Brassaï (1899-1984) Brassaï was a photographer, draftsman, painter, sculptor and also a journalist. French of Rumanian origin, he is famous for his shots of Paris by night. His love of the French capital and his job as a journalist led him to photograph the capital during long nocturnal walks. These images will earn him an international notoriety under the pseudonym of Brassaï meaning "de Brassó" (his hometown). Brassaï used photography to "capture Parisian night, the beauty of the streets and gardens of the capital." His first book "Paris de nuit", published in 1932, met with great success and earned him the nickname "The Eye of Paris" by his friend Henry Miller. This book will be followed by another book devoted to the capital: Paris Secret in 1972. Brassaï presented the varied characters he encountered as "types". He used his camera to chronicle the unseen side of human behavior: from illicit liaisons and private gatheri...
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Assignment 5: Exhibition Review The exhibition I went to is called "The city (and a few lonely people)", the gallery exposed different photographers (such as Diane Arbus, Larry Clark, Clarissa Binet , John Arsenault, Jen Davis, Nan Goldin, Jack Pierson). The theme was any city and loneliness. All the pictures presented showed either different cities such as Shanghai, New York or Los Angeles. The first picture I looked at was a picture of the Flat Iron. The building was centered in the photograph and the streets around it were completely empty, no people, no cars, no one: as if it was an abandoned place. Next to this photograph, there was two similar pictures. Both very dark and showing a man walking in the middle of a street, probably New York too. The pictures were edited in a way that only showed the man's shadow which created a mysterious and dark atmosphere and also let them be the only subject in the picture. I think that these street photographs really demonstra...
Assignment 4- Composition 1. "Line" ISO 1600 f3.8 1/2500 2. "Shape" ISO 1800 f3.8 1/60 3. "Repetition" ISO 200 f4 1/160 4. "Contrast" . ISO 2500 f4.2 1/125 5. "Texture" ISO 1600 f 6.3 1/250 6. "Rule of Thirds" ISO 800 f 7.1 1/1600 7. "Complementary Color" ISO 2000 f 4 1/125 8. "Monochromatic or analogous color" ISO 160 f5.6 1/125
Reading Assessment 2 "Interpreting Photographs" 1. The author's thesis is to tell us the different steps when interpreting a photograph. 2. The author gives us many examples to support his thesis, he shows us many pieces of work by different photographers and explains us what critics say about their work. 3. He defines interpretation as something to "make sense out of", he adds that it is also about telling the point, the mood, and find the sense. 4. According to the author, interpretation is important when criticizing a photograph because it helps to make sense out of it, "it gives voice to signs that don't speak their own". Barrett also adds that to interpret a photograph is to tell someone else what one understands about a photograph and what one thinks about one. 5. While giving his different examples of various interpretations, the one that stood out the most to me was "interpretive strategies". In this paragraph, Barr...
Reading Assessment 1 - Questions 1-The author's thesis is to make us understand the different principles of describing a photograph, and how important it is. Make the readers understand the meaning of subject and subject matter, style, medium, and form when analysis a picture. 2- He uses a lot of photographers such a Richard Avedon, William Wilson, Joel -Peter Witkin as examples. He show us the different critics and analysis that have been made on their work. 3- a: Description: asking myself what I am looking at in this specific image, and getting to know the image, then it will lead to understanding and perhaps appreciate it more. b: Subject is the overall theme of the picture, and subject matter is what we directly see, a place, an event, or someone. c: Form : how the artist choose to represent the subject matter in his photograph. d: Medium: what the "art form" or the main subject is made of, what express meaning. e: Style: what the photographer chooses ...
