Pictures of You: Day 53 Wednesday 8th February 2012 The Commission task

Wednesday 8th February 2012 The Commission task

Starting with Finlay Mackay it is clear from his work that his fine art background heavily influences his visual style. The images are considered and all expertly lit in an almost synthetic way to suggest a perfection that does not exist in reality. Every aspect of the image is clear with a very deep depth of field and pin sharp focusing. It would appear that this visual style is his signature and it represents reality as perfection, a perfect medium to show off the elite Olympic hopefuls of a nation hard at work training. This style reminds me of advertising imagry which is what this commission is in effect. Selling the 2012 event and those who will compete in it to an international market.

Toby Glanville take a far grittier more saturated image that would appear to have been created to highlight the mundane and imperfect world of reality. He uses natural light and his subject matter includes still life's of school kitchens, railway station furniture, all the functional places were form is more important than aesthetics. It's a social cometary and a human story of peoples lives and the environments in with they exist. It's a world we all know and recognise but not one that we give much attention to. His images are about seeing and looking at the things we take for granted and recognising them for being part of the reality of modern day existence in Britain as it is today. His subjects are often either completing a task or captured in a slightly uncomfortable or ever so slightly staid/awkward pose.

Ulrich Gebert would appear to be creating images for exhibition and this series would appear to be designed to create debate and again focus on mundane activities such as hedge maintenance. His images would appear to be making a larger statement about mans obsession with controlling nature, and our dominance in the world of animals and plants. It's a very specific view of an overlooked and simple task. It creates questions about the nature of man, men like tools, tools can control nature, man thrives to control and dominate nature. The images highlight mans love of order and control and visually the images focus on a very specific task as a metaphor. Visually his images are very cropped and controlled with nothing distracting within the frame, depth of field is used to focus the viewers attention on the subject matter, and focusing is sharp. Lighting in this series seems to be natural with the support of flash to ensure all the details are captured. The flash almost flattens the portrait images and seems to be used to highlight the vibrant colours in the portrait sitters helmet and ear protectors, highlighting the synthetic nature of the man made against the green and brown of the natural plant life he is controlling.

1. Finlay MacKay

Finlay MacKay (b.1972) was born in Scotland and studied fine art photography at Glasgow School of Art (1992–96) working with the inspirational American photographer and teacher, Thomas Joshua Cooper.

After graduating, MacKay moved to London to work as a photographer’s assistant, spending three formative years with Elaine Constantine.

For his first commercial campaign in 2002 MacKay used multiple negatives to build the final images for the series of dynamic fashion shots that won three bronze lions at Cannes.

This creative use of post-production techniques remains central to his visual thinking.

MacKay’s portfolio includes sport and portraiture as well as complex advertising productions that draw on graphic novels and the work of contemporary artists, such as the Scottish painter Peter Howson.

For the National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 Project MacKay has moved away from a traditional sports approach. By observing and responding to the narratives that the athletes and their training locations present, he has created a series of

contemplative scenarios to tell a story of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games from a singular perspective.

Finlay Makay 'Changing Pace, David Weir' The road to 2012

Finlay Mackay The road to 2012

All text and images care of the following link;
http://roadto2012.npg.org.uk/timeline#/timeline/portraits/2011/david-weir

2. Toby Glanville

This series of work 'Actual Life' was created to be published as a book.the following quote from https://www.photoworks.org.u k relates to this work/publication

Actual Life presents work made in Kent by the British photographer Toby Glanville over a period of three years, from 1997 to 2000. The setting for Glanville’s work is largely rural and yet he generates a response to people and places that is entirely contemporary and compelling. Like the best photographs, Glanville’s restrained and delicate colour images are both simple and densely weighted with the complexities of time and space. Published to coincide with an exhibition of his work at the V&A, this book established Glanville as an important voice in contemporary British photography.

Toby Glanville 'Actual Life' 2002

http://www.tobyglanville.com/

3. Ulrich Gebert

Operating a motorised scythe, or weed whacker, is not child‘s play. Tough brushwood, gnarled shrub, and mowing and reaping on difficult terrain are tended to with a motorised scythe. „Freischneider“ (hedge cutter) is the official classification for the various devices utilized

are set face to face; the confrontation resembles a culprit-victim relationship; this is characterised by gestures of subjugation and a hierarchical conception of order, meticulousness and correct and incorrect design. Moreover, the separation of garden and gardener demonstrates that a physical confrontation between man and nature is hardly necessary anymore to validate the claim to power: even at a divinatory, spiritual level empowerment strategies come into play which the animal that walks in an upright

uniform and immunises him against doubt and wounds from his decidedly defenceless adversary’s branches and foliage. The human being presents himself here as an oversized armed Goliath; the campaign against the vegetation in its absurd disproportionality turns out as a caricature of modernist dominance-over-nature fantasies. No coincident either, that masculine human beings are portrayed. „Freischneider“ demonstrates that the dialectical history of the Modern includes gestures of vehemence, which often originate from rustic

masculine utopias.

Arne Linde