3 photographers

1. John Pfahl is a photographer who focuses his images on intertwining the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional. The book ‘’Picture Windows’’ is a collection of all of Pfahl’s photographs of windows all over the country. Pfahl focuses on the striking details of each window and what is behind it. What you see through the window is where your eyes initially fix in on in the images, and you then realize that the blackened surrounding is from window ledges. The walls around the window are very dark, almost as if what is on the other side of the window is the only thing in the photograph. All of the images have a very mysterious and dark feel to them, even though the scenery through the window is sometimes bright. Pfahl makes the image look like it is just a small image with a large black background. The scenery that is visualized through the window varies with each image from landscape, to monuments, to buildings and much more. He creates a relationship between the inside world and the outside world in each of these images. The dark edges of the photographs intensify his use of color and bring somewhat of an illusion to the image. Although the shadows of the window are very intensified and dark, the scene behind it never that dark. 

2. Belgian photographer Jean-Paul Deridder photographed Stadt der Kinder, Berlin from 1998 to 2005. In the book ‘’Stadt der Kinder: City of Transcience’’1 Deridder’s photographs show the vacancy and stillness of this city. Through these black and white images, Deridder makes the viewer feel like nobody has ever been to this place she is photographing. Almost every image contains many planks of wood and somewhat-built creations. The creations with the wood almost seem unplanned and that it is a place for creative exploration. The use of graffiti in the background of the images gives an urban feel to each photograph. All of the trees are bare, which also adds onto the empty and vacant feel. The highlights and shadows on the pieces of wood are perfectly balanced and do not feel like they are competing against each other. The whites are not too white and the blacks are not too black. This gives a soft feeling to the image, making you really think about what is actually going on in the city. There are no elaborate details or scenery which makes the focus on the vacancy and the construction work. When I personally think of city construction I think of loud noise and clutter- these photographs are the complete opposite and give a sense of freedom and calmness. 

3. Thomas Frederick Arndt is a photographer who made a series of photographs called ‘’Men in America’’. Each photograph is a man in his natural habitat, showing the world the many different ways men live their lives. The style of these photographs tells a story. The scenery of each photo is prominent and can tell you a lot about the situation just by looking at the surroundings. Even in the ones where the background is slightly blurred it is still clear to tell where the subject is. The way Arndt does not always make the man the upmost important front and center object gives the photographs a more realistic feel. The blurriness in some of the photographs, whether in the man or in the people in the background, show his technique of simply capturing the exact perfect moment of the man in his natural setting. If he were to ask the men to stop and pose, some of the pictures would not be nearly as powerful. The variety of backgrounds and scenes that Arndt uses is a really important factor in his project. It shows men at jobs, restaurants, walking on the street, participating in bad habits, interacting with other men, watching tv, and every other possible thing that men do! Arndt also has each photograph in black and white. Personally, I think that some of these photographs would be better in color to tell more of a story, but I think he thought that black and white made them more dramatic.