© Henry Peach Robinson, 1858, Fading Away
The photograph shows a young girl on her deathbed surrounded by her family. It is an example of combination printing, which Robinson learnt from Oscar Gustaf Rejlander (1813-1875). Five different negatives were used to make one complete print.
‘Fading Away’ is probably Robinson’s most famous photograph, and it was widely exhibited at the time. The photograph depicts a girl dying of consumption, and was controversial when it was exhibited, with many believing it was not a suitable subject for photography. (+)
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© D. Bowie Archive / V&A Images, 1976, David Bowie
David Bowie in his first movie “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”
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Unknown Photographer, ca. 1930, Woman’s face with vase
“A curious image, this photo was evidently made as a montage using the reproduction of a woman’s face and the photo of a glass vase. Signed by the photographer (illegible) in pencil.”
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© probably Léonard Misonne, ca. 1910, Harvest
The photographic art movement of pictorialism loved the perfect optical arrangement. Cloudy skys, scenic landscapes, dark woods, all of that had to be reflected on the photographic plate in an immaculate balance. The photographers of picorialsm had been masters in postureing these impressionstic settings.
They skillfully used all the photographic tricks to do so: For example by combining different negatives. Just as in this picture of the hay crop. The photographer used three negatives: The picture of a dramatic overcast sky, a photo of a (presumably Belgian or German) estate with the surrounding fields and the image of a hay harvesting farm laborer. With technical sophistication, the transitions are carefully blurred.
Yes, at first glance, one cannot recognize that the picture had been manipulated. The photographers of pictorialism had always been interested in rural themes silimar to the painters Corot and Cézanne. The Belgian photographer Léonard Misonne (1870-1943) had been a true virtuosos of the rural theme. What sets him apart from his former colleagues is his instinctive sensivity for the light: Shadows, reflections, contrast.
Misonne dominated the masterful art of adding artificial light in the darkroom to get a superior optical effect in the picture. At the end of his career, he was asked for the secret of his art and Misonne replied: “It had never been the motives, it’s all about the light.”
His strong desire to combine different negatives and his ability to create an almost “supernatural” phenomena of light (as in the clouds against the sun light in above photograph) makes it possible to ascribe this picture to Léonard Misonne. (+)
Note: This picture can be seen as an early application of DRI (Dynamic Range Increase) / Exposure Blending / Exposure Fusion (in case that this is a combination of different exposures of one and the same scene).
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Unknown photographer, ca. 1900s, Photographie décomposée
(thanks to / via: yamabato; source: realityayslum)
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(via yama-bato)
© Weegee (aka Arthur Fellig), ca. 1967, Portrait of Andy Warhol
Years after he left Los Angeles, Weegee met Andy Warhol in New York. A surprising photograph of the two of them together, as well as Weegee’s kaleidoscopic portrait of Warhol’s face, reveal an uncanny intergenerational link between two men who saw, and manipulated, the potency of celebrity images. Weegee aimed for laughs and raised eyebrows, but even when completely warped, his photographs reveal the barest truths of Hollywood. (read more)
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© Weegee (aka Arthur Fellig), ca.1953, Weegee in a flashbulb
Weegee used photomontage to brand movie stars with Cadillac logos or confine portraits to a flashbulb, perfume bottle or liquor bottle silhouette. After a decade of taking truthful, often harrowing images for newspapers in New York, Weegee eagerly delved into a more playful, satirical side of photography. (read more)
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PHOTO QUIZ #6 / GUESS THE ORIGINAL - Part III
Some of you may remember Guess The Original - Part I and Guess The Original - Part II. Today I am back with Part III of the “Guess the original” quiz series:
The protagonists of this famous photograph have been airbrushed away, leaving only the background (& some other detail) of the original image. Can you recognize this famous shot?
Check out if you were right: » Answer for photo quiz #6 «
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© Joe Tilson, 1969-1970, K - The death of Martin Luther King
From the portfolio A-Z Box… fragments of an oneiric alphabet.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Other side of the print:
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© El Lissitzky, ca. 1926, Runner in the City
In 1926 Lissitzky joined colleagues from the Association of New Architects (ASNOVA) in designing a new sports club, and he created this frenzied representation of an urban athlete as a model for a large frieze. He combined images of at least three separate elements-the runner, the track and hurdle, and a double exposure of Times Square-into a single print and then sliced that print into strips, creating an object that is both constructed and deconstructed. The visual result is a suspenseful moment-shattered, separated, and stretched-that weaves the mechanics of man into a dynamic tapestry of industrial optimism. The heroic pose of the runner, transposed to the center of New York City, becomes an emblem of triumphant human achievement: man and metal engage in an ambitious leap across several voids in the service of industrial progress. (source)
This picture is part of the exhibition Utopia/Dystopia (on display through June 10 as part of the FotoFest 2012 Biennial, the largest international photography festival in the U.S.)
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