Three Photographers

The first book I chose is Trespassing by Nathalie Grenzhaeuser. Her focus is on making images of landscapes that have been interrupted by humans in some way. Many of her images are made in somewhat desolate places, places the viewer would not expect to find man-made objects. These places are Spitsbergen, an artic island in the northern tip of Europe, and parts of Australia. While these two areas are vastly different similarities exist between them and are shown within Grenzhaeuser’s work, illustrating that vastly different places are mistreated equally. The majority of her images have a very wide angle so that the majority of the image is of nature and the rest if of the man-made object or some other interruption caused by man. Almost all of the images are entirely in focus, however, usually the man-made element is highlighted. Grenzhaeuser seems to take some inspiration from Ansel Adams in the way she makes nature seem larger than life. Also, like Adams, she makes the viewer feel as though no one has ever been to these places (in her case, these places are closed to tourists and many people, in fact, haven’t been there). Many of her images also utilize sharp contrasts to really highlight the man-made object as well as the artic or desert landscapes.

The next book I chose is Babylon Babies by Marie-Jo Lafontaine. The focus of this body of work is on young teenagers (hence the babies part of the title) as well as their stories and experiences. The entirety of these images are close range head shots against vibrant backgrounds. The lighting is done so that it is shining on the one side of the face and the other is in a slight shadow. On the opposing page there is usually some sort of story, quote, or poem that applies to the teenage experience in some way. None of the subjects have either make-up or clothing on so as not to distract from the focus which is the face. All of these images are focused on the subject, who is in the center of the frame. They are all looking straight into the camera and are mostly expressionless. This forces the viewer to look into the face and usually the eyes of the subject. The subjects hold somewhat of a haunting quality which almost seems to be intended to make the viewer uncomfortable. By doing this, the viewer is enticed to learn more about the subjects and to read their stories. Many of the subjects have unique characteristics, such as piercings, that make them stand out from the rest.

The last book I chose is Abstract Pictures by Wolfgang Tillmans. This book has a large compilation of vastly different abstract photographs, so I have chosen one of the series’ of work. In this series there are a series of variations of hair-like objects that seem to be in some sort of liquid. Upon doing some research on the internet I found that many sites suggested that these are photographs of some type of light taken with a very slow shutter speed while others believed that it was some type of chemical. Whatever these hair-like objects are, each photo features them in different hues of one color against a white background or a background of the same color. Many of these photos have parts that are out of focus and these parts are often in the center of the photographs. Upon looking at these photos the viewer is entices to try to figure out how they were made and what they were made with. It’s also tempting to try to find a familiar object within the photos, however, there is a beauty in the fact that the subject matter is a mystery and that they don't represent anything familiar.