The Photographer's Vision Understanding and Appreciating Great Photography

97 Pages·2011·101.36 MB·English

by  Michael Freeman

Michael FreeMan
The phoTographer’s VIsIoN
Understanding and Appreciating Great Photography
I L E X
CONTENTS
First published in the UK in 2011 by INtroduCtIoN 6
ILEX
210 High Street
I. a MoMeNtary art 8 III. PhotograPhers’ skIlls 126
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 2NS What a Photograph Is...and Isn’t 10 surprise Me 128
www.ilex-press.com What Makes a good Photograph 13 Seeing differently 129
the Qualities of a good Photograph 14 Unexpected contrast 131
Copyright © 2011 The Ilex Press Ltd
does the audience Matter? 24 Holding back 133
how shooting happens 26 Making connections 135
Publisher: Alastair Campbell
Creative Director: Peter Bridgewater global Photography 30 the skill to Capture 137
Associate Publisher: Adam Juniper how to read Photographs 34 Hands on 138
Managing Editors: Natalia Price-Cabrera and Zara Larcombe
Perfect imperfect 140
Editorial Assistant: Tara Gallagher
Reaction 144
Art Director: James Hollywell
Designer: Simon Goggin II. uNderstaNdINg PurPose 38 Timing 146
Picture Manager: Katie Greenwood the genres of Photography 40 Intervention 152
Picture Researchers: Hedda and Michael Lloyd-Roennevig
Landscape 40 Compositional skills 156
Colour Origination: Ivy Press Reprographics
Architecture 44 Assertive subjects 159
Any copy of this book issued by the publisher is sold subject to the Portraiture 46 Knowing what works 160
condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, Photojournalism 50 Styles of composition 162
hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent
Wildlife and nature 58 Suspicions about composition 166
in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
Sport 60 Color and Not 168
and without a similar condition including these words being imposed
on a subsequent purchaser. Still life 61 The art-crit problem with color 171
Fashion 65 The dynamics of black and white 176
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Scientific 67 lighting 181
A catalogue record for this book is available from
What For? 68
the British Library
The single print 69 Index 186
ISBN: 978-1-907579-31-8 The curated show 75 Picture Credits 190
The single published image 77 Bibliography 192
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
The photo essay 78
used in any form, or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical,
The photo book 89
including photocopying, recording or information storage-and-retrieval
systems – without the prior permission of the publisher. The slideshow 92
Web sites and e-books 96
Capture to Concept 98
Modernism and Surrealism 98
Lives unlike ours 103
Polemic 106
Newsworthy 109
Exploration 110
Invention 116
Deception 118
Concept 120
INTRODUCTION
hotography has come a long way in recent Nevertheless, an issue of identity now use of techniques that alter the substance of ©
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years. This is evident in how it is practiced— affects photography. It has been going on, and images. These techniques—digital—continue to ee
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which is to say digitally, covering more of life and getting stronger, for the last three decades, evolve, but already they are so sophisticated as rie
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experience than was possible or even desirable and what is at stake is whether photography is to be undetectable in skilled hands. But perhaps la
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before—but maybe not so evident in how it is rooted in capture, or in making fabulous images the most important change of all is that much er, c
appreciated. Cause one is that since the 1970s irrespective of whether they come from the real of the time these techniques are not operating in ou
photography has gradually become accepted as or from imagination. Capture is photography’s the context of detection. Whether a photograph rtes
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a fully fledged form of art. This in turn has had natural capacity, the default if you like, with is real or not is, for many people, unimportant. Fra
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a domino effect, in that the kind of photography events, people, and scenes as its raw material, all What is coming to count more is whether a nk
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never conceived as art—the majority—is now happening more or less without the photographer photograph is clever enough and attractive l G
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exhibited, collected and enjoyed in much the interfering. This is the photographer as witness, enough. This does not please everyone, of course, llery
same way as other art. Cause two is that more and as observer. Yet throughout photography’s but it is the reality of contemporary photography, , S
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more people have taken up photography seriously history there have been excursions into making and it calls for explanation. Or at least it calls F
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themselves, for creative expression rather than images happen by construction, direction, for an attempt to integrate photography-as- c
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just for family-and-friends snapshots. This makes creation. Tableaux telling a narrative; Surrealist illustration with photography-as-record. This o
photography subject, as no other art form, to the experiments with process, collages, studio is one of my aims here, within the overall
“I could do that” reaction. concoctions; still-life arrangements. Why should framework of the capacity to read, enjoy, and
You would think, wouldn’t you, that with it be different in principle now? have opinions about photographs in whatever
photography having become so fully embraced What has changed has been the form they appear.
