About Me

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It's a way of life." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
Showing posts with label STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. Show all posts

Monday, July 21, 2014

Photographer Profile ~ Raymond Depardon

Raymond Depardon, born in France in 1942, began taking photographs on his family farm in Garet at the age of 12. Apprenticed to a photographer-optician in Villefranche-sur-Saône, he left for Paris in 1958 He joined the Dalmas agency in Paris in 1960 as a reporter, and in 1966 he co-founded the Gamma agency, reporting from all over the world. In 1978 Depardon joined Magnum and continued his reportage work.
Depardon has made eighteen feature-length films and published forty-seven books.



 "I’m coming from journalism, but at the same time I’m tempted by poetry, politics, and maybe the idea of being a witness, a belief that you can still change things with the image."  ~ Raymond Depardon



 

 Manhattan Out
 Manhattan Out was created in the winter of 1980-81. Raymond Depardon had accompanied a friend to New York and spent his days wandering the big apple. New York or rather New Yorkers impressed him greatly. He often photographed without aiming, the camera slung over his belly. He shot 2 or 3 rolls of film a day for several weeks. It was not until 27 years later that Depardon managed to finally  look at these pictures which are a time capsule of life as it was in NYC circa 1980.
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out 
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out

Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out

Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out



 "I don’t regret the numerous pictures of Brigitte Bardot, but I’d rather have a good photograph of my father." ~ Raymond Depardon






Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out

Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out
Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out

Raymond Depardon – Manhattan Out


Raymond Depardon – Images from psychiatric hospitals  throughout Italy, 1979.
Piedmont region. Collegno near Turin.
Campania region. Naples. Psychiatric hospital. 1979.
 Friuli Venezia Giulia region. Trieste. Psychiatric hospital. 1979
Campania region. Naples. Bianchi psychiatric hospital.
Frioul. Trieste. Psychiatric hospital. 1979.


Campania region. Naples. Bianchi psychiatric hospital.
Friuli Venezia Giulia region. Trieste. Psychiatric hospital. 1979
Piedmont region. Collegno near Turin.
Piedmont region. Collegno near Turin.
Venice. San Servolo psychiatric hospital. 1979.
 Venice. San Clemente psychiatric hospital. 1979.
Venice. San Servolo psychiatric hospital. 1979.
Venice. San Servolo psychiatric hospital. 1979.




Portrait of Raymond Depardon





Raymond Depardon: Journal de France on Nowness.com


Buy Depadons books here Manicomio: Secluded Madness (201)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Importance of Composition

“Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.” ~ Henri Cartier Bresson



Henri Cartier-Bresson

Here is a short slideshow featuring the works of many great street photographers and their use of composition. The masters use composition to elevate the images from good to great. Add these examples to your mind's image bank. Once you immerse yourself in great photography and art you will start to see these patterns and relationships between objects in your own work as you frame your composition.

*press start button to begin slideshow*

Introduction to Composition for Street Photography (Gulf Photo Plus 2014) from erickimphotography


"No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition."
~ Claude Monet

 

Monday, July 29, 2013

Photographer Profile ~ William Klein

William Klein (born in NYC, 1928) is ranked 25th on Professional Photographer’s Top 100 Most influential photographers.

William Klein grew up in New York and, as a painter, went to work in Fernand Leger's Paris studio. He became interested in photography to record movement in his paintings and began using a camera. He was soon photographing other interests, and in 1954 his work was seen by American Vogue art director (and sculptor) Alexander Liberman, who offered him a contract as a fashion photographer. Liberman saw in his work a fresh approach and one that seemed to have a certain violence that would move the magazine away from the 'polite' images of Cecil Beaton.

 Because Klein did not know how to use a studio, he took the models out onto the streets to photograph. Later he pioneered the use of wide angle and telephoto lenses for fashion work. Klein's photo-reportage style involved a rejection of the established notion of the photographer as a 'fly on the wall', an unseen recorder of events. Klein recognized this and through his methods emphasized the interaction between photographer and subject, oftentimes almost pushing his wide angle camera lens into people’s faces.

He went on to produce a book, New York, New York (1956) which featured this quick reflex 35mm street photography with a graphic design and text reflective of the New York Daily News and cheap advertising. This was followed by later books on Rome (1960), Moscow (1964) and Tokyo (1964).

 Klein also made a number of movies, starting with one of the first Pop films, Broadway by Light. In 1962 he gave up still photography (except for a few fashion pictures for Vogue) to produce films on Muhammed Ali and Little Richard, the Vietnam War, and experimental films Mr Freedom and Who are you, Polly Magoo, a satire of the fashion industry

Klein returned to still photography circa 1980, mainly photographing people in crowd situations using an extreme wide angle lens. [via art-miami.com]

Klein has had solo and group exhibitions including Prints 1955-2007, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy and Rand Manège, Moscow. Klein’s work is in the collection of The Guggenheim Museum, New York, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Photo: William Klein

With a major Tate Modern exhibition currently celebrating his work, BBC spends time with William Klein to discover the irrepressible, charismatic personality behind a remarkable creative life in this fascinating documentary. Enjoy!

“I came to photography from the outside, so the rules of photography didn’t interest me.” William Klein







Smoke & Veil - William Klein for Vogue - 1958. © William Klein
.
NYC 1954

St Patrick’s Day, Fifth Avenue 1954 © William Klein

I photograph what i see in front of me, I move in close to see 
better and use a wide-angle lens to get as much as possible in the frame." William Klein
NYC 1954 © William Klein
William Klein, Selwyn, 42nd Street, New York, 1955.

“In the 1950s I couldn’t find an American publisher for my New York pictures,” he says. “Everyone I showed them to said, ‘Ech! This isn’t New York – too ugly , too seedy and too one-sided.’ They said ‘This isn’t photography, this is shit!’” – William Klein (1981)
NYC 1955 © William Klein

Regarding his street photograohy : "People would say, ‘What’s this for?” I’d say, ‘The News.’ ‘The News! Wow! No shit!’ I didn’t much care.” ~ William Klein
1x1.trans 10 Lessons William Klein Has Taught Me About Street Photography

1x1.trans 10 Lessons William Klein Has Taught Me About Street Photography
Moving Diamonds, mural project, Paris, 1952

Red Light and Vespa, Rome,1956

1x1.trans 10 Lessons William Klein Has Taught Me About Street Photography

1x1.trans 10 Lessons William Klein Has Taught Me About Street Photography
NYC 1954 © William Klein
As well as painting and photography, Klein is also remembered as a film-maker (In 1956, a 28–year old William Klein arrived in Rome to assist Federico Fellini on his film Nights of Cabiria [1957]). His most notable feature being the 1969 documentary on Muhammad Ali, “Muhammad Ali: The Greatest.”

Paris 1960
Evelyn + Isabella + Nena + Mirrors, New YorkVogue, 1962
Nina and Simone, Piazza di Spagna (Rome), 1960Vogue US, April 1960
Photographer: William Klein 
Tatiana, Mary Rose and Camels, Picnic, Morocco, 1958
Hat + 5 Roses, Paris (Vogue), 1956
Photographer: William Klein 
Model: Barbara Mullen

Photo: William Klein


Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966) - William Klein (full film)