Camera Work Magazine 1903 – 1917
“In 1902 Stieglitz formed an invitation-only group, which he called the Photo-Secession, to force the art world to recognize photography "as a distinctive medium of individual expression." “
I really liked some photographers that worked for a magazine in the early 1900s called Camera Work, many of them were Pictorialists and by the end of the magazine's run the issues evolved to show more form the Straight Photography movement. At first it seems like they all worried about just using fancy papers and brushing over the negative to create these painterly looking photos. But when you think about it, it’s really no different then what people do as designers in a sense. You’re adding drama or impact to an image so that people remember it. They were trying to mimic painterly styles from classical art like sculpture, only with their photography and I think that was pretty impressive for the time.
Gertrude Kasebier and Pictorialism
“Käsebier, who drew her images from the real world but often boldly manipulated her prints, said her art depended on knowing "what to leave out." “
"The contrast of this woman’s softness and aggressiveness have caught my attention and confused me all in one gasp.“
The one photograph from this magazine that really caught my attention was Gertrude Kaesebier's portrait of Evelyn Nesbit. This photo reminds me of the digital painters that I like today like Stanley Lau or Marta Dahlig's digital paint pin ups, only this was taken a century ago. It's very feminine but at the same time Evelyn has a real predatory look to her. Compared to other portraits I've seen in photographs, it's amazing how just the framing and the pose really adds to this piece. This is the kind of eye for aesthetics that I want myself not just in photography, but in illustration. If I could make an illustration sometime in the future that captures the kind of feel that this one particular photo has, I think I'd be really happy with myself.Kasebier was also important because she was one of the first notable women in photography of that period, I can't imagine being the first of anything much less being renown for that. Kasebier was also a mother herself and spent a lot of time photographing mother's and their children. The thing about her pictures I liked the most is there seems to be a narrative in them. In this link of her image "Thou Art Blessed Amongst Women", you can look at it and begin to image a scene in a story or try to give some crazy meaning to it by dissecting the technique behind it. It's got a blurry dream like quality but it's also got this really strong contrast so you can tell what the focus of the image is.
"The term Pictorialism is used to describe photographs in which the actual scene shown, is of less importance than the artistic quality of the image. For Pictorialists the aesthetics and, the emotional impact of the image, was much more important than what was in front of the camera."
While I don't necessarily think that photography has to entirely be one way or another, I really liked the message from this movement. You can learn a lot about drawing from using resource materials like photographs to draw from so it's funny to see these men and women who were doing the opposite of that. It was also very hands on, they did a lot of post production like combination printing and fudging negatives to get the look they wanted. In a way, it's like what we use Photoshop to do today so you can feel a real connection to this movement.
Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and Straight Photography
“Stieglitz's internalization of avant-garde art combines with his own expertise in extracting aesthetic meaning from the urban atmosphere.”
The man who ran the magazine, Alfred Stieglitz didn’t do many Pictorialist works himself, he was the guy who gave the movement some legs by promoting them in his magazine. His style was part of the Straight Photography movement.I think Straight Photography is great for illustrators because he’s looking for the geometry hidden in objects. As a person who draws, that’s what you’re looking for...the pieces that make up your subject. Being able to see that is hard, you can’t just look at a combination of people or an object and see these invisible lines very easily. It takes awareness and an eye for it, something I’m hoping I can develop. It's really strange to me that Pictorialists are all about editing photos but Straight Photographers believe in capturing only what's in front of your lens. It's total opposites but I like both because they bring so much to the table when you're looking for inspiration for art or design. The image on the side here is a incredible in how you can look at the lit areas and really start to get a sense of the shapes that are there.
"The White Fence"
"Chair Abstract, Twin Lakes, Connecticut"
Paul Strand was featured in the final issues of the magazine and his work is the one I think I may have subconsciously been channeling. His image of "Porch Shadows" is so simple, yet a lot of people don't even realize that's what it is if you didn't tell them. He was sort of like the "heir" to Alfred Steiglitz since that was his mentor and his images evolved under Steiglitz. Strand would be photography of all kinds but I liked specifically his eye for capturing the shapes from silhouettes and objects. It's simple everyday situations or items turned into unique images.
I noticed that a few older photographs I took myself were similar stylistically. This kind of surprised me when I got back home because I hadn't known about Paul Strand's work until a week ago I think. While this isn't the only kind of photographs Paul Strand took, I liked these the best. They're so simple but hard to do, that's a cliche I know, but it's so hard to put into words.
This was one of them, I was on the Brooklyn Bridge when I took this. I just ended up looking upwards and I saw this and decided to take it. I can't honestly say why really. It just looked like I should which is one of the things about photography that I'm finding out. Even if you have something in mind that you want to take a picture of, going out and deliberately looking for it is hard. Sometimes you have to stumble upon it because you might be looking too hard, like having tunnel vision.That one I took in full color because I wasn't thinking about taking it necessarily for this project, but below I set my camera to black and white and decided to try and see if I can get some shots of things like Paul Strand's "Porch Shadows":
Strange shapes, diagonal patterns, lots of heavy geometry and shadows were what I was looking for. I have a feeling though that I kind of went off the deep end and tried to be TOO clever for even myself. Now I was looking too hard and trying these weird things. It might be good in an experimental sense but it was hard because I found myself struggling to take photos instead of just taking photos. It's very different from the Brooklyn Bridge photo because I didn't really think more than 2 seconds before I just looked up and took that one where these I think maybe I was being way too deliberate. I do like the one on the right in the second row though, it somehow looks like a house with some dried vines growing beside it. The one below it I also like because of how the image seems to be separated by these 2 strong contrasts. It's also kind of strange that it's very similar to the Brooklyn Bridge one I took as well.
*edit : Added 2 more images to the middle of the group. One of a building in Union Square where the shapes of the building on an angle looked kind of interesting. If I had a higher point of view instead of from below it might have looked a lot better. The image next to it looks almost like an abstraction, like an octopus fanning it's arms out. I once again placed the point where they intersected at a point of interest. This is actually the underside of the roof of the train station exit right in Union Square.
As an illustrator I like Pictorialism and I want to give it a try in the near future if a project calls for it or if I have time during a break. On the other hand this very geometric version of Straight Photography that Stieglitz and Strand practiced are great because the world we live in today provides a lot of opportunities to try it. If I can merge these sensibilities together, I really think I would come out a better photographer as well as an illustrator in the future.
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