by everyone, that we would be taught from an understanding that photography is either one
early age how to follow it—as a visual version of thing or the other. What happened in front of the
literacy? Far from it; there is not even a matching camera really happened as it seemed, or it was a
word. Although I cannot redress all of that here different kind of photography in which things
and now, it is worth looking at the whole spectrum were made up. The processes of photography
of photography to show just how enriching it largely kept these two separate, with the exception
can be. And yet, it rarely is treated as a whole. of ingenious but rare attempts to alter reality. But
Writing on photography tends to be partisan. this distinction, for many people, and perhaps
Fine-art photography is usually considered in already the majority, has disappeared. The two
isolation, as is photojournalism, as is advertising, agents of change have been digital technology,
and so on. Personally, I don’t see why this should naturally, but also the promotion and acceptance
be so, particularly now that the different genres of concept as a valid direction for photography.
of photography seem to be migrating. Museums There were hints of this coming from early in the
now collect fashion photography, advertising uses twentieth century, but it was not until the 1970s
photojournalism, landscape photography tackles that conceptual photography really got into gear.
social issues. Like a growing number of people, I The primacy of concept over actuality has in
Pittsburg, PA ca. 1979–1980,
like to think of photography as all one. effect given photographers permission to make by Lee Friedlander
ILEX INSTANT ILEX INSTANT
6 The phoTographer’s VIsIoN INTRODUCTION 7
Now that digital photography can view: there is nothing inherently right
be processed and altered to make or wrong about digitally enhancing
it look more like an illustration, and now and manipulating a photograph—just
that contemporary art is at liberty to use as long as no one is pretending it’s not
photography as a starting point rather happening.
than just an end-product, it might be
useful to get clear in our minds what is Simply put, a photograph...
unique about a photograph. And right Takes directly from real life
here at the start it’s worth addressing Is fast and easy
the now-familiar concern about what Can be taken by anyone
can be done to a photograph digitally, Has a specific look
in post-production, to alter it. The
problem for many people is that the These are the raw, obvious differences
PART 1
photograph may lose its legitimacy. between photography and the other
Another is that perhaps it in some visual arts, but there are interesting
way is no longer a photograph, but a implications when we start to dig more
A MOMENTARY ART different form of image. This is a big deeply, which reveal why photography is
debate, but for the purposes of this book now by far the most popular means of
I take the following, possibly simplistic creative expression worldwide.
