Man Ray Research.

Man Ray

(1890-1976)

This is one of my all time favourite photographs by Man Ray, or anyone for that matter. I love the composition of the picture and how the woman has the shapely curves, like a violin. I also love how she is in the dead centre of the picture and that she is almost symmetrical. I like how she is looking to one side, I'm not sure why but I think it really makes the picture. He used a technique called solarization to add the marks to the woman's back. Solarization is when you expose the negative of a photo. L. Moser reported in 1843:"....., that the light in the camera obscura produces at first the well known negative image; with continued action of the light the image turns into a positive image.... and recently I have obtained in fact on occasion a third image which is negative".

I am thinking about recreating it with a few of my friends.

This is his website:

"Legendary Photography, painter, and maker of objects and films, Man Ray was on the most versatile and inventive artists of this century. Born in Philadelphia in 1890, he knew the worlds of Greenwich Village in the avant garde era following the 1913 Armory show; Paris in the 1920's and 1930's, where he played a key role in the Dada and Surrealist movements; The Hollywood of the 1940s, where he joined others chased by war from their homes in Europe; and finally, Paris again until his death in 1976."

Taken from: http://www.manraytrust.com/

"Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitzky in 1890 in Philadelphia, produced his first significant photographs in 1918. He was living in New York, and with his close friend Marcel Duchamp, formed the American branch of the Dada movement, which began in Europe as a radical rejection of traditional art. After a few unsuccessful experiments, and notably after the publication of a unique issue of New York Dada in 1920, Man Ray stated that “Dada cannot live in New York,” and in 1921 followed Duchamp to live in Paris. It was there, for the next twenty years, that Man Ray revolutionized the art of photography." Taken from: http://museum.icp.org/museum/exhibitions/man_ray/mr_bio.html

As far as I can tell Man Ray was a very different kind of artist. Many pieces of his artwork tell stories and are very emotional. They are meant to make you feel something when you are looking at them.
He didn't like to have his early or family life out in the public so a bit of me thinks that maybe he got this thoughts and feelings across through his work.



"Man Ray, multi-disciplinary artist and one of the most influential figures of early 20th century art, who is known for his informal association with surrealism and became famous in part for his original portraits and use of solarization techniques and “rayographs,” was admired by Mapplethorpe."
Taken from: http://www.only-apartments.com/news/man-ray-photography/

Robert Capa Research.

Robert Capa

Here is some information about the great war photographer, Robert Capa. It was taken from a book I was studying in the college library; 'Robert Cappa/Photographs'.

-December 1938, British magazine Picture Post published 8 pages of images of the Spanish Civil War by 24 year old Robert Capa and proclaimed him "The Greatest War Photographer In The World."

-Capa is not just known as a war photographer, many of his images capture warmth, wit, joy and peace.

-Capa spent: 6 months in China during 1938 to photograph the resistance to the Japanese invasion, in 1948 he went to the Israeli war for independence.

-He stepped on an antipersonnel mine and was killed on May 25, 1954. He was 40 years old.

-He hated war for what it did to the individuals who were caught up in it- as he himself was. Although he was a very brave man who adapted well to the rigors of military life in the field, he was fundamentally, a pacifist and often used to say that he looked forward to being unable to find employment as a war photographer. It is fitting that he is buried in a Quarker Cemetery. 

-As much as Capa detested conflict, he felt passionately that if war had to be the reality of the moment, it was essential for the side of justice to win.

Some of his work 

When I look at is work these are the words that spring to mind: Visual impact, emotional power, sensitivity, hurt, sorrow, bravery, young.

His images are stunning and tell the world of the gruesome truth that is war, that some young men didn't even make it off the boats and that any moment counted. He was a very brave man and deserves his title as The Greatest War Photographer Ever.

The Units.

Unit 5

-Photography History (18th - 21st Century) What has changed over the years.

-Each decade (10 years).

Unit 10

-Writing up a short personal statement about my own photography prefrences, types of photography that I am interested in. Inspiration?

What is 'Photography' today?

What is photography today?

This is a great question to which I answer, Everything.

When you look around you notice that photography is a massive part of the world today. It is used in advertising, which in it's self is a large subject. Supermarkets, clothing retailers and car dealers ALL use photography to sell their products, on posters, billboards, in newspapers, magazines, the sides of lorries and vans, without photography nobody would know what products looked like unless they went to see them themselves there is only so much you can describe with words. A single photo can tell you so much about a product or scene, like if it was a picture of some fruit it would probably be in a bowl, on a table, covered in water droplets to give the effect of 'Fresh' and 'Enticing' to make your mouth water and the colours would all be very bright to catch your eye as you were walking by.

Some of the main types of Photography

-Fashion: This is a large part of selling and promoting designers collections, either on the catwalk or on a  model as a portrait shot. But sometimes fashion photographers aren't just there to take photos, they are also stylists. They might arrange where the models walk, how they pose for photos, make-up?.

-Photojournalism: Capturing current events in an instant. Like brave Robert Capa, who was a War Photographer. He went onto the front-line armed with nothing but a camera and a strong belief that the world should see the war for what it was, and so did so through snap shots of soldiers and the devastation war left to them and towns all over the world.

-Event Photography: Telling a story with one picture, a message. Newspapers or magazines have event photography in them, whether on a war, riot or political event, they are all well documented in one still frame that tells you the whole story rather then a huge paragraph of writing explaining the situation.

-Sport Photography: Technology has changed SO much over the years and on cameras these days you have whats know as the 'Sports' mode which enables you to capture images that are moving very quickly, such as a race car, perfectly.

-Landscape: This is taking pictures of certain landscapes from all over the world, whether it is mountain ranges or the sun setting behind the sea. It is a beautiful side of photography and can be done by sticking to the 'Rule Of Thirds'. If you have a picture lined up that has the sky at the top, mountain ranges along the center and a lake along the bottom you are going to want to make sure that they each have the same amount of space in the shot and that the mountains are exactly in the center, this way your eyes are drawn to the picture because of all the right prepositions.


Given a photograph/work of art and having to ask the right questions about it


-Who is the Artist/Photographer?
-Where was it taken/painted/drawn?
-What media was used?
-Composition?
-What inspired it, the emotion behind it?
-Why did they take it/create it?
-Do I like the image?
-Was it created/taken for someone close to the Artist/Photographer?
-What are the elements? Colour? Texture? Tone? Shape?
-What are the dimentions?
-Is there an inner meaning, a message?
-What techniques were used?
-What was the Artist/Photographer thinking about as they were planning/developing the final ideas?