Modernism/Post-Modernism

Modernism and Postmodernism is something that cannot easily be understood, but gernerally Modernism can be thought of as modern thought and Postmodernism in return questions and rebels against Modernism. It is easy to see though that Postmodernism is something that is becoming regular in today's world with fashion, art and so many more things simply going over from the traditional to rebellious. Postmodernism brings a lot of change and fresh ideas with it.
I would even think that Stephen Shore's work was postmodern in the sense of using colour film and going against what was said to be something that should not be done in artistic photography.


Source: All that is solid melts into air, Marshall Berman;

Feminism

Feminism was mainly created due to social inequalities for women and ideologies which suggest that men are to rule over women.
I feel that feminism is generally looked down at, but it is important realize that without feminism, equal rights for men and women would still be very much lacking today's standards. However, even today there are still a lot of inequalities to be seen, with jobs and salaries being two of the main issues in the western world. Real issues are however in countries were women are being aggressively and violently suppressed.
Feminism certainly has it's good side but can also create problems in the form of extremists.


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk; http://www.friesian.com

Semiotics

Semiotics describes how signs are used as a kind of language and how we respond to it.
The above image is from an advert for Patek Philippe watchmakers in Geneve. The watch which cost several thousand pounds is clearly aimed at the wealthy population, which can be read by the style of outfits and the kind of models used. The two variations in style are also being reflected in the photographs. One is modern the are seems more vintage. Further the subtitle "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation" has cleverly been implied by using models which are meant to be taken as father and son.
Semiotics is part of our daily life, with advertising and product packaging, but also things such as emergency services, etc.


Source: Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes- Camera Lucida

Camera Lucida was written by Roland barthes, who was born in 1915 and was very well educated, having studied french literature.
In his book Barthes questions every aspect of photography and and compares different aspects of the medium and also in relation to history. Camera Lucida is not much more than a journey through Barthes mind fixed on photography, but this is exactly what makes it so interesting. With his desire to understand why photography is the way it is he brings up a lot of very important questions and points.
Although somewhat difficult to read and understand this book is certainly worth reading and keeping.


Source: Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes; http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi

Susan Sontag - On Photography

Susan Sontag was born in New york in 1933 and studied literature, philosophy and theology. She has published several works including On Photography, which became an invaluable resource for anyone having a desire to understand photography. What it is and what it can do.
On Photography is a collection of Susan Sontag's personal views, observations and understanding about photography as an art. However, this does not mean that the book is written in an objective manner. It is rather a piece of work which was written with a lot of thought and research.


Resource: On Photography, Susan Sontag; http://www.susansontag.com

Wilson Bentley

Wilson Bentley became known as the first person to have photographically recorded snowflakes. His obsession began when he received a microscope at the age of 15 and started to study the different shapes of snowflakes. Having failed to draw the snowflake during observation, he eventually build an apparatus that could hold a bellows camera. For about a hundred years no one attempted to photograph snowflakes because of the quality Bentley had managed to produce with his home-brew device. This shows very clearly that a photographer does not need the utmost expensive and best equipment to create images of excellent quality.
Ironically Wilson Bentley was killed during a blizzard in 1931.


Source: The guardian; snowflakebentley.com

William Eggleston

William Eggleston received his first camera at the age of 18 and started taking photographs of mostly typical american scenes. He used mostly small format cameras and a variety of black and white and colour film. The image of the tricycle parked on the road of a seemingly american suburb is one of the most famous images created by William Eggleston. The viewer's eyes are drwn into the image by the low point of view and bright, dull sky and are then directed towards the backround, where a typical American suburb road can be seen.
He has created a variety of cleverly focused and composed images and has been well known for his technical competence.


Soruces: http://arts.jrank.org; www.artinfo.com

Philip Lorcia diCorcia

Ever since having learned about Philip Lorcia diCorcia, I have been amazed by his work. He has an excellent talent in staging photographs and making them look believable. His main area of photography is tableau, which is highly staged and perfectly executed in every way. Most of his images have a very sinister look and feel to it. Hollywood was his most famous and impressive piece of work to me and I really do aspire to reach such a level of artistic photography. In the creation of this work he asked male hookers and drug addicts to pose for him and payed them a certain amount, which he always displayed with the resulting photograph.


Source: www.artscenecal.com; Museum of Modern Art, Philip-Lorcia diCorcia

Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin became famous with works such as The Ballad of Sexual Dependency and A Double Life.
Although her work is highly regarded and spoken of, I feel that there is a certain madness to it, with a lot of obscene and disturbing content.This madness can also be seen in images which do not contain much nudity, where the interaction or also the lack of it between people in her images.
It might be argued that Nan Goldin is not a photographer, she uses photography as an artistic medium in a very well executed way. Compositions and exposures are placed where they can make a viewer come back to look at her images over and over again. Despite this, her work is something to me that I look at once and then move on.


Source: www.photography-now.com; www.tate.org.uk

Stephen Shore

I personally like to think of Stephen Shore as the master of colour photography. He was photography's pioneer in the area of colour film. Although he also used black and white film he certainly changed how photography was seen by artistically creating images on colour film, often using large and middle format equipment to maximize image quality.
His most important work was A Road Trip Journal, for which, as he himself said, started photographing everything around him and even after coming back from his road trip through the USA still carried on taking pictures of everything around him.


Source: www.artcyclopedia.com; www.masters-of-photography.com