W. Eugene Smith was an American photojournalist and was perhaps the most famous documentary photographer of all time. Arguably Smiths most famous work is his Country Doctor magazine which he produced in 1948. For this project Smith spent 23 days Kremmling where he photographer the day-to-day activities carried out by general practitioner. I will be studying Smiths work as I will be following and documenting the day-to-day activities carried out by my sister as she prepares for the upcoming European Championship Juniors 2024.
Smith was intrigued in the aviation industry which is why he started off by taking images of planes at local airfields. Smiths passion for photography started to grow and by the age of 15 his images were being published in newspapers. After attending the University of Notre Dame for a year, where he was granted a scholarship for photography, he dropped out and mover to New York City. Smith briefly worked for Newsweek before shortly being fired for refusing to abandon the 35mm Contax camera he enjoyed working with. In 1939 Smith began to work with Life magazine which he later became a war correspondent for in 1943. During his time as a war correspondent Smith took images on the front line of the battles of the Pacific which shaped his photographic career as he wanted his images to “carry a message against the greed, the stupidity and the intolerances that cause these wars and the breaking of many bodies.” In 1945, Smith was seriously injured by mortar fire while photographing the Battle of Okinawa.
During his time at Life magazine Smith produced one of the most well known photojournalism pieces the Country Doctor. The Country Doctor showcased the day-to-day challenges faced by general practitioner Dr. Ernest Ceriani. Many of the images produced were unsettling as they demonstrated the challenges GP’s faced on a day-to-day basis, giving the world an insight on what it was like to be a general practitioner at this time.
The Country Doctor consists of 11 page spreads with a range of different images such as; establishing shots, detailed shots, environmental portraits, formal portraits, observed portraits, relationship shots and person at work shots. Smith has also included a caption under each image, narrating what is happening in each image.
Alec Soth is a photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota whose style of photography includes documentary photography. Soth likes to make “large scale American projects” where his images are ‘off-beat’, obvious and boring images of modern America. Within his images he likes the subject to be a “loner or dreamer” which is why the subject is often seen alone in typically a rural American landscape.
Alec Soths work is inspired by Diane Arbus and has had his work compared to Walker Evens and Stephen Shore. When taking his images Soth has admitted that he “feels very nervous at times” but he finds that his awkwardness comfort people. It can be argued that Soths project ‘Sleeping by the Mississippi’ is his most well know project as Soth worldwide artist recognition in 2004 after publishing this project. He wanted this book to portray the feelings of neglect and isolation by presenting rural, remote landscape and interior images along with portraits. The images that appear in the book were taken on his road trip along the Mississippi.
Images from Sleeping In The Mississippi
Sometimes imperfections make something even better – which is one of the reasons why I still enjoy shooting on film.– Alec Soth
Personally I think the work of Alec Soth is unique as his images and draw viewers in. There is a sense of power within his images and the lone subjects is surrounded by a vast rural American Landscape, leaving the viewers to interpret their own idea and story for the subject such as their background. When looking at Soths landscape and interior images there is a sense of awe as the setting appears quiet purely because of how abandoned and derelict the place are. The images Alec Soth takes are raw and detailed.
Image Analysis
Charles, Vasa, Minnesota, 2002, from Sleeping By the Mississippi
This is a digital portrait taken of Charles Vasa by Alec Soth. The mise-en-scene presents Charles in his coveralls standing on a roof holding two model planes, one in each hand, presenting them to the viewer. Charles is stood against a rural winter background in Minnesota, which is out of focus. This tells us that that image has been taken with a narrow depth of field and a large aperture because the subject is in focus and the background isn’t. The photo has been taken from a straight on angle with the subject engaging with the camera, which makes the image feel tense and gives it depth. The use of lighting is natural however, as it is a overcast winter day there isn’t much of a light source which is why there aren’t many shadows present in the image. The colours in the image are quite dull and could be described as ‘army like’ as there are many greens, browns, white and blacks seen in the image. The use of those colours relate to the Air force as the subject is holding two model planes and wearing clothing that makes him look like a pilot. It can be seen that Soth has used the rules of thirds because he has cantered the subject in the middle thirds. Overall the image has a sense of awe and a dreamlike feel to it as the freshly painted house contrasts with the messy, unfinished rooftop.