A MOMENTARY ART 9
WhaT a PhOTOgRaPh Is…aND IsN’T
Takes direcTly from real life popularity. Little or no preparation is needed “
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Although the camera can be used to construct to capture an image, which means that there m
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images, particularly in studio work, the great are many, many opportunities for creative is
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strength of photography is that the physical world expression. As digital cameras make this easier in
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around us provides the material. This elevates and more certain technically, it also focuses more h
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the importance of the subject, the event; and and more attention on the composition and : A
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the reporting of this is obviously something at on each person’s particular vision. Or at least it o
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which photography excels. At the same time, should, provided we don’t get sidetracked by the tem
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however, this ease of capture reduces the value of “bright, shiny toy” component in photography. ora
accurate representation, because it has become “Photography is the easiest art,” wrote ry R
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commonplace—very different from the early view photographer Lisette Model, “which perhaps c
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of painting, when Leonardo da Vinci wrote in makes it the hardest.” There is unquestionably o
his notebook that “painting is most praiseworthy less craftsmanship in photography in the sense f Ph
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which is most like the thing represented.” Instead, of time and physical effort than there is in to
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the way in which photographers document—the other visual arts, something many professionals p
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style and treatment—becomes more significant. feel defensive about. But in its place, the act of ” X
At a deeper level, there is an inherent creation is extended afterwards to reviewing and ie H
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paradox between depicting reality and yet being selecting already-taken images. As well as editing, ita
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something completely apart as a free-standing as this is called, the processing and printing /F
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image. Other arts, like painting, poetry, and of images is also a later and important part of O
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music, are obvious as constructs. There is no the process. /w
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confusion in anyone’s mind that a poem or a .fo
song have originated anywhere else but in the can be Taken by anyone toe
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mind of their creator, and that the experience in This never happened in art before. Photography m
life that they refer to has been filtered through is now practiced nearly universally, and not just /im
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an imagination, and that some time has been to record family moments, either. It’s no longer e/10
taken to do this. In this respect, photographs do a case of artists and professionals on one side, 12
6
create confusion. The image is, in most cases, audience on the other. Digital cameras, sharing 149
so clearly of a real scene, object, or person, and across the internet, and the decline of traditional
yet it remains just an image that can be looked print media have made photography available
at quietly in completely divorced circumstances. to almost everyone as a means of creative
It is of real life, and at the same time separate. expression. Nor do these many millions of
Scene of a building collapse, Xi’an, Shanxi,
This contradiction offers many possibilities for photographers feel bound by the opinions of
2000, by Xie Haitao
exploration, and much contemporary fine-art a few. Many are perfectly happy with the opinions
This is a tough first picture for the book, but
photography does just that, including making of their peers, as audience and photographers it illustrates in an uncompromising way what
constructions to mimic real-life content. are usually the same people. All of this makes photography does that no other art can (video
contemporary photography wide-ranging and excepting). It can report exactly what was in front
of the camera in that place on that day in history,
fasT and easy complex, with different and competing standards
and at that moment. We may not always like
Photography can explore and capture all aspects and values. Creating good photographs does
what we see, but that is the nature of the special
of life—and increasingly so as the equipment not depend on a career plan, which for all save
contract between the photographer and the viewer.
improves. One example of this is the increased professionals is good news. What is less good is Unretouched images that are captured from life
light sensitivity of sensors, which has made that a large number of images tends to confuse were the original form of photography, and many
night and low-light imagery possible. We take any judgement of excellence, and the internet is would argue that this is its most legitimate form.
this pretty much for granted, but it is a strong awash with imagery.
driving force behind photography’s immense
ILEX INSTANT ILEX INSTANT
10 The phoTographer’s VIsIoN A MOMENTARY ART 11
WhaT Makes a gOOD PhOTOgRaPh
Has a specific look sensitive to the naturalism and “realism” of a From the series Four Seasons in One Day, 2007, Good may sound sloppily vague as a because it’s a very loaded word, to my mind to
Whatever choice of paper texture and coating you photograph. The further that a photographer by Laura El-Tantawy generalization, but it means something be used with extreme caution. I see it bandied
make for a print, the image itself is completely takes the image away from this, by complicated A warm afternoon graces central London as useful to each one of us. And, of course, it means about all over the Internet with little restraint,
pedestrians cool down with ice cream cones.
without a third dimension. The frame is a processing or unusual post-production being way above mediocre, or even ordinary. but sadly much of the time with ignorance.
