Inspiration

[Dominic]

Hi
To tell you what particular artist has had an impact on me is a hard question. No photographer has had a significant effect on me. Rather, I have looked at many different photo’s and tried to incorporate them and learn about them. I am relatively new to photography and haven’t studied many artists at all and I don’t believe I have one exact person I can name. I really don’t know what type of photography I enjoy most. I enjoy brightly colored “happy” images as much as muted colored “darker” photographs. Both styles are interesting as they can be equally powerful I believe. I couldn’t tell you I like a brightly colored sunrise shot more than a dark brooding nighttime shot. I enjoy both equally.
Sifting through different artists I for the assignment I found that one photographer did stick out though. Pal Hermansen’s portfolio was of particular interest. At first many of his photographs can seem to be simple and uninteresting with minimal colors and subject matter. But as I studied them I believe this is exactly what got me intrigued by them. The way he composes his photographs, mainly his older ones I think, are very interesting. His photo’s sometimes conform to all the rules of photography, and work, and others times they break all the rules and still work. His simple unusual framing is the greatest interest to me. I have to say though I enjoy his photographs of particular elements of the landscape more than his wider view ones. Extracting parts of the landscape can be just as interesting as many typical wide view sunset shots. I really enjoyed his photographs with little color which typically are of cold places. I enjoy this type of photography of cold or “different” places. To me some of them evoke the thoughts of the unknown and remote places which I enjoy very much. I love seeing shots of places where man is unknown to, and all that has been there is nature, places where man’s footprint has not yet been affected by. As I said though I enjoy all types of photography and despite what I said about remote places I enjoyed his photo Sheep most. I know I have just contradicted myself but these are just my first thoughts of photography developing. His use of a slow shutter speed in Sheep has shown the trails of some moving sheep while some have remained stationary and are in focus. I am amazed at the effect it has had. The lines and patterns of the moving sheep I find are really interesting. The use of Black and White in the shot I like as well. I think (I may be wrong) it is just a wonderful shot. As are nearly all of his images.
So in studying this artist I believe I enjoy most his composition and minimal use of color.

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Great post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your “conversational” piece. That’s what this assignment was supposed to accomplish. It was supposed to get you asking questions to yourself about what it is about photography that you find interesting.

As you’ve mentioned, for you it isn’t necessarily about issue based or idea based photography. You can be interested in all sorts of subjects. What does interest you is unique composition and the complexities and beauty within simplification. For those of you who don’t know the photographer being discussed, you can see their website here…

http://www.palhermansen.com/

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this amazing art form! I look forward to seeing more of your assignments in the student community.

[Author]

Posts