Thomas Lodin
Thomas Lodin is a Biarritz-based surf photographer who creates images displaying the simplicity in surfing. Lodin grew up in the northwest of France, an hour away from the beach which is where he spent most his time during the weekends and summer holidays, messing around in the water bodyboarding and sailing. He first started to take images to create memories with his friends which later developed to Lodin wanting to take “better images” whilst still having fun. When Lodin started to surf he would bring his camera with him, capturing images of the surf which he is still doing now. The images he produces are taken on film so when I edit my images I will take this in to consideration so my images have the same feel to them as Lodins. When taking his images he focuses on how the light looks and the contrast of the images as well as any emotion within the photo.
“For me a photograph is fixing a moment that is already gone, it’s so powerful so if it creates an emotion at that exact moment, that’s a good photograph.”– Thomas Lodin
What I enjoy about Thomas Lodins work is how well it links and relates to the surf culture as there isn’t a strong professional feel to the images, there is more a sense of freedom which links in with the aesthetic of surfing.
Image Analysis
The aesthetic appeal of surfing
This is a digital image of a portrait of a surfer. The mise-en-scene presents a surfer sat on his longboard looking down at the sand in the foreground whereas it presents a pier and a mountain in the background. The use of light is natural and coming from the left side of the image as you can see the sand is lighter on the left side of the image. The photo has been taken low angle from the right side of the subject which allows Lodin to get the whole surfboard in frame as well as allowing us to view the subjects facial expressions. The foreground and subject is in focus whereas the background is out of focus suggesting this image has a narrow depth of field. The colours in the image are monochrome which includes darker and lighter shades within the photo. Lodin had used the rule of thirds which can be seen as the subject is in the middle third and the foreground and background are separated in to the background being in the top third and the foreground being in the bottom third.
I will be using the work of Soth and Lodin for inspiration throughout my project, as I will take a range of photos of my sister as she prepares for the Euros (surfing competition).
Tom Wood is an Irish photographer born in County Mayo 1951. His work consists of street photography, as well as portraits and landscapes based in the UK. He photographs a number of things; “on the streets, in pubs and clubs, markets, workplaces, parks and football grounds” of “strangers, mixed with neighbours, family and friends.” His most influential work is his photographs produced of Liverpool and Merseyside.
A quote from Tom Wood’s website of Tyler Whisnand states, “But Mr. Wood is not making photographs for a gallery. He is creating a diary of what he sees without being an intrusion.” This quote demonstrates the documentary style of his work and shows how Wood is producing this photographs for his own benefit. By capturing this pictures, he creates documentation for himself of where he has been and individuals he has encountered. It is evident through his outcomes that he always manages to make his subjects appear relaxed and at ease. He builds an element of trust with his subjects, like the trust of a family member, to create these natural-looking and inspiring images.
Wood captures passing moments in time, communicating an element of realism within his work. He documents moments which might not have been meant to be seen, capturing life and people in their natural elements. He photographs a vast amount of people and places, thus feeding into the nature of street photography which captures the ordinariness of everyday life.
I believe Wood’s work fits into the topic of observe, seek, challenge as he is constantly observing everything through his lens and capturing small fleeting moments, similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s ‘decisive moment’. By observing and photographing strangers and acquaintances in the streets of the UK, he captures the multiple realities of the streets from a unique, creative viewpoint. He seeks to
I have decided to that I am going to take documentary style photographs of my sisters surfing journey. I will be taking images that demonstrate ‘a day in the life’ of a teenager surfer, looking at the work of W. Eugene Smith specifically ‘The Country Doctor.’ as well as Alec Soth and surf photographer Thomas Lodin
Ansel Adams, born in 1902 in San Francisco, was a pioneering figure in photography, well known for his meticulous attention to detail and profound artistic vision. His work revolutionised landscape photography, showcasing the beauty of the American West through precise technical execution and emotional depth. Using techniques like the Zone System, Adams achieved great control over exposure and tonal range, creating timeless images that capture the essence of nature’s beauty. Beyond his artistry, Adams was a passionate advocate for conservation, leaving a lasting legacy that continues to inspire photographers and environmentalists worldwide.
I wanted to analyse it and educate myself about Ansel Adams due to the romanticised look of his images, as well as the journey he takes in order to capture such extravagant photographs. The motive behind his images relate to my key themes, observe, seek and challenge. Especially my own set values which revolve around travel and adventure. After analysing Ansel Adams, I hope to produce similar photographs, or photographs of the same/similar values.
He assisted a photographers’ association promoting the principles of “pure” photography, emphasising sharp focus and maximising the tonal range in images. This collective, known as Group f/64, took its name from the smallest aperture achievable on large format cameras, the type Ansel and his team utilised. These cameras offered remarkable depth of field and exceptional detail owing to their large negatives. However, their considerable weight made them bulky and impractical, especially when navigating to remote locations with intriguing backgrounds. Additionally, the associated equipment added to the logistical challenge due to its bulkiness.
To ensure all the tonal values are shown in a photograph , he came up with the zone system, this system is said to make the “perfect” photograph and he would often make his photos darker then the original or the ones he would firstly take.
Zooming into one of his images to the point where it is so pixelated and the little coloured squares show a range of colours , where each square is a different shade of black &white, supporting his zone system.
Ansel Adams is renowned not only for his photographic skills but also for his dedication to visualizing images exactly as he conceived them in his mind’s eye. Recognizing the difference between what he perceived and what the camera captured, he began a quest to close this gap. Through experimentation, he aimed to translate his mental images successfully onto film.
In one example, Adams used a yellow filter with his camera in an attempt to replicate a specific effect. However, he found that the result did not align with his desired outcome, instead of enhancing the shadows as intended, the image did not turn out how he intended it to be. Determined, Adams insisted for perfection. Substituting the yellow filter for a red one, he tried to achieve the desired darkening and accentuation of shadows, materialising the image he envisioned in his mind. Though what he captured through the lens may have mirrored what he saw, it was the image within his imagination that drove his creative success.
Ansel Adams, a pioneering figure in photography, introduced many innovative techniques, including the Zone System. However, his influence extended further than technical innovations, he also left behind a legacy of inspiring quotes. Among them, the one above, resonates deeply with me, embodying a profound significance. This particular quote underscores the essence of Adams’ approach to photography, emphasising the power of visualisation inherent in each image. “Expression of one feels” captures the core philosophy of photography. Photography, in my opinion, should serve as a medium for individuals to express themselves creatively, sharing their emotions and experiences through visual storytelling.
Adams’ view that photography is an expression of one’s inner feelings resonates with me on a personal level. It speaks to the fundamental purpose of photography—to capture not only what is seen but also what is felt. For Adams, this aspect of photography was most important. It was about more than just technical skill, it was about capturing his vision, emotions, and thought processes through his photographs.
Take the image above as a good example of Ansel Adams’ technique. Even though it’s in black and white, the richness of tones on display is eye-catching. These tones are cleverly balanced. When envisioning this composition, Adams not only selected an interesting subject but also timed his shot perfectly, relying on the sun’s angle to cast sharp highlights across the scene. The resulting darker effect, achieved through strategic manipulation, leads to a sense of the sublime—a strong mix of awe and trepidation. In contemporary terms, copying such an effect would tell a deliberate exaggeration of shadows and dark areas, adding a layer of drama to the composition. Overall, this image shows Adams’ mastery of both technical precision and artistic vision, inviting viewers to contemplate the profound beauty inherent in the natural world.
Personally I wanted to educate myself on his work as his images have a mystery behind them and aren’t just simple block&white images. If the images were taken now this effect would be achievable through editing and adjusting exposure, darkness, shadows, brightness etc. However whats so amazing is that he achieved this by changing a colour that he put over the lens. It his experimentation that I find ambitious and determination to achieve the exact image that he inspires to, and wont give up until he produces exactly that.
In conclusion, Adams viewed photography as a means of sharing his inner self with the world. A sentiment that I find deeply amusing and one that continues to guide my own approach to the art form. Now that I have a deeper understanding of his images, but more importantly the stories that they tell, I am confident to produce my own responses with the same values. I want to focus on the trip and adventure behind the motive of photoshoots, as well as capturing discoveries and desired final outcomes.
“The idea of a photographic ‘gaze’ relates to a specific way of looking, and being looked at through the camera, and implies a certain psychological relationship of power and control. The camera lens is another demonstration of a powerful gaze, referred to as the photographic gaze, simulating the gaze of the naked eye. Indeed, the former could even be more powerful than the gaze of the naked eye due to photographic permanence. Janina Struk defines a photograph as: “a two-dimensional object, a fraction of a second framed and frozen in time” (4). Susan Sontag in On Photography notes that “photographs are a neat slice of time, not a flow” (17). It is the stillness of a photograph that gives it power and makes it more effective than television broadcasting or film.
Types of gazes
the spectator’s gaze: the gaze of the viewer at an image of a person (or animal, or object) in the text;
the intra-diegetic gaze: a gaze of one depicted person at another (or at an animal or an object) within the world of the text (typically depicted in filmic and televisual media by a subjective ‘point-of-view shot’);
the direct [or extra-diegetic] address to the viewer: the gaze of a person (or quasi-human being) depicted in the text looking ‘out of the frame’ as if at the viewer, with associated gestures and postures (in some genres, direct address is studiously avoided);
the look of the camera– the way that the camera itself appears to look at the people (or animals or objects) depicted; less metaphorically, the gaze of the film-maker or photographer.
