure has a physical form as it has cast this very detailed shadow. The background is a very light shade of grey so the dark tones in the shadow show up very well. |
This photograph shows the formal element form as it is a shadow cast onto another object. The form of an unknown object is being shown in the photo due the the shadow being cast. This photo has many different focus points as there is a few different shadows being cast on an unidentifiable object. The object which has the shadow on it has a round edge which is also showing shape in the photo. Lines are also shown in the photo from whatever's shadow is being cast creating an effective photo for the formal elements. This photograph shows the formal element shape, lines and form. The shape and lines are shown in the building with the big black rectangle shapes. The form of the people in the photo is shown in there shadows as the sun must be shining in front of them as there shadows are being cast behind them.
|
Why I have chosen this photographer?
I have chosen this photographer because of his use of many of the formal elements such as line, form, tone and shape. I also really like the way that his photos showing form are of shadows cast from very detailed objects that create shadows with a lot of detail.
How will this photographer influence my work?
This photographer will influence my work because I will try and take form photos with very intricate detail in them. I will also try and use tone in my photos in order to emphasis the main focus point of my photographs.
Summary
Overall I like this photographer because his work very clearly shows the formal elements spoken about above. Also they all photograph quite complex objects which create complex interesting photos. What I dislike about his work is that colour doesn't play a very big role creating quite dull photographs that wouldn't catch your eye.
The above images have been successful as my best images because of the emphasis that has been created. the sun has created shadows of the constructive lines and by using a black and white effect this has made it easier to see because the other colours make the image busy and take away the attention. the angel from which I've taken the image is interesting because we can see that the lines are going in many different directions (including the shadows) for future photo-shoots and experiments I will attempt to the image from a straight point of view and compare the outcome to this.
The Following images have been taken by me with the inspiration of Paul Strand and to achieve this I had to consider the shapes, shadows, and using the rule of thirds by aligning the subject with the guide lines and their intersection points. in the above image the main subject was the buildings and I ensured that they were in a straight line and captured the image from the middle of the road so I have a balanced image with people and buildings on both sides. Although the image and buildings are very modernised especially with the natural vivid colours that were coming from the image, I added the black and white effect and increased the contrast even further to create a grainy effect on the image. This instantly made the image look like it was taken 100s of years ago. It has also made the structural lines appear more visual and sharp which I personally found interesting.