Georgia Cox

Black and White Photography

Within the early days of photography, black and white images were produced regularly until colour images were invented in 1861. But now black and white image has proven itself over the decades as being extremely popular within a range of different technique, For example expressing emotions, in portraits, within magazines, Portraying detail, illustrating time as it goes by and lastly being unique. Within the next few sides I will be look at this theme through a range of photographers showing development in years .

Black and white Photography

History of It?

The Kodak was the first ever camera invented, the camera took black and white shots only which I feel was originally the start of black and white photography within the year of 1878.Even though in 1861 a method was created so that coloured images could be made, But still people preferred using black and white as it was cheaper, Quicker and less time consuming.

People do say that the first ever black and white photo was taken by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826, but I feel the first ever proper photo was by Louis Daguerre in 1839.

Henri Cartier Bresson 1930’s- Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) he was a French photographer who had a strong love for photojournalism, his main inspiration in 1930 was Martin Munkacsi after viewing one of his pieces.

Within this collection of images the theme that I feel has been highlighted is abstract and body language , my favourite is the one with the boy carrying the bottles, I can tell by the surrounding within the image that it’s from the past and I do believe it’s trying to show a story, of a deprived little boy who has hardly had anything within his life, then finally he has found some money or gain some and has chosen to spend it on some bottles maybe filled with some of his favourite juice. Overall I really like this image because it expresses his strong body language and emotions clearly shown as being very happy, relaxed and confident. It also show the littlest of thing can make someone very happy.

Toni Frissell -1939 Toni Frissell (10th march 1907 –April 17th 1988) was an American photographer and was famously known for her fashion, world war 2 and portrait photography. Some of her portrait photos featured famous Americans and Europeans, children, and women from all walks of life. I believe her work is very abstract and expresses a range of body language.

I picked her because I liked the old/vintage style she portrayed throughout her pieces and also by her being one of the older and more experienced photographers within the 19th century all of her photography is in black and white and greyscale , Which I feel results in a lot more detail and emotions being captured, for example within the piece featuring the boy along side the rumble, to us as viewers the photo suggests a theme of Loss or sadness certainly as it was within the world war. Also the photo expresses a range of detail and I am drawn to the face, especially the eyes. By having the photo in black and white it’s definitely better as the textures, detail, shapes and ranges of tone within the frame are the focal point.

This picture is another one of my favourites as the light is directly shining within her eyes, this expresses a strong composition within her face and again emotions are being highlighted as being happy, excited or cheerful.

Ralph Gibson- 1950 Ralph Gibson was born on the 16th January 1939 was known as a American photographer, he also is very vintage within the theme of black and white photography and gets his main inspiration from studying other cultures.

I like the range of images I have chosen as they express the theme of abstract , also Gibson's work features a lot of hands portraying body language like some of the another photographers. My favourite piece is the one with the man/woman with the guitar, I like it because of the detail within it, by Gibson using a wide shot instead of a close up it has captured the baby’s hand rising which I feel is very successful and also portrays a story. By using the black and white image I feel it highlights the emotions more than a coloured image would , as it sets the picture portraying poverty, love and care.

Paul Strand 1960’s- Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer, who had a strong love for photography as he helped establish it as an art form. He focused on using very abstract objects and using people.

This photographer uses very abstract objects and also focuses on detail. One of my favourite piece is the one with the stairs, I like it because of the shadow line, This allows the composition to be very strong and overall becomes a professional outcome using different tones of light.

I also like the piece featuring the old lady’s hands, within the image a lot of detail has been captured like for example the winkles and the structure of her hands. I like it because it’s very different to other pieces I have seen and by the photographer using a dark background it has made the hands standout as the focus point of the image. Also as a viewer when I saw the image I was immediately drawn to her hand.

Sally Mann- 1967 Sally Mann is an American photographer who produces large black and with photos mainly of children, landscapes and sometimes decay and death. Sally is also a very vintage and experienced photographer and started from an early age of 17, she is mostly famous for the photograph called “Candy Cigarette”.

I like this picture “Candy cigarette” in a range of different ways, the first being the detail captured within face by doing this it’s expresses a range of different emotions like relaxed etc, the second being the shapes she is making with her arms are very pleasing to the eye and draws me as a viewer. Thirdly By using black and white the girl standout as a foreground against the black background. The finally reason why I like this image is because of a little story being told as she is wearing white it’s suggest she is very innocent ,pure and basically an angel , but within this image it’s reflected differently.

I picked this image because I liked the strong layout captured, I also feel the textures were quite strong /worn and overall I feel the image reflects the theme of abstract , for example the brick wall and also the white wall art.

Jerry Uelsmann 1995- Jerry N. Uelsmann was born on the 11th June 1934, he is an American photographer.Right from an early age jerry wanted to do redo photographs and he had a method in order to create photos by visualizes the outcome. The main influences were Harry Callahan, Frederic Sommer, Wynn Bullock and Edward Western who gave him visions to explore.

All of Jerry Uelsmann’s work is very surreal and I feel reflects the theme of abstract. I do like all of these images, but my favourite is the one with the cupped hands showing the boat , I like it because it works well as the composition is perfect due to black background and the hand being within the foreground, also the colour gives the image a surreal scene within a person hands, overall I feel this image is very successful as it’s unique and captures a site of meaning.

Benoit Courti 2010- Benoit Courti is a French photographer living in Paris. He has been Fