A Japanese photographer who became famous for his close ups of faces, in a project called "one." I'm not quite sure how this links to my project, but it definitely does encourage a creepy voyeurism- you have to look right at their faces, there is nothing else see. In that way, i guess it is very interesting because there is no bad representation here; you can only look at one place (their faces) and only see what is there; there is nothing to tell you about culture or wealth or context; they are also all shot in the same way, which is leveling the field. Here are some of his portraits:
I really like this idea, because it focuses on the people, not about the people, which I think is quite an exciting and important thing for a portrait to do; there is no interference. It also is quite claustrophobic and personal; in general you are never this close to a person; here you can see everything. I like this firstly because set up models and with air brushing, people look fake; whereas these people can be seen as "anti-portrait", as in, you can see every blemish and line. I also like this because there is no distraction, and you can only look into their eyes, and at their level. This is voyeuristic, but also quite dis-arming.
Matthew Brady
An early photographer of the American period, he took photos of the poor in America; he did this as a documentary project, and was of the idea that photography is for recording, and should not be "for art", that is should be a precise science. An interesting street documentation photographer, as he was one of the first, and this shows in his (film based) photographs.
He aimed to try and show "what will be history". This photo above is one taken during the American civil war. I like his use of film, and how the quality is because of it. Early documentary photography tried to objective, and this is shown by the distance, and by the anti-framing of his shots. There are many other photographers like this, who I could use as a historical basis for my project.
Martin Parr
A british photographer best known for photographing the middle class (and critizing them) He is one of favorite for portraits because he gets an incredibly interesting social portrait. I liked his photos for their bright, holiday-photo feel, but with that sort of underlying commentary on the middle class values. I would want his photos as a sort of aesthetic feel to my piece, though I will not have any control over this.
Mishka Henner
Mishka Henner belongs to a small but growing group of artists who, instead of purely using the internet as a promotional tool for their work, appropriate photographic images circulating on the world wide web to create innovative artworks that question a clear definition of authorship, ownership and originality.
-Got famous by doing a project where he took images from google street view of prostitutes waiting for clientele on the street; these images are not his own, but yet his idea to take them and make them his own- make you look at them- is what makes it photography.
He has done lots of similar things with found footage on the internet, especially from google. For instance, "pumped" and "dutch landscapes", which are the world from above, as seen by googlemaps. From the pumps, he has made animated giffs which change from summer to spring. This added movement gives the photo a timelapse.
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