How it links to my artist references
The gaze links to both my artist references regarding the male gaze, In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer.
Although both my artists are female they capture photos of women and girls in a way which would be desirable to a male audience, they capture true beauty of the females and show them in an explicit way, which typically men want to see as they look desirable in many of the images and the models have these strong feminine features, which make them stand out.
For my third photo shoot this is going to be inspired by Nancy Honey and my mood board, i am going to focus on lighting and photographing images in the male gaze, taking photos of collar bones, neck and side profile, the photos are going to be taken in the bath, my sister being the model wearing a bikini, i am going to light up the room using lamps i have placing them in places which will emphasis shadows .
For my second photoshoot I am going to go to florists and take photos of flowers in links to Tara Lichtenstein as the photos will be used to layer on photos to create a double exposed photo, the photos of the flowers will be close up focusing on the details of the flowers, they will be taken in daylight using natural lighting.
For my first shoot i am going to go down to St. Ounes beach and photograph my friend in a flowy dress in response to Tamara Lichtenstein, i am going to get the model to pose freely near the edge of the water the view of the sea in the background, i am going to make the photos darker by letting less light into the camera this is because i am going to try layer photos together similar to Lichtenstein this will allow this shoots photos to stand out more prominently. I am going to take the photos in the late afternoon as it isn’t too bright yet there is still enough light to create clear images.
All these images are unedited as my second photoshoot is going to be based on flowers which i am going to use to layer them on top of these images to make them more intriguing and similar to Lichtenstein’s images.
Claude Cahun, also known as Lucy Schwob, was born October 25th 1894, in Nantes, France. She would later pass on December 8, 1954, in St. Helier, Jersey. Cahun was a French writer, photographer, Surrealist, and performance artist who was largely written out of art history until the late 1980s due to her being an activist during the second world war.
It is thought that Cahun took her first self-portrait at around 1913, a year later publishing her first collaboration with Malherbe under the pseudonyms Claude Corlis and Marcel Moore. They contributed a piece titled “Vues et visions”, or “Views and Visions”, to the literary journal ‘Mercure de France’ with Cahun doing the writing and Moore doing the illistations. Although she had tried out other names, by 1917 she settled on and adopted the pen name Claude Cahun. Moore’s mother and Cahun’s father married in 1917, and the two young women moved in together later becoming lovers.
She is known for her self-portraits that portray her as ambiguously gendered. In taking the gender-neutral forename Claude and by shaving her head, Cahun actively and outwardly rejected social constructions of gender and sexual identity. To Cahun, identity was changeable, or unstable as shown in her self-portraits as she presented herself as a man, a woman and majority of the time androgynously. By fusing several gender stereotypes into a single character, she obfuscated her identity. It is not entirely clear whether Moore was the photographer of Cahun’s “self-portraits” or had some other role in their production. Moore did, in fact, photograph Cahun later on, and those pictures are attributed to her.
Why I chose the artist
While my project isn’t focusing on gender or stereotypes, I do plan to take inspiration from Cahun’s costumes and photography style in order to display a connection between the game and the person i’m photographing. To do this, I would likely have the subject of my photo dress up in a way that represents a certain piece from a game, such as a queen from chess or a joker from cards, and have them side by side.
I am especially fond of Cahun’s mirror photographs as it symbolizes many different things, like how we see ourselves in comparison to how others do. I would also like to try recreating some photos with the idea of reflection in a similar way to Cahun’s photographs.
Cahun links into the the theme of observe, seek and challenge mainly due to her photographs challenging gender stereotypes all while seeking to help spread awareness to the gender inequality many people suffer from. We, as the viewer, are able to observe Cahun’s work and understand the message behind her images.
Image analysis
– Claude Cahun
In my opinion, this is a powerful image that displays an important message. By looking at the clothes, we are able to see a cloak that is embellished in masquerade styled masks, which are typically associated with hiding ones identity. This produces the idea that since there are so many masks that the subject is struggling with their own identity. The cloak itself also helps to strengthen this idea since cloaks are often used to symbolize a disguise of sorts, with the definition literally meaning to cover or conceal.
The photograph itself is also very strong with the patterned curtain behind the subject helping them to stand out and making them the main focus of the image. Additionally, I think that the photo being in black and white helps to enhance the overall aesthetic of the image as we are able to draw out a lot more detail without being distracted by the colour.
