Locate 3 artists/artworks/films/media related to your framework of ideas:

  1. Note Artist/Artwork Key Information: Name, Date of Birth, Country, Significant background information that may impact their work. (Your references might be beyond artist/artwork, citing other cultural phenomena, artist collectives, videos, films, books, essays, YouTube, meme …)
  2. Training or education they may have completed.
  3. Work practices / does the photographer work in a studio or on location? Do they use any specialist equipment? Or a specialized photographic process?
  4. What aspects are relevant, inspiring and critical?

 

Artist #1: Alexey Kljatov

Alexey Kljatov is a Moscow-based macro photographer who’s main focus is capturing close-ups of snowflakes. Every image he captures is unique, with emphasis on even the smallest detail.

For Kljatov, the actual act of capturing the image of the snowflake is relatively simple and inexpensive. Most of the pictures are shot on the open balcony of his house using two different methods:

  1. The first method is when he shoots dark shots with bright snowflakes taken in natural light by using a dark gray woolen fabric as a background. He places it on a stool and simply waits until a suitable snowflake falls onto it, then starts shooting. These are typically shot on an angle.
  2. The second method is when he shoots close ups of the crystals on a backlit glass surface. He uses the same stool as the first method, turns it upside-down, and then places a large sheet of glass on it. Again, he waits for the right snowflake, then shoots it from above. He shines a flashlight beneath the glass (at an angle) to give more dark and light detail and contours.

Despite the simplicity of his shooting methods, it is the image processing that takes the most time and effort. In order to reach such a clear, crisp picture, Kljatov has to create large and complex masks that remove the noise from the snowflakes. In fact, he started to take multiple identical shots of each crystal to be averaged and merged into one, lowering he noise and revealing details that the individual shots couldn’t reveal on their own.

What I found interesting about Kljatov’s choice of subject matter is that by narrowing it down, he actually opened up his possibilities. He learned a different way of approaching his art and how to better utilize tools he has access to. He makes a big statement––a comment on the complexity of nature, by capturing the beauty of something that can’t really be appreciated with the naked eye. I find this aspect of his photography extremely inspiring, and it kind of expresses an idea that I’d like to convey in my final project.

 

 

 

 

Artist #2: Dr. Bill Chu

Contrary to my first artist inspiration, Dr. Bill Chu is actually a pediatrician who studies and practices photography as a hobby. Despite this, he takes it very seriously and is constantly pushing himself to hone his craft and improve his photographic abilities. Dr. Chu is a Texas-based artist who specializes in photographing wildlife. Like Kljatov, Dr. Chu is a macro photographer and really enjoys capturing up-close, detailed images––though he doesn’t branch out a bit more in different situations.

Unfortunately, because Dr. Chu is not pursuing photography in as serious a manner as Kljatov, I was unable to find information pertaining to his education and training in the subject. I can say, however, that Dr. Chu tends to shoot outside in nature.

Where Kljatov tends to focus more on capturing snowflakes to the tiniest detail, Dr. Chu is selective with the things he wants to photograph. He plays with angles, colors, and shadows to further emphasize certain parts of his subject. In one of the images I’ve included, he focuses on part of a zebra’s face and neck. The audience can clearly see the folds in the the neck, the individual strands of hair coming from its face, as well as the long eyelashes that delicately flow from its eyes. I love that it’s unsymmetrical while still keeping the zebra’s eye almost in the middle. It gives the audience a very up-close and personal view of the animal, which is something that I would like to mimic in my own work.

I want to find a focal point that draws in viewers and helps them relate to the subject. I want my audience to feel the connection that I feel with what I’m photographing: whether its them directly understanding my emotions, or if I help to remind them of something that does make them feel that way.

 

 

 

Artist #3: Robert Doisneau

Robert Doisneau was a French photographer who was active mostly in the 1930s. He is one of France’s most noted photographers, well-known for his poetic and unique approach to street photography. Despite his notoriety in photography, Doisneau initially studied engraving and lithography at the École Estienne in Paris. But it was the “streets of the working class neighborhood of Gentilly that provided his most important schooling.”

When Doisneau was sixteen, he began to pursue amateur photography, and it wasn’t until after his graduation in 1929 when he started photographing professionally. He began photographing details of objects in 1930, sold his first photo-story to the Excelsior newspaper in 1932, and beginning in 1934, he worked for Renault as an industrial and advertising photographer. Doisneau became active in Group XV––an organization of photographers devoted to improving both the artistry and technical aspects of photography ––in the 1950s. And from then on, the focus of his photography became street photography.

Contrary to the two artists that I have included above, rather than being drawn to the style of photography, I am intrigued by the subject: street photography. My favorite part about Doisneau’s work is probably the details that he captures in everyday life. He finds unique moments, places, and settings that help to define the essence of the community. This is something that I hope I can incorporate into my final project.