When I am in a painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. The subject, if there is one, is in his head. Now what happens when there isn’t an actual physical subject? How does someone like abstract painter Jackson Pollock approach his work. His art is not reproduction, it’s a melding of the artist and the subject. The “realness” of the subject isn’t specifically about its color or its shape – for Wyeth the realness is in the feeling of the subject. I search for the realness, the real feeling of a subject, all the texture around it… I always want to see the third dimension of something… I want to come alive with the object. Here’s one from American painter Andrew Wyeth, National Medal of Arts award winner and creator of the uber-famous painting, “ Christina’s World“. There are a lot of photos out there of Half Dome and other iconic locations, but what sets Adams’ work apart is the resonance one feels between the scene and the photographer. He loved nature and was especially drawn to the “great earth gesture” of Yosemite. An Ansel Adams work always includes his unique emotional response to his subjects.Īdams’ fine art photographs were more than just pretty pictures to him. Those can be taken by a robot or maybe your Aunt Matilda with her Brownie. Ansel knew that something more needs to go into creating a work of art. If you know anything about Adams, you know that he was serious about technique and craftsmanship in his photography – remember the Zone System? Are his photos just formulaic? Nope. I figure it’s go big or go home so let’s start with Ansel Adams.Ī great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed. I just try things based on what the subject is saying to me.Īnyway nobody cares what I think so let’s see what some famous artists have to say about it. I’m not consciously thinking “I should try such and such angle next” or “remember the rule of thirds” or anything like that. I take that one and another takes its place. As soon as I take the first photo, another suggests itself. When I’m “in the moment” so to speak, something clicks between the subject and myself. I personally have experienced this sort of thing while taking photographs. In his comment on that post fellow blogger fencer brought up the idea of the unity between the observer and the observed. To strike at that moment is essential in creating a significant image. In my post Photographs: Gone in a Hundredth of a Second I wrote about an interview with photographer Lee Friedlander and how there is a certain point in time when the subject and the artist are working together in harmony. What’s the relationship between an artist and the subject that they’re expressing? More specifically for our purposes between a photographer and the thing photographed.
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