Differential focus, and even some slight motion blur,
window, and this sets photography apart from techniques, the less the image is photographic. By that definition, most photographs are not Unless you bend the meaning of “original” out of
together with the smoothness of the tonal range,
painting and from any kind of imagery created This is not a criticism, just a statement of obvious make this a very “photographic” image, despite the particularly good. This doesn’t sit well with many shape, very few creative works are. Most creative
by hand. In many ways, this lack of physical fact. The basic photographic look relies on the ways in which the photographer plays with illusion people these days, because everyone wants to be ideas, even in photography, evolve from others.
presence makes screen display perfect, and this is assumption that very little has been done to and juxtaposition. It presents itself as capture liked and criticism is increasingly seen as impolite True originality is rare indeed. Kant thought it a
increasingly how most photographs get viewed. the image since it was captured. Photography from the real world, rather than a manipulated and unnecessary. This is nonsense, of course, quality of genius, and I’m afraid we’re not aiming
illustration, and it’s this given that allows El-Tantawy
In terms of its look, photography begins also has its own vocabulary of imagery, not and I’m not going to indulge it here. Excellence quite that high. Or this, from Arthur Koestler:
to experiment and to intrigue with her distinct way
with the viewer’s expectation that the contents found anywhere else. This includes such things is the result of ability, skill and (usually) hard “The measure of an artist’s originality…is the
of seeing.
are “real”—taken from real life. In fact, we relate as differential focus, a limited dynamic range, work. And this is what makes it worth writing extent to which his selective emphasis deviates
the appearance of a photograph to two things: motion blur, flare artefacts, less-than-fully- about: to find out what exactly goes into the best from the conventional norm and establishes new
how we ourselves see, and how we have learned saturated colors, and the possibility of rendering photography, and why it stands out. standards of relevance.” Claiming originality is
to accept the look of a photograph. We are very the image entirely in black and white. Ease-of-use and ease-of-taking guarantees dangerous. It may just be that someone else did
that there will always be a huge majority of the same earlier, but the new claimant failed
ordinary, uninspiring photographs. Using the to realize it.
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au camera for something more than semi-automated And as for what makes a truly great
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E clicking demands attention to what a photograph photograph, that is entirely another matter.
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an can be. The American photographer Walker The judgment of great transcends good and
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w Evans, who was notably articulate, summarized very good, and there is almost always conflict of
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good photography as “detachment, lack of opinion. Great usually needs to stand the test of
sentimentality, originality, a lot of things that time, as in any art, and at the start can be a lone
sound rather empty. I know what they mean. voice. I believe a number of the photographs that
Let’s say, ‘visual impact’ may not mean much to we have in this book are truly great, but I’m not
anybody. I could point it out though. I mean it’s going to spoil the game by listing them. You will
a quality that something has or does not have. have your own opinions, and if I’ve done my job
Coherence. Well, some things are weak, some properly these may change by the time you’ve
things are strong.” finished the book.
We all have different ideas about what “good”
exactly means in the context of photography,
and this variety of opinion is important. Here,
we’ll explore what these meanings are, and more
importantly, how photographers put them to
use to make good better. I have my own ideas,
naturally, and equally naturally I want to infect
you with them. But in the course of assembling
them here, I’ve drawn on a very wide range of
other people’s thoughts on the subject, so what
follows is not just quirkily personal.
The following are the qualities that I believe
define a good photograph. Within each, as we’ll
see, is a whole world of ideas, methods and
contradictions to explore. You may object that
I’ve not included the term “original,” but that is
ILEX INSTANT ILEX INSTANT
12 The phoTographer’s VIsIoN a M oMeNT arY arT 13
The qUalITIes Of a gOOD PhOTOgRaPh
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ueorg rent P
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agnum hotos
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George Town, Penang, 1990, From his Dream/Life series, Sydney, 1998,
1. is skillfully puT TogeTHer a big difference between messing up the focus fully what went into its making, but usually by Gueorgui Pinkhassov by Trent Parke
There is a long list of image qualities which through ignorance or by mistake, and de-focusing and to most people there is a sense of the skill This is a complex image that rewards a long Summer rain. A man stands huddled under awnings
look. The trompe l’oeuil of the painted wall extends on the corner of george and Market Street, his tie
are seen by most people to be technically and for deliberate effect. What counts is first knowing involved. Traditionalists not only hold this very
into the image itself, and the precise framing adds thrown over his shoulder after running through
conceptually correct. They include, for example, how composition, lighting and so on work. high, but make it essential. More experimental
to the segmentation. The real and the illustrated a Sydney thunderstorm. The skill in the putting
sharp focus on the main subject, a median Photographers who master these can then play photographers may subvert it. But no one serious interlock. pinkhassov writes, “The only thing that together of this image lies in parke’s sensitivity to
exposure that covers the dynamic range, a with them. actually ignores it. counts is curiousity.” light—in particular, high-contrast light—and in the
composition that most people will find generally Part of this is skillful process, or you could framing that extends the depth between the figures,
balances them, and yet leaves the eye to rest on the
satisfying, and even a choice of subject that seems say craftsmanship, and it tends to be at its most
glittering, bouncing raindrops in the middle.
