Phillips Halsman

Phillipe Halsman was born on May 2nd, 1906. He was an american photographer, although he was born in Latvia originally. Halsman didn’t become interested in photography until much later in life after he served time in prison. He started shooting for companies like Vogue and became a well-known portrait photographer. He was most famous for his sharp-focus images because, at the time, almost all images had a soft focus on them (Wikipedia).

One of the images I am choosing to talk about by Halsman is this one. I love how spontaneous his images look. I love how they look chaotic but not so chaotic that you don’t know where to look or get overwhelmed when you see them. I also think the timing of the images is impressive because this was when they were still using film. This means he didn’t know if the images were good, but probably just had to take like 50 and see if any of them turned out good. I think I can appreciate his work especially because I can understand that they aren’t just one-and-done images. I also really like the contrast in this image of the woman with the pale body against the guy in the all-black suit.


The second image I am choosing to talk about is this one. One thing I really like about this image is the lighting and contrast. I like how the floor is super dark and the ceiling gets dark too but in the center, it's more light. I also like how the person is wearing grey and doesn’t really stand out but the cat has super high contrast against the ceiling. Similarly to the last image, I feel like I am really able to appreciate how much time it probably took for everything to get in this photo to line up perfectly. It also is impressive how clear the image is even though everything technically is in motion.


Overall I really like Phillipe Halsman’s work. I love how unique it is and also how chaotic of a feeling it gives off when you look at it. I think it is easy to appreciate it because you can tell how much time he puts into every single picture and that makes each work more meaningful. It also makes it more meaningful because no one will ever be able to replicate them perfectly and each one is unique.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John Fobes

Image
  For my final blog, I chose to discuss John Fobes. I explored lumen prints and produce by placing slices of fruits and vegetables on my paper and then exposing them. This created different patterns and new abstractions from the fruits. Fobes did very similar work. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and is well known for his nature-focused lumen prints. The first piece by Fobes I am choosing to discuss is these 3 pears. One thing I really like about this piece is the readability of the fruit. When I was doing my final project, I noticed that some of my fruits lost readability in the exposure, which made my trial-and-error process slightly more difficult. Because of this, I am really impressed with the way Fobes’ images came out, making me wonder if he used actual fruits or produced images of them in a different way. Another thing I really like about this piece is the bright colors of the fruit. I wondered if mine would react with the paper to produce different colors, but I didn't ...
Read more

Anne Arden McDonald

Image
  Anne Arden McDonald is an American photographer who was born in 1966 in Georgia. She started photographing very young and continued that for over 15 years, specializing in self-portraits in abandoned buildings and spaces. She has also experimented quite a bit in lumen printing, and using different chemicals on photo papers, then exposing them to sunlight to develop them. She has had her work shown in many galleries, the Brooklyn Museum, the Houston MFA, and more. The first work by McDonald I am choosing to talk about is this one. One thing I really like about this piece is the colors produced, especially the blues and purples that come through. I am assuming this is the print before it got mixed because I think those colors would probably not be as vibrant after going through the fixing procedure. I also love how organic the shape is of her print is and how it’s all the same organic circle shapes. This print reminds me a lot of like a water puddle of like bubbles coming to the ...
Read more

Christian Vogt

Image
 Christian Vogt Christian Vogt is a Swiss photographer who was born in 1946. Vogt has won many different awards and publications for his work including Art Directors Awards from Switzerland, Germany, New York, and Los Angeles, Swiss National Scholarships, and more. Vogts work spans over multiple genres including portrait photography, landscape photography, and other types of photography (christianvogt.com). The first picture I am choosing to discuss is this one. I love how well he captured the natural lighting of this photograph. I think the light coming from behind the two rocks (which are clearly the main subjects) really just emphasizes that further. I also love the strong contrast of this photograph with the foreground, middle ground, and background. I think these deep darks and lights really pull the audience into the photo more. I also appreciate the slight triangulation going on in this photograph with the different rocks present. The second photo I am choosing to disc...
Read more