An Alternative Portrait - Hands

This week, we looked at the work of Robert Capa, Sebastiao Salgado, and Roy DeCarava.

We considered the work of Robert Capa, specifically his famous war photographs.  Two stood out as perfect examples of shutter speed:  stop action in "Falling Soldier" and blur to communicate the chaos of D Day.  Please follow the links above to view the images, as I don't want to put them up here.  But they really do perfectly illustrate how shutter speed thoroughly contributes to the feel of an image.

In talking about Robert Capa, J brought up the controversy surrounding the authenticity of "Falling Soldier".  This led to a wonderful discussion on whether an image depicts reality... or not?  Was the image staged?  To this day, there is no clear answer.

We moved on to the work of Salgado (the boys didn't really like his work, but he is one of my favorite photographers ever, because he 100% photographed from his heart, going back to the communities he photographed to try and alleviate poverty and desperation).

Finally, we looked at DeCarava...an amazing street photographer from Harlem from the 50s till 2009.  His images are supremely crafted black and whites documenting Harlem through the trials and tribulations of the Civil Rights era.

As we did with the others, the boys each discussed the images, their likes and dislikes.  Let me just tell you, when we came upon this image:

the boys came up with the most intelligent critique:  here was a man, rising up from the darkness of segregation, into the light of opportunity and hope.  I am not kidding, that's what your sons came up with!!  I had nothing to do with it.  And they were so proud to have deciphered the image in this way.  Their comprehension was so sophisticated, and I couldn't have been more proud of them!

Finally, we discussed alternatives to straight portraiture, in particular the way DeCarava uses hands in his portraits.  The boys were tasked with crafting portraits of their own... using hands as the vehicle to describe the person.  Here's the result of their work.  We'll be talking about it more today, how successful their efforts were and how their approaches compare to DeCarava's use of hands.  Best to you all for a peaceful Thanksgiving.  Don't forget to shoot the bird!

Manor House Elegance

Well done P!  Neat lines, nice use of horizon and leading lines. 

Time a.k.a. Shutter Speed

So if aperture is nothing but hole size, shutter speed is simply time:  how long the hole remains open.  We did a demonstration on the relationship between aperture and shutter speed in which we poured rice through two hole sizes:  small (a funnel) and large (a paper towel tube).

The rice represents light:  we need "x" amount of light to create an exposure.  So, we can use a small hole but it took a really long time to get all the rice through.  Or we can use a really large hole, and then we'll move the rice through more quickly.  So why not use really large holes, all the time, to cut down on time and therefore blur?  Good question, but the easiest answer is this:  sometimes we WANT blur, for example to emphasize movement in an image. 

In this photograph by W., we know that little Perry is on the *move* ... which he usually is!  We are communicating more about Perry by allowing his movement to become part of the image in a meaningful way.

So using *blur* is another way that photography communicates in a unique way, like restricting focus with depth of field.  In fact, when you think about it, this means that photography can communicate time passing in a still image!  Fascinating!
 

 ps.  this blog entry is getting too long, so I'll talk about the these two *time* exposures next time... but as a sneak, one is fixed and one is panned.

p.p.s  on my desktop this morning:  "I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you, Mrs. DiMella and Perry, for modeling for us!  Nice portrait, W.!

Farewell Aperture, Hello Shutter Speed!

So we have really nailed down the concept of aperture.  Our artists understand how to choose the best aperture in creating a photograph.  Here, photographer W. has used a very small aperture to retain detail throughout the image:

 And here, photographer W. used a very large aperture to keep the foreground leaves in focus and let the rest of the photograph "fall off" detail:

Good job W!  I am so appreciating watching how these photographers are developing their own eye for composition.  The top photo is all W.  I would never have chosen to frame the building that way.  My eye just can't see negative space that way.  So W., you have taught me something!  Thank you!