worthwhile. These and many more are basic evident in print and display. Anything well-
photographic skills, not to be lightly dismissed, crafted attracts admiration just for that fact
and there are strong arguments for mastering alone, and this is as true of photography as it is
them all. If the image needs them, they have to be for any other art. Not every part of the process
there. But a good photograph may deliberately may show through in the final image, and it
dismiss many of them—for a reason. There is may take another photographer to appreciate
ILEX INSTANT ILEX INSTANT
14 THE pHOTO gRApHER’S VISION A MOMENTARY ART 15
E 2. provokes a reacTion 3. offers more THan one layer of frame of reference to produce a way of seeing, an
lliott E Above all, a good photograph is visually experience experience, that most other people have never
rw stimulating, and so gets an interested reaction A good photograph delivers to the viewer more thought of before—and yet which strikes a chord.
itt/M from its audience. Maybe not from everyone, than just the immediate, obvious image. It works For example, W. Eugene Smith, working much
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g but from enough people to show that the image on more than one level. Take, for example, an of the time for Life magazine, combined hard
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m is engaging attention. If our immediate reaction early image in this book, Romano Cagnoni’s photojournalism with a lyrical, sometimes heroic
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ho is “I’ve seen it all before,” then it’s a failure. That striking black-and-white of Ibo recruits in style of lighting, composition, and moment.
to
s may be a brutal assessment, and it may not matter Nigeria, on page 54. The graphics are immediately These at the time seemed contradictory, but
at all in many kinds of commercial photography, powerful—a mass of shining faces and torsos Smith brought them together to great effect, in
where a packshot is a packshot, and a tropical connected above to a line of figures in profile. images such as Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath,
beach resort needs to prove only that it’s located Then there is a textural richness from the printing and his essays on Albert Schweitzer, a psychiatric
on a beach with palm trees and blue skies, but if (although the original was in color). It is also institute in Haiti, and Pittsburgh.
we’re talking about “good,” then the standards optically unusual, and we are quickly aware of Striking a chord with the viewer is
have to be higher than ordinary. Photographers an extreme compression—it was indeed shot fundamental. We love to discover, and we want
want their images to be looked at, paid attention with a very long focal length from an elevated to be stimulated. Our minds take pleasure in
to, talked about. That is going to happen only viewpoint. Another layer in, and there is much to finding connections and noticing things that are
if the image prods its audience, gives the viewer discover, different expressions on each face. Look, not immediately obvious. Being too obvious in
something to think about. for instance, at the seemingly paler face at the far an image is a far greater sin than being obscure,
But for photography that aims to be in some left near the back of the main group, turned away because it insults everyone’s intelligence. A full-
way creative, problems begin when we try to and down, mouth open. What is this young man frontal, baldly self-evident image that has nothing
second-guess the audience. Being too aware of how thinking? This leads us further down into the to accompany the first glance, is hardly worth our
other people are likely to respond to a photograph layer of context—what is happening here? This while looking at, and certainly not for enjoyment.
can lead down a sterile path, towards images that is recruitment for soldiers during the Biafran war, And finally, among all these layers of experience
are too calculated, trying too obviously to please. and, as such, a rich historical document. and viewing, there is the unexpected and the
One of the last things I want when I show someone In other words, looking at a good photograph unanticipated. In case all of the above gives the
one of my photographs is for them to think it gives a layered experience. Among the arts, impression that all successful photography is
panders to their taste, because that makes me look photography actually has a head start in this, well thought through from the start, many of
like a salesman. All art has this in common, and it because it contains a built-in paradox with the most stimulating photographs contain a
raises a well-worn debate about what makes a work regard to reality. A photograph is of life and also little magic. This may be something that even
of art—the intention of the artist or the judgment divorced from it, both at the same time. From a the photographer was unaware of at the start.
