Analysis P1 (a-d) professional photographers and their photographic work

DAVID BAILEY

Nationality: British

Date of Birth: 02 January 1938

Type of photographer: fashion & portrait

Influences: Bailey developed a love of natural history, and this led him into photography. He experienced problems at school as he was suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia. He wanted to express his words into his photographies.

Purpose: Fashion and portrait photography is widely used online, eg. on fashion websites, as well as in fashion magazines or in magazines connected with news or lifestyle where portraits are suitable. The pictures of David Baley can illustrate a life story. As you can see the first photo I have used as an example of his works would look really good in the article about a love story of this couple.

NIGEL BARKER

Nationality: American 

Date of Birth: 27 April 1972

Type of photographer: Fashion 

Influences:  Since Nigel was a child, he was familiar with modelling and photography as his mother was professional model. After finishing boarding school Nigel was going to study medicine but he changed his mind when his mother entered him into a televised modelling contest. He was modelling all around the world. Working in fashion industry helped him in decision to become a fashion photographer.

Purpose: Such fashionable pictures can be used in fashion magazines to illustrate the latest trends in fashion. They also might be used in the articles about the celebrity who is on the picture, for example, Taylor Swift. The pictures of the famous singers might be used as a cover of their CD. This type of photography is widely used on fashion websites as well and also on the fan websites of celebrities.

MARIO TESTINO

Nationality: Peruvian

Date of Birth: 30 October 1954

Type of photographer: Fashion 

Influences:  Mario went to a Catholic school when he was young. Even in his school days, he had an affinity to fashion. He wanted to look different that's why he had his school uniform altered by his family tailor. Testino went to several university, the last one was in London where he studied photography. 

Purpose: The pictures he takes are stylish and might be used in fashion magazines to promote some brands of clothes or makeup or  fragrance or even jewellery. They can be used on the websites of the designers and on the websites which represent online magazines. This kind of photography can help to promote what the model is wearing and to promote a fashion institution as well.

ANDREAS GURSKY

Nationality: German

Date of Birth: 15 January 1955

Type of photographer: large format architecture and landscape color photography

Influences: Andreas's father was a successful commercial photographer. Andreas learned the tricks of the photography trade from his father even before he completed his high school education. He went to Folkwang School in West Germany where he learned and trained as a professional photographer, even specialising in photojournalism. He is widely known for his large format architecture work and landscaping color photographs that employ a high point of view. 

Purpose: These photography can be used in some commercial editions of magazines and newspapers. Probably it is a good idea also to use them on the websites about architecture or landscapes or in the magazines about these kind of topics. 

DAVID  LACHAPELLE

Nationality: American

Date of Birth: 11 March 1963

Type of photographer: fine-art, commercial

Influences: David was born in 1963 in Connecticut. He was raised by his mother who was single. When he was 15 years old, he fled from his home and became a busboy in New York City in Studio 54. His father brought him back to North Carolina and enrolled him in the Arts School in North Carolina. Now he is widely known for his photography which mostly references art history and often shares social messages.

Purpose: Can be used to illustrate the articles about art and fashion. Also might be used on the websites which are about the photography and extraordinary photo sessions. 

Analysis of the image in class.

Working in class:

Analysis of the photography 1:

Rule of thirds. If we divided the picture into nine equal segments by two vertical and two horizontal lines, we would see that the model is aligned along rule-of-thirds lines. It allows to make people focus on the model. This also adds balance and interest to the picture.

Balancing elements. The bag which is on the chair and the bottles behind the model help the photo to be balanced and not to be empty. The balancing elements are important as the photo would be not attracting if the space weren't filled.

Leading lines. The picture has horizontal line of bar. It leads us along the bar in front of which the model is standing. 

Symmetry and patterns. There is some symmetry on the picture. The symmetry of the drinking-booth is a little bit broken by the cups and the glasses but it's still symmetric. The shelves with the bottles on the background looks quite symmetric as well.

Viewpoint. This was an establishing shot by virtue of which we are able to see the whole composition which includes the model and what's around her. The camera is a bit to the left from her that helped the photographer to put the model to the right hand side of the picture in order to attract more attention to her by the rule-of-thirds.

Background. There is a bar on the background. We can see quite a lot bottles and glasses behind the model. The background helps to fill in the picture, to make it feel full and not empty. However, it doesn't really distract the attention from the model because the background is darker than the model who is in white clothes and looks bright.

Depth. The picture has a depth as the background makes it more attractive and also amazing Chanel bag definitely attracts the attention of the people. 

Framing. The picture is framed by the endings of the bar. This helps to isolate the model from the room and people will focus their attention on her. 

Cropping.  I think there is no cropping. We can see the model clearly and there is no other people on the picture so the viewer's attention will be focused on the main subject on the foreground of the picture which is the model.

Experimentation. I suppose that lots of shots were taken before this picture because it was an advertising campaign and the photographer has to do many photos to choose the best one. 

Lighting. The photographer has used the High Key lighting because there are no shadows on the picture. The model is a bit lighter and brighter than the background in order to focus all the attention to her as the aim of the picture is to advertise.

Fitness for purpose. This photography was taken in order to promote the famous brand Chanel. We can see the model who wears Chanel clothes and amazing Chanel bag on her left hand-side. 

Analysis of the photography 2:

Rule-of-thirds. If we divided this photography into 9 equal parts made by 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines we would see that the model is located along this lines on the left hand-side. Locating the model using the rule-of-thirds makes the picture more interesting and attract more attention to the model. The leopard is located more to the right hand-side and it is also along the rule-of-thirds lines.

Balancing elements. The photography is balanced by the using of a background on the shot so the picture doesn’t look empty. We can see the mountains and the house behind the main subjects so the photography looks full enough.

Leading lines. There is a leading horizontal line which is made by the mountains. They lead us along the picture from the left to the right. 

Symmetry and patterns. On the picture we can see the presence of the symmetry. Mountains and the house do look quite symmetric. On the rest of the picture we can’t see any symmetry. 

Viewpoint. This is a low-angle shot that means that the photographer is low on the ground and the model is just standing on the ground. This is used to make the model more powerful as she seems bigger, to show that she has power over such a wild animal as a leopard which looks scary enough. 

Background. On the background we can see very beautiful nature. There are mountains and trees, and also a house. Nature on the background balances the picture as it has to be around the leopard. On the foreground there are model who is holding all-rounder with the leopard. Leopard is a little bit closer to the camera but the model still looks very powerful. 

Depth. In my view, the picture is quite deep. The picture is quite full and the background and foreground are balanced. We can also see a gray sky that makes the picture even more deep as it matches the idea of the picture of showing the model’s power over the leopard.

Framing. There is no framing on this picture. At the background we can see nature and can feel how the nature is boundless. However, even without framing, the main subjects are so eye-catching that they grab all the attention from the viewers.

Cropping. I think there is no cropping on this picture as we can see the main subjects quite clearly and the surrounding doesn’t distract people’s attention. There are no similar subjects on the picture so there is no pint to crop this photography. 

Experimentation. I suppose there were quite a lot of shots taken before this image was made. Firstly, leopard is quite dangerous animal so the model had to try not to show her scariness on the picture. Secondly, the photographer had to catch the moment when the leopard is looking into the right direction.

Lighting. I think there was a natural light and the picture was made during the day as we can see quite clear shadows.