portrait

Intense Olympics

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The Olympics are almost a week on their way now. Many medals have been won and many tears have been shed. Hours of training resulting in either eternal bliss or quite the opposite. All those sports and emotions reminded me of a photo series.

Back in 2009 I visited the World Press Photo. The photo series the Olympics reminded me of was that of diving men by Vincent Laforet. I liked the photos. But being a photography student at the time,  I felt the need to edit the photos. By taking some pictures with my mobile, I cropped the pictures in a way that the photo’s context didn’t matter anymore. All that is left are the faces of men doing something intense.

Vicent Laforet’s website: www.laforetvisuals.com

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People of the West

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One of the great photographers of the 20th century, and it’s a shame he hasn’t been mentioned on PforPHOTO before, is Richard Avedon. He was famous for both his fashion as his portrait photography. His photos were published in different magazines. E.g. Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Life. But before I get lost in all of his work for magazines, I like to focus on his portraiture work. And especially his series In the American West.

In the American West came about during 1979 till 1984. He portrayed the working people of the west. Such as miners and oil field workers. But also unemployed drifters and the teenagers who grew up in the West. He photographed each individual on a plain white background. By using a large format camera the details of the photographs are just amazing. You really get to see the people of the American West, up close and personal. This series really shows the power of photography. With only a white background and a camera Avedon shows us a simple yet effective way of portrait photography.

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All Different Shades of Mankind

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The color of the skin has been, and unfortunately still is, a reason to discriminate. Somehow we human beings have to label people for our own comfort. And the first impression of someone is one of the mayor influences in this labeling process. But how many colors are there? If you say a person is black, brown, white, yellow, red or something in between, what do you really mean? We only have a few words to define so many colors.

Brazilian artist Angelica Dass started a project called Humanæ. She strives to record and catalog all possible skin tones. By using the PANTONE® color scheme. Visit her website and look if your skin can find a matching PANTONE®  code. A wonderful project showing us that there isn’t just one black, white, or whatever.

Angelica Dass’ website: humanae.tumblr.com

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Raw Emotions Captured

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Babies are born every day. According to Wiki; a staggering 255 babies every minute. As a photographer babies and small children can help in generating a steady income. Since there’s an endless flow of the little ones. Anne Geddes became famous with her baby photos. She shows us the sweet and cute side of those tiny human beings.

Jill Greenberg on the other hand is showing us a the opposite side. She shows us a side that has nothing to do with cute or with sweet. But a side of us human beings, that we all know too well.  When children are not getting what they want, don’t want to go to bed or travel along on an airplane. Jill Greenberg gave the kids in these photos some candy. And just before she released the shutter she took the candy away. Resulting in a wonderful yet little unsettling portrait series. That side of us we don’t really like to see photographed. That side that we as adults have learned to suppress.

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Distorted Self-image

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Every artist will create a self-portrait once in a while. Whether it’s a study to try out some new ideas or a piece of remembrance for history’s sake. Rembrandt did it. Picasso did it. Cindy Sherman became famous with it. And today it seems that Photoshop gives photographers the same freedom every painter enjoys when creating something. Yet there are still artists out there who create everything without that useful digital tool.

And that makes the work of Laurence Demaison, French artist, even more wonderful and special. She’s an artist who shoots on film. The photographs are not manipulated afterwards. Sometimes she does play around with the chemicals a bit, but that’s it. Her work consists out of self-portraits that give me a sense of deepness and seriousness. The distortion of herself seem to resonate a deeper meaning. A meaning that go further than only her self-image. Often the finished images shows us a figure, not immediately recognizable to be Laurence herself. Her work brings me in a melancholic state of mind. What it does with you? I don’t know. Visit her website and see for yourself.

Laurence Demaison’s website: www.laurencedemaison.com

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Iconic Black & Whites

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Belgium photographer Stephan van Fleteren is a true master in portrait photography. With an analog camera and black and white film he portrays the Belgium and Dutch famous ones. The high contrast he puts in the photos creates some true iconic mages. The grainy and high contrasts delivers a high impact and focusses the attention to the person in the photograph. And by his style it is almost like telling a story with just one image. What that story is, is up to the viewer. He manages to capture the people in such a way that his presence seems of no influence. Resulting in very wonderful and pure photographs.

Stephan van Fleteren’s website: www.stephanvanfleteren.com

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Behind the News

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The west and the middle east are driven apart ever since the horrible events that took place at 9/11. What we learn about ‘them’, speaking now from the western point of view, is coming to us through the media. Western media. The news covers every suicide bomber and every attack on a western military base. What we never truly get to see is the people who try to live their normal lives.

Together with journalist Pauline Bakker, photographer Marieke van der Velden traveled to Baghdad Aug/Sept 2011 with a simple question: How are you?  The photographs see took shows us the people behind the news stories. Or behind the cover stories, the truth we never get to really know since a propaganda machine is keeping the humanity out of these conflict zones. A very interesting series called Baghdad Today.

Marieke van der Velden’s website: www.mariekevandervelden.com

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