Artist Research - Cedric Delsaux

Cedric Delsaux is a French Photographer born in 1974. His work combines reality with fiction to create  surreal works of art. He is most commonly know for his composite images which depict characters and vehicles from the film series Star Wars.

This image has made use of the Tusken Raider Species from the film series. The backdrop has been chosen well as they are from the sand planet Tatooine, and in the ground it has been placed on in the picture is a sandy coloured mud pit, which looks similar to their home planet, therefore there has been an element of research for what backdrop to use to put this character on. However, there is also some contrast created between the character and the background past what it is standing one; an urban environment can be seen, as well as some industrial buildings, which is not usually something seen near the Tusken Raider species.

The image of the Star Destroyer which has been added in fits well with the image. The image of the star destroyer suggests modern advancement and technological power, and it is placed near a developed 

city, which also has connotations of modern advancement and technological power. I feel that this choice of background made the Star Destroyer look very in place in the image. He has blended the ship into the mist, so it appears to be behind the mist, giving the impression that it is really there.

This image has incorporated an X-wing Star fighter into a a city. This particular area of the city appears to be quite wealthy judging by the buildings shown. It may possibly be a banking district. The X-wing creates a contrast between the office buildings shown in the image, as an office job is generally seen as mundane and uneventful, and the sight of this ship creates excitement, as it is a ship featured in many space battle scenes.

Photo Documentary - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French street photographer who specialised in Photo Documentary. He is considered one of the founding fathers of street photography. He has taken many photos that capture famine, war and conflict.
He based his photos on what he calls "the decisive moment" which is the moment pictured in the photo that defines what is happening at that time and what effect it has on the people involved.

This was taken in Shanghai, 1948, which was when China had changed government to a communist rule. Since the value of money had plummeted, the government had decided to give out forty grams of gold per person, which resulted in huge crowd of thousands gathering outside the bank building. During the claustrophobic struggle, ten people died of suffocation. 

This was taken in Spain, 1933. The cause of the destruction was never revealed, though it was originally assumed this photo was taken during during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The fact this
image depicts destruction that appears to be the result of war, only a few years before war broke out, creates a sense of foreshadowing and gives this image a much more ominous mood. However, there is some contrast in moods between the children, who appear to be playing like normal, and the deprived backdrop.

I am unsure where and when this photo was taken, though it was likely in an urban environment. This shows contrast between the building it was taken in and the fact there are lots of pigeons on the stairs and railings. It presents the idea of nature taking over urban environments, in which nature has mostly been eliminated by humans' buildings.

Landscape - Rut Blees Luxemburg Research

Rut Blees Luxemburg is is a German photographer who is based in London. In addition to taking street photography, she is a tutor at the Royal College of Art. Her technique is to take pictures of Urban Environments at night. Her photos have lots of different tones, mainly a large contrast between the dark tones of the night and the bright tones of street lights and neon lights which are all around London. Many of her her photographs make use of puddles as a medium for showing light in contrast to the shadows around the streets. Here are some examples of her work.

This image uses lots of muted colours, other than the part in the puddle, which shows a saturated blue. There is some tonal contrast, with some dark tones on the pavement due to the time of the day, and some light tones shown on the bright tube station sign in the puddle. This image has a very simple composition, with only a small puddle with a reflection being featured on a plain London floor. The image creates a sense of negative space, in which the floor surrounding the puddle becomes negative. This does not use a very wide angle lens to capture lots in the frame like most landscapes, however, and it doesn't display any rural or urban scenery.

This photo is similar to the one previously featured, with negative space created by the puddle being in the middle of the pavement. However, this one contains a larger range in tones. Inside the reflection itself there are lots of very dark tones, with the only light tones being produced being in the tube station sign, similar to the image previously shown. There are also some very dark tones shown on the pavement behind the puddle. This image has been composed differently to the previous one, having been taken at a canted angle, creating a more interesting composition than in the previous image. There are more saturated colours in this image, as there is a larger area of a sign shown in this image, however, there are still lots of muted colours in the pavement. This has not been composed like most landscapes, as it doesn't show scenery and the horizon, but is aimed at the floor and doesn't use a very wide angle lens to capture lots in the frame.

