Here is a presentation of 3 of my favourite photographers

1. PHOTOGRAPHY HEROES
PRESENTATION

2. Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman’s
photographs explore issues of
gender and self, looking at the
representation of the body in
relation to its surroundings. She
puts herself in the frame most of
the time , although these are not
conventional self-portraits as she
is either partially hidden, or
concealed by slow exposures
that blur her moving figure into a
ghostly presence.

3. This photo really stood out to me. We see a low
angle shot with a partial silhouette of a woman on
the floor. In the top right hand corner we see a what
seems to be the bottom half of a naked woman in a
pair of black heels looking down on the silhouette.
Possibly looking down at their reflection of
themselves. This creates an intimate format for the
photograph as the frames is taken almost as you're
peering through or low down enough that she can't
see you. The silhouette is faded out on the arms,
head and legs this could be a sign that the chance
of becoming a dead, black space on the floor is
becoming a reality as we know woodman committed
suicide a 5 years after this photo, it raises questions
about if her photos could have been a sign. The
photo is well contrasted and picks up the dirt on the
skirting of the floor adding to the ethereal feel of the
photograph.
Again this photo is rather intimate, the audience feel
somewhat of a connection to the subject as she is in
centre frame. In this photo the subject is at first
glance hard to spot, we see the leg in focus but the
rest of the body is blurred from her movement. The
room is what seems to be a room of a derelict house
the walls are peeling and there are objects scattered
around. Her body seems to merge with its
surroundings covering herself with sections of the
wall paper . This photo creates an unsettling and
almost claustrophobic situation, the audience feel
as if they too are in the big room. The subject in on
the floor sat up against the wall in a curled position
looking at the camera, her face is blurred so you
can't really make out any emotion, but there seems
to be an underlying vulnerability to her as she feels
the need to cover up, whereas in other photographs
the subject is nude .

4. Satoki Nagata - Lights In Chicago
Satoki Nagata is a Japanese photographer who has been living in downtown Chicago since 1992. In his
most recent work he captures the light and shadow produced by flash showing the pure form of reality of
people living in the city. Inside the bright light line, he claims the significance of existence of the person
appears. The image is abstract and surrealistic but also full of life and personality. Transparent layerings
are created by flash with slow shutter speed and no reflection is involved in these images.

5. This photograph was taken at night in the center of
Chicago, The photograph captures the busy night
life as people are leaving work or on their way
home. This image really appealed to me as Nagata
uses double exposures to create this idea of
reaching into strangers minds and understanding
who they are without meeting them. The photo is
rather busy, it focuses mainly on the woman with 2
men in the background. What interests me the most
about this photograph is that within the area of the
womans head we see 2 other faces of 2 different
women who are rather fashionable and secretive as
the lights shadow out their faces. The double
exposure creates the idea that these are the woman
thoughts and we can see them. Another i like is the
white strip created by the lights, we can see this on
the hair of the woman, creating an outline of the
subject.
This photograph was also taken a night on the
streets of chicago whilst it was snowing. The double
exposure captures the snow as it falls whilst also
capturing the outline of a male figure. This photo
appealed to me as it was taken behind a shop
window and if you look carefully you can see the
reflections of the window. The photo is well
composed and contrasted . The subject is well
captured and what works well is that his was
captured in a moment as he is breathing out so the
frosty air is captured creating the atmosphere of a
cold winters night. This photo also has a rather
ghostly presence to it the white outline created by
the light create the question on whether the subject
is actually real as the exposure creates the subjects
head to be see through and we see a different layer
to the street which works well.

6. Jerry Uelsmann
He composed all of his images by combining multiple negatives together, to create one image. After taking multiple images, he
utilises several enlargers for his negatives.I chose this artist because I enjoy how complicated his work appears to be. There is a lot
going on in all of his photographs, and it’s a challenge to try and comprehend the message he’s trying to convey in each one. I was
also drawn to his work because his photographs are not the kind that one would typically see. In fact, they seem to be
photoshopped, or even paintings, but they are not.

7. This print is framed by a pair of hands that appear to be cupped as if they are holding an object of great value, in the middle
ground, we see a silhouetted figure of which is possibly a young child, surrounded by a sea of thick soft cloud. Looking further
into the image, you can see a large mansion-like house. The separate layers of the photograph give depth to the image as a whole
and allow it to resemble real life whilst maintaining a dreamlike state and impression. The image is highly contrasted, which, is a
large contributor to the dream-like ambience that is portrayed in this image, the silhouetted figure is the first thing you see in the
image, even though they are placed against a textured surface and it is the high contrast of this image that allows this to happen.
The high depth of field and the variation of tones within the composite photograph means that the eye is drawn along a line in the
image from the silhouette of the infant to the dark rectangle of the door on the house and then across to the darker trees to the left
of the frame, which effortlessly draws you into the image, allowing you to look at the image as a whole at the same time.
Uelsmann’s image could easily be interpreted as having biblical references, as it could be seen as his own understanding of what
Heaven would be like; the clouds and the overall fogginess of the photograph help to portray this heaven-like quality, as does the
depth of the image; the building seems equally close to and quite far from the figure, again linking to the dream-like ambiance that
is created. I think that the photographer’s intentions in creating this image were to create an alternate world. Uelsmann has
managed to create an element of fantasy, and ultimately, something quite strange and beautiful.

8. In this image I like the contrast between the black and white scenes of the negatives.Creating this idea of 2 separate
worlds. The contrast shows duality similar to yin and yang. The negative bottom half appears to as a body of water,
reflecting the deepest of emotion. Each girl in the image has a different emotion The translations and possibilities of
these emotions are quite vast. The girl on the left is looking down at her reflection but hides herself behind a tree
possibly being apprehensive or quizzical on what she is seeing. Moving on to the girl in the middle, why does she not
have a reflection? Is she hiding or has she escaped from the forest? There are several ways to interpret both her
position in the image and her lack of a reflection. A Freudian interpretation might interpret that she is the superego. She
is above the surface in her consciousness, whereas the other two are lower. the one on the right is standing completely
opposite their reflection , content with what they see and have found. The one on the left hides behind a tree possibly
quizzical about what is being shown to her, and she is not comfortable with what she sees.