Day 38 Monday 21st November 2011 Deconstructing Environmental Photographers

Edward Steichen, The Flatiron, New York, 1905

 

Photographic process and technique

Camera position/Focus/lighting conditions, depth of field and tonal range: With the Camera at ground/street level Steichen focuses or the foreground interest, using the Flatiron building as a backdrop, It’s in the image yet not fully sharp with depth of field being used along with mist/smog/night to partially shield the building from the viewers gaze, it looms over the nightlife of the city like a monolith

Aesthetics/Visual strategy/representation-portrayal/composition/Concept/intentions of the photographer/Context:

Steichen was originally a painter before becoming a photographer, after joining Alfred Stieglitz and becoming influenced heavily by his work (Photo-Secession which was an early 20th century movement promoting photography as a fine art, which became (US) Pictorialism before that was replaced with modernism), This image is part of the ‘US Pictorialism’ movement and has been made very painterly in it’s composition and aesthetic. The building itself becoming almost abstract reduced to a dark and light side with a sharp defined edge, almost cutting through the blackness symbolic of the vigour with the US during with period. Shooting at night is the visual strategy that creates mystery and intrigue within the image. Taken when the building was still quite new this image shows the might of the new architecture and the hope and forward thinking nature of its population at that time.

Similarities. Steiglitz influenced Steichen, and this image is was taken after the steigliz image we have to review,  Alvin Langdon Coburn  also joined and worked with steiglitz and Steichen so the images will exhibit a close relation to each other.

Dissimilarities: Unlike the later pictures from 1928 onwards in these examples

Alfred Steiglitz, The Flatiron 1903

 

Photographic process and technique

Camera position/Focus/lighting conditions, depth of field and tonal range/Aesthetics/Visual strategy/representation-portrayal/composition Concept/intentions of the photographer/Context:

The use of snow mist and fog were heavily used in Steiglitzs early work as can be seen evidenced here. The tree serves to reflect how man has conquered nature with the scale of his constructions, and assists in giving the building more scale, strength and solidity. The building still remains in the background, and only some detail in the windows and facade are evident. The focus appears to be soft. This is an artistic representation of how cities look, not an architectural study. The snow helps emphasise the starkness of the leafless tree and the tall man made imposition that is the flatiron building. The tonal range is quite contrasty, although some of the trees appear to exhibit delicate snow covered branches. To me this is a stark metropolitan cityscape showing power and strength. Taken at street level it looks up to the structure physically and metaphorically, it appears not to critique the building, but to assist in supporting its iconic status.

Similarities Steiglitz influenced Steichen, and this image is earlier than Steichen and Alvin Langdon Coburn who all joined and worked with steiglitz so the images will exhibit a close relation to each other.

Dissimilarities: Unlike any of the1928 onwards dated images we had to review

Alvin Langdon Coburn, ‘The Flatiron Building’, 1911

Photographic process and technique

Camera position/Focus/lighting conditions, depth of field and tonal range/Aesthetics/Visual strategy/representation-portrayal/composition Concept/intentions of the photographer/Context:

Like Steichens night time images this image shows the building in low light although it isn’t as dark. Also people and street furniture appear in the image as if to suggest that this image is about city life, with the flatiron building one more in the background. Other lesser building are within the frame and the flatiron building itself is part obscured by the branches of a tree that add foreground interest. Taken from what appears to be the middle of the pathway it suggests a viewpoint familiar to anyone whom treads these streets. Almost attempting to capture what is the ‘familiar’ for residents of NYC at that time. My eyes are drawn to the lights and the number of people on the street at this time. This highlights the busy business like nature of these buildings and parts of the city.

America didn’t enter WW1 untill 1917, the depression occurring after the great financial crash of 1929 so at this time this building and district would have been a centre for business and prospherity.

Similarities: Coburn’s image has similarities to Steiglitz and Steichen, although this image is later than Steiglitz and Steichen examples ( Alvin Langdon Coburn worked with the US Pictorialists  so the images will exhibit a close relation to each other especially Steichens image as it aalso shows city dwellers going about their daily business in the foreground.

Dissimilarities: Unlike any of the1928 onwards dated images we had to review.