This one has been taken from a bird's eye view, so we get a view from above of a reflection in a puddle. This one contains some lines, unlike the previous images, and two of the lines in the paving slab act as leading lines that draw your attention to the puddle, where the reflection is. There is a very large tonal range in this, with some bright and warm tones inside the reflection, and a contrast between dark tones where the pavement has been wet and light tones where it hasn't. The pavement is, again, made up of very dull and muted colours, however, there is a very saturated shade of orange in the reflection in the puddle. Because of the lines in the tiles, a square can be seen, which the puddle is neatly framed into.

Landscape - Ansel Adams research

Ansel Adams is an American Landscape photographer born in 1902 in San Francisco. He was a fan of nature, as he lived near the Yosemite National Park and was inspired by it. Many of his Landscapes were taken there.
He was a very technical photographer, as he used the zoning system and pre visualisation.
The zoning system is a system that Ansel Adams formulated that helped to calculate the correct camera settings for optimal exposure.
He also pre-visualised his images, meaning he pictured how he wanted them to be, so that he could select his camera settings and composition based upon that.
With Willard Van Dyke and Edward Weston, Adams formed the Group F/64, which consisted of seven San Francisco based photographers. They all shared photo characteristics of carefully framed photographs and sharp focus. Here are some examples of Ansel's work.

This image was taken at Yosemite national Park in San Fran Cisco. This work is very typical for Adams, as it uses a Landscape orientation and captures a very wide angle. This image incorporates the golden triangle composition rule, as it features a prominent foreground, mid ground and background. This was likely achieved on purpose through the use of Pre visualisation, which is something Ansel Adams pioneered. This image also has a very wide depth of field, as only the background is slightly out focus and the rest of the image is sharply in focus. It was therefore shot using a high F stop value such as F22, which he likely chose carefully using the Zoning system for calculating camera settings that he pioneered.

I do not know for sure where this image was taken, though it was likely taken in Yosemite national park, as large amount of Ansel Adams' work was taken there. This image features several formal elements. Firstly, this image has a very wide tonal range; there are some very light tones displayed on the grass and on parts of the road, as well as some very dark tones shown on the stone structure and on the hills in the background. It also makes use of leading lines, which take the form of the path, which leads you the stone structure featured in the background of the image. Like most of Adams' work, the image was taken using landscape orientation and captures a very wide angle shot.                              

This is an image that is very different in some ways to the other two. It has much less to see in it; it is simply the horizon taken from a moody, flooded field.

Vivian Maier Research

Vivian Maier is a street photographer who mainly takes photos of people's faces in the public.

Here are a few examples of her works. As you can see, her photographs are taken in public, often candid. She observes the things that are going on and takes photos of people she finds interesting. 

In My opinion, these pictures should definitely be considered art. They possess a very artistic value to me, as they show people reacting to each other and to the things around them. I feel that these types of image help capture a moment, which in the eyes of the people who are experiencing it and the people watching it happen, would not be significant or memorable, become memorable and very interesting. I think this is partly because the photographer or other people viewing the image get more time to reflect on the meaning of what is happening, and may be able to imagine background stories for why it is happening.

Bill Brandt - Research

This is a photograph by Bill Brandt. Bill Brandt took photos of shape, commonly of the female form, as seen in the photograph. These sort of images can cause controversy, as some would consider them sexual objectification, however, some would consider them art. Personally, I thin that there is no right or wrong answer to this; it is entirely up to the viewer of the art. Personally, I do not find this image to be sexual objectification as it is simply a picture of a woman's legs, and I don't  see objectification implied. I think that it is partly due to my, in my opinion, that this image was not intended to be sexually natured; I feel that the use of female form was not a choice made so that the image was sexually appealing, but because of how it presents shape. Personally I feel that this image creates a sense of discomfort, partly due to the lighting and tones presented.