Felix, Gladys and Rover, New York, 1974,
of the audience. The audience for photography creative point of view, this offers good potential Looking through the contact sheets later—or
by Elliott Erwitt
wants, among other things, to see something for any photographer who cares to make use of it. the screen catalog nowadays with digital—the
All art needs to strike a chord with its audience.
There are many chords, and Erwitt generally chooses afresh through the imaginative eyes of a particular There are already two frames of reference waiting photographer may discover something about one
humor. In particular, he likes dogs, and finds their photographer. Most people feel cheated, however, to be shown and exploited. But it needs work; it frame that surprises, makes it special, which is the
relationship with their human owners a rich vein to if they suspect that the photographer is simply needs to recognized. case on page 18 with Seamus Murphy’s image.
mine. “If you’re going to take pictures,” Erwitt says,
trying to please them. Arthur Koestler, whose 1964 book The That a photograph can have these
“it’s good to find places where you’re going to have
Act of Creation was a deep investigation of the different layers does not always depend on the
amusing situations. A nudist camp is one, dogs are
another, beaches are another…” Also, “I have said mechanisms of creativity, coined the word photographer being aware of this complexity.
that dogs are people with more hair. I have said that. bisociative to mean working on more than That can come later, on viewing. But in this case,
I have said other stupid things. Dogs are universal, one plane, which he considered central to Murphy was steeped in Afghan matters, and
and they don’t ask for model releases, and they are the process, whether in science or art. In art knew the context. The graphic coincidence here
usually quite friendly.”
it means juxtaposing two or more planes of is discussed later in the book, under “Making
perception, bringing together more than one Connections” on page 135.
ILEX INSTANT ILEX INSTANT
16 THE pHOTO gRApHER’S VISION A MOMENTARY ART 17
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Image from Darkness Visible series: Bamiyan, man, bent slightly at this point in his awkward walk, the news reports, we realize that this is where the Theater Tickets, New York, 1955, by William Klein
Bamiyan Province, June 2003, by Seamus Murphy and the deep shadow in the rock behind. This is such ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan were, before they were An image that sits squarely in the tradition of street
A powerful image that reads on different levels. a marvelous correspondence that the immediate blasted to rubble by the Taliban in 2001. This adds photography, a very specific form of photojournalism
There are at least three layers of experience, thought for anyone who can imagine themselves in another layer, of loss and intolerance. And of religious in which the photographer walks and looks for the
depending on how deeply the viewer wants to go. the position of the photographer is, how did he get conflict. Religious intolerance destroyed the Buddhas. unplanned moment, the coincidence of people or
Not necessarily in the order of seeing, there is first, that? It’s clear that this is not something to stage A war with religious undertones that began with actions or form, hoping for the surprise. And also
the image as showing the consequence of war, manage. And then, in our hypothetical journey into the destruction of the Twin Towers destroyed the hoping to be able to recognize it quickly when it
the Afghan war. The one-legged victim makes his the photograph, we look at the shadow in the rock man’s limb, and he, as the photographer explains, is a happens, and to capture it. The man points, and this
solitary way through the harsh Afghan landscape. face more closely. What happened there? It has been Hazara victim. The Hazara, as Shia Muslims, suffered is the moment for Klein. But equally, he is in the right
And then there is the striking coincidence of shape carved out, but it’s empty. If we know something of particular tyranny under the Taliban. So, an equation position and is able to understand and frame the
and timing. We see the correspondence between the the recent history of Afghanistan, and remember of suffering. shot elegantly and simply.
18 ILEX INSTANT THE pHOTO gRApHER’S VISION A MOMENTARY ART ILEX INSTANT 19