Walter Gropius, ‘The Flatiron Building, New York’, 1928

 

Camera position/Focus/lighting conditions, depth of field and tonal range/Aesthetics/Visual strategy/representation-portrayal/composition Concept/intentions of the photographer/Context:

The jaunty camera angle here appears to emphasise the fact that seen from this angle the building resembles the bow of a ship. In an age when great liners crossed the oceans this was powerful symbolism. Taken in the day, with sharp focus and great detail, the lesser surrounding buildings have been cropped from the frame. The steep angle of the camera and clarity of the image imply to me the forward surging nature of the American economy of pre crash and depression times. It’s stylistic and I believe part of the new modernism movement. Post WW1 which the US entered in 1917 (1914 for Europe) and that ended in 1918. This was a period of prohibition (1920-33) gangsters and a massively expanding and soon to crash economy (crashed September 1929). The lack of clouds or any other distraction draw the viewer’s eye to the building and it shape, thus emphasising the impression of movement. The tips of building roofs in the lower foreground almost acting as waves at the base of the bow. It would appear that the image is about the forward natures of the city and its business and especially in relation to this specific structure.

Similarities: All of the images from 1928 onwards in the given examples lack people or transport, focusing purely on the structures as the main focal point. The development and use of the skyscraper dominates shapes and defines what New York (and many other US Cities are to) become.

Dissimilarities: Unlike thye previous images the later images all use sharp focus and show the reality of city structures in a less painted stylistic fashion.

Walker Evens ‘Flatiron Building seen from below, New York City’, 1928-1929

 

Photographic process and technique

Camera position/Focus/lighting conditions, depth of field and tonal range/Aesthetics/Visual strategy/representation-portrayal/composition Concept/intentions of the photographer/Context:

With a sympathetic flowing frame at the top of this image Walker Evens is stamping his individual style upon this photograph. Using a 35mm camera Walker Evens wasn’t interested in the grandiose painterly styles of representation applied by those who had photographed these buildings and streets previously ( Photo-Secession (US) Pictorialism etc) He loved the city so much he actually only took night work to allow him to pursue his photographic journey through the people and buildings. This image to me appears quite graphic in its nature, a study of lines and curves, with bisecting or in some cases sympathetic lines for the eye to follow. But of interest is the dark foreground structure/shape that obscures the lower section of the buildings. Is this chance or a dark shadow starting to consume the city (the great crash starting in 1929)? The camera is closer to the structure than any of the other images in this exercise and over three quarters of the building is lost/cropped/obscured or out o the frame. It is possible that the camera position is elevated or maybe a longer focal length lens has been used to capture the upper section of the building. A fire escape can be clearly seen and this mundane metal ladder almost weakens the sharp lines of the building. It is as if by moving in close the buildings vulnerabilities (to fire and destruction) are on show. This may well be a rear corner of the building rather than the prow/bow of the structure. Focus is sharp, the sky is cloudless and the image is abstracted by the inclusion of foreground (street furniture/a roof/or fire escape/ if the camera is elevated Walker Evens was known to shoot from elevated camera positions) that reduces the impact of the buildings scale.

Similarities: Still a emphasis on the vertical and strong lines

Dissimilarities: Elivated camera position and closer to subject, use of 35mm format

Berenice Abbott ‘The Flatiron Building’, 1938

Photographic process and technique

Camera position/Focus/lighting conditions, depth of field and tonal range/Aesthetics/Visual strategy/representation-portrayal/composition Concept/intentions of the photographer/Context:

Taken nearly 10 years after the crash of 1929 slightly to the left of the sharp frontage thus making the e right hand roofline follow the vertical right hand side of the building exactly. It almost creates a feeling of imbalance or instability in the structure. The tonal range of the print appears to show an aged dirtier edifice. In 1938 Europe headed towards war with Hitler having been in power since 1933, and the US had a strict policy of isolationism as it concentrated of building itself back up after the great depression. By 1941 when the US entered WWII it was one of the strongest nations in the world again. To me the cloudless sky, the strong impact of the buildings and the upward facing camera angle speak to be about the strength and will of the US as a nation. No people, no cars just buildings in a time when the streets would have been teaming with hundreds of people. Abbot has decided to photograph a NYC Icon. It’s an image that would appear to have a message about continuity and the status of the city as a powerhouse despite what had gone before. The standard field of view would appear to signify the use of a standard focal length lens, light9ing is quite flat and the number of visual distractions is limited to surrounding buildings and one large sign or advertisement. The building almost becomes phallic and its height is emphasised in relation to the lesser structures to the left and the right.
Similarities: Cloudless skys, with strong vertical lines highlighting the vertical natures of the skyscraper and the city
Dissimilarities: Camera position, distance from object, narrative.