DAIDO MORIYOMA
Daido Moriyoma is a Japaneses photographer, who works in a street documentary style. He approaches his practise by being spontaneous with his images, and no planning to shoot at a certain time of day or place. Just wondering around the city, all day everyday, like 'a stray dog' photographing what he sees in front of him. His images are described as sensual and dramatic and he does this through technical choices and subject matter.
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He works in black and white, and uses a high ISO which affects the grain of the image. The subtle grain within his image is very distinctive within his work, an works effectively making it a more 'snaphot' styled photograph. His use of flash creates a harsh light, which is also very distinctive through his work, as it is this harsh contrast of tones in his work making it his significant style.
Through Dadio Moriyoma's work you can see a close contact with him and his subject matter (the city) and it creates a sense of realism within his images. When photographing he acts like an outsider or tourist, and to do this without being queried on the streets he uses a Leica compact camera, very small and subtle and this is what makes him fit in to the public. He is not intimidating so his shots are natural and exposed. He simply acts as an observer of the city, observing the simple things that trigger his inspiration.
Concluding Daido Maoriyoma's style i would say it is very busy and dramatic with a lot of use of high grain and high contrast. To approach his photographic style, i would use the same technical choices as he does, compact camera and flash to ensure i create the same effects as he does. Taking into consideration of the subject matter, i would approach it by using his technique and go out all day every day, observing the town and city, however trying to photograph on the busiest days, therefore i know there will be more people and more events happening, trying to create the same atmosphere as he does.
Making sure i am brutal when photographing, and exploiting my subject matter in such a exposing manner.
Riko Kawauchi
Rinko Kawauchi is a contemporary, Japanese fine art photographer who creates soft, delicate images that are dream like and poetic, the inspiration of these images have been triggered by her subconscious mind as a photographer. In her work, she captures mundane objects in extraordinary ways, by celebrating the tiny gestures and unexpected patterns of everyday life by interpreting them in a dream like way. Her work can be reconsigned by the use of her soft, translucent focus and subtle colours that make her work so precious and delicate. The tones within her image, paticulary in the 'Illuminance' series are very muted pastel tones, which create that calm relaxing mood when viewing her images.
Technically Riko Kawauchi uses a medium format which she has been currently using for over 10 years. She uses this 6x7 format , very neutral shape which i feel directs the focus on her close up images drawing attention to detail. This use of cropping, also isolates the images from there contextual surroundings which again makes them more objective.
From looking closely into Riko Kawwauchi works, i would firstly consider the subject matter very carefully. I would look for small subtle everyday fantasies that are not easily reconsigned, and convey them in a soft delicate manner. I would take into consideration color pallet and direct framing of the subject matter which is most recognizable in her work. Technically i would use a medium a, to create the same framing, preferably looking at a Rollerflex camera. However i dont think i will be able to access one, therefore i plan to use a digital camera, then post producing digitally to create similar characteristics. I would also look carefully into use of lighting, in her images there are many lens flares, or this glow which radiates off her images, i would need to recreate similar circumstances to create this.
ALEXANDER RODCHENKO
Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956) was a Russian painter, sculptor, designer and photographer, experimenting with each different medium throughout his career. Rodchenko work began to become iconic in the 1920's where he was influenced by the German dadaist, creating photo montages. Photo montages where very similar to collages, as they included a combination of images that would be hand manipulated in some way, to create abstract aspects to the collage. Photo montages concentrated mostly on composition, where the focus would be carefully considered to introduce geometric shapes, breaking up the collages with lines and patterns to create the abstract theme.
However Alexander Rodchekno was a big part of the constructivism movement, where he focused his main area of work to be around solely photography. During the constructivism movement, artist's focused on the 'pure and straight' side to photography, where their images would have the exact
characteristics as a photograph. This including technical skills, of depth of Field, angle, composition and accurate light exposures.
Through this movement Rodhcenkos work reflected off his previous photo montage techniques.
He made careful considerations to make the image as realistic as possible, with no manipulation of the image, however he used techniques which manipulated viewpoint and angle. He always took his images from a strange/peculiar perspective, for example birds eye view, low point of view and instantly this would make his images look abstract. He was also particular with composition, and would use lines and shapes to separate components of the image , making it look abstract. He did this by including shadows and parts of buildings or objects that would create this geometric shapes. Linear lines was also popularly used, and he used this again to involved shape, and usually pattern. Another aspect of his work, was including block figures into his images, which would relate to the idea of the body and technology during this era of new and inventive technological creations.
Eugene Agete
Eugene Aget (1857) started taking an interest into painting and photography, however his painting techniques failed miserably. His interested in photography began to widen, and he started to use the medium, specializing himself as a ''Commercial photographer'' His focused on subject matters with meaning in certain locations, for example monuments, gardens and architecture.
In 1989, Aget gained an interested in Paris, France. He began to document and record the streets of Parid, picking out minute details of timeworn streets, and old fashioned architectural techniques. This series he called 'Old Paris' and he continued to document pairs untill the 1920's. The name of the series 'Old Paris' demonstrated exactly what he photographed. He captured paris through the lens, before the Baron Haussmans renovation plan. This began in 1853-1870 by modernizing Paris and the out districts Aget wanted to capture traditional Paris before the modernization, with this series he created a visual Map of Paris.
He interested in Paris grew fonder, and he also photographed gardens and monuments in Paris. These gardens in particular being Versailles and Saint Cloud. I want to focus on this series in particular, as it varies from his conventional work, Old Paris.
These particular images are from the series taken in 'Saint Cloud'. Taking into consideration subject matter of these images, it is a well preserved garden. He focuses on the integration of nature and the man made documenting its beauty and presence. All of his images have a sense of sculptural quality, from the angles he photographs he always makes the subject matter, look like a sculpture. Wether it being a staircase, a tree or even a sculpture in particular. This is because his compositions are very formal, where he will isolate the main subject matter making it have a strong presence within its location. Within his image he gains accurate detail on quality and the tonal range used. This deep tonal range is due to the natural light, which introduces harsh shadows within the imagery These shadows allow his images to have a mood, reflecting an emotion and a personal response to how we view the images.
Selecting a few of his images there are discreet enfolding shadows in the corners, which frame the image. Aget started experimenting with this during this time, as it was very popular and essential to the picturequse tradition and technique of images. He created this shadows due to the technical choices he made, sometimes he used a wide angle lens which would give some of his images this effect.
He would choose specific times of the day, to avoid people in his imagery, either early in the morning, or late afternoon, this choice of tie of the day also empathized the shadows in his work.
Technically, Aget used a large format camera, 18 x 24. Looking into his work, you can see carefully why he choose to use a large format camera, as there is immense detail within the subject matter and the lighting, that he has captured accurately and beautifully. A wide angle lens was used in some of his work, however it wasn't over exaggerated This was what created the subtle vignette like shadows, around the framing of his images. A technique he used was long exposure, this was due avoid any human form in his images. It also helped create the quality of detail within his images.
Overall i feel his images are very sophisticated, mysterious images that create a presence when you view them, this is from the way he has captured the subject matters in such a isolated way it creates importance and a statue like replica.
When creating images in the same style as Eugene Aget, i feel i need to use a similar subject matter, to try and create that importance and presence he has in his images adapting them to my own. I technically want to use a large format camera, to create that immense detail however i am unable to access one. Therefore i am going to shoot digitally, and hope to recreate his images using post production digitally. I do want to experiment with using a 35mm camera, to get the quality in the film and challenge myself with the lighting and atmosphere I plan to shoot early in the morning, to gain those shadows that Aget does carefully. Subject matter wise, i want to visit some small persevered parks, and try and capture that beauty that has been neglected by the public.
