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Sebastiāo Salgado

Sebastião Salgado was born in Aimorés, Brazil in 1944. Before becoming a photographer, Salgado originally studied as economics and earned his MA from São Paulo University in 1968 and a PhD from the University of Paris in 1971. He worked at the International Coffee Organization in London which required him to make frequent trips abroad. His interest in documenting his trips started his interest in photography. By 1974 Salgado was freelancing as a photojournalist for the Sygma agency in Paris. Following his work for Sygma, he then began working for Gama from 1975 until 1979, when he joined Magnum.

Salgado has produced various extended documentary series throughout his career, many of which have been published. He has also won many honors for his work.

Salgado’s style is high contrast black and white photography, documenting those in desperate economic cirumstances. His images feature portraits of individuals and their lifestyles. He persists on documenting his subjects in series rather than singluar photographs. His images communicate a subtle understanding of their social and econimic situations without soliciting pity like many other photographs of Third World countries do.

I was particularly drawn to his images because of the rawness and purity. Salgado’s images carefully communicate the circumstances of these individuals through candid photographs. I personally enjoy black and white photography, and I was so intrigued when I was viewing his work. The images are so strong and impactful, I was able to grasp their lifestyles without feeling sorrow.

https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/sebastião-salgado?all/all/all/all/0

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/sebastiao-salgado-forest-trees-180956620/

Anya Broido

Anya is a portrait and documentary photographer who specializes in street photography. She has worked in the field for several years, gaining experience in both subjects. Her work has been featured in several places including, ‘British Journal of Photography’s’ nationwide exhibition ‘Portraits of Britain’.

She studied sculpture at Central Saint Martins and photography at London College of Communication. Her work is focused on the urband condition and capturing street portraits at night. Her images are very vivid in color with high contrast creating a harsh effect.

I find her work to be very inspiring as she combines street life documentary with portraiture. Many of her photos are highlighted with neon lighting creating strong contrasts with tints of color. I think her style of photography is a great reflection of what street life can be like. Her sharp contrast and highly saturated images emphasize the grittiness and reality of the subjects’ lives.

https://www.lensculture.com/anya-broido

https://www.instagram.com/anya.broido/

http://www.anyabroido.com

Becca Baker—Final Project

For my final assignment, I was very torn between ideas. I was very intriguied by the idea of self portraits. I often dislike having my picture taken, however, I wanted to experiment. After several attempts and different styles, I came to the conclusion to take my images at an abandoned YMCA building. I recently discovered this building and thought it would be the perfect enviornment for my photos. The building made me feel very unsafe and uneasy, which was reflected in my photos I took. I tried to replicate my feeling through my actions in the photographs. I was influenced by the photographer, Francesca Woodman, famously known for her black and white self portraits. Her images feature herself, or female models, displaying motion or obsecured poses. I was very interested in the idea of motion, while also relfecting on directoral photography. I found the location of the abandoned building to fit my tone, I also wanted to give my images a stark, creepy feeling. I found making my images black and white gave it the strongest feeling of ambiguity. I was also influenced by the Gregory Crewdson film. I found his style of photography to be very appealing and I wanted to incorporate that aspect as well. I used the directoral photography in some images where I set up the scene. I tried to create the feeling of movement in a confined space, reflecting on our current situations with the quarantine. In some of my images, I wanted to display the feeling of confinement in one space, while displaying a lack of movement.

In this photo, I wanted the tone to feel uneasy. I photoshopped my subjects, (myself), to represent the feeling of confinement, movement, and the idea of being watched. I had this feeling throughout my photoshoot, which I tried to replicate in my final images. Throughout the shoot, I heard footsteps in the buidling and glass breaking. I never saw anyone, however, I felt I was being watched.

In this photo, I wanted the image to have depth, while also having the feeling of being watched.

In these images, I was experimenting with the use of motion. I was influenced, along with my other image, of photoshopping myself into one photo. In the bottom photo, I wanted it to have the feeling of running away from something.

In this image, I was influenced by Gregory Crewdson, to set up the scene. I was also influenced by Francesca Woodman and her style of obscured faces.

In this image, I wanted to draw the viewers eyes to the dark background and the open doors. While taking this image, I was most aware and careful of the open doors, I didn’t have the guts to look inside, however, walking past the room was very dark and scary. In the back of the image was a long dark hallway. I had to walk past several rooms to get to the staircase upstairs. The hallway continues after the staircase, with no rooms or windows. This image gave me the strongest feeling of uncertainty.

I found this image to be the most interesting of all. It was pure accident, however, I felt it gave the best feeling of the atmosphere, open to all human life including nature. I accidnetally stepped on the dead mouse, I didn’t notice until I was leaving, but it set the tone for my images. During the photoshoot I felt very valnurable, unsafe, and open to anything.

Becca Baker—Assignment #4

For this assignment, I decided to continue on with the effects of the Coronavirus. In my previous assignment, I was able to go out and photograph public restaurants and buildings. However, due to recent limitations, I was not able to. I decided to simply walk around my neighborhood and document the atmosphere. It was a nice day when I took these photos, which resulted in several people outside and about. I also wanted to capture the spring essence, through the warm temperature and blooming flowers.

Becca Baker—Assignment 3

These images were taken at Walmart. I wanted to document the reactions of people due to the Corona Virus outbreak. I found it important to show the behavior of shoppers and the store overall. Many shelves were empty, on necessity items, there was a sign permitting limited shopping only. Surprisingly there was toliet paper stocked, however, you can only purchase a limited amount. I noticed a large amount of workers restocking shelves and overall more workers on the floor. In the first image, you can see a woman is even wearing a mask.

These images were taken at a nearby town, fifteen minutes from my house. This main street is normally extremely busy its so hard to find a spot on the road. The street it lined with different shops, boutiques, restaurants, but when I visited, everything was closed. I wanted to document how strange it was to see an empty street. The only car you see is my mother’s mini cooper in the one image. I found it necessary to document the closed signs, as every store had one. There were only a few stores open and only for limited hours. The only people I noticed outside were walking their dog.

Becca Baker Assignment #2

The photographer I chose for the assignment was Walker Evans. He was proudly known for his work during the Depression Era. I chose to imitate am image taken on the subway of everyday people.

I found this image my strongest of all three. I was particually interested in capturing their raw emotions. I found Walker’s style compelling, sneaking images of individuals without them knowing. This interests me because it captures this emotion you wouldn’t get if they were aware of the photograph. I found this image the strongest mostly for the expression on the woman’s face. Its puzzling to guess what she is thinking.

Becca Baker – Photo Assignment 1

The photographer I chose for this assignment was Ansel Adams. He was known for his black and white photographs of the American wild west. The image I chose to imitate was Mount Williamson-Clearing Storm 1945.

My photo imitation:

Creating this image, I was trying to imitate Adams’ style through his deep contrast. This photo represents his style through the contrast between the rocks, ice, and surrounding buildings. I tried to imitate his nature style through a small spot on campus. I found myself drawn to Ansel Adams for his specific style of photographing nature. When I first began photography, every photo was of surrounding nature. I love the raw aspect and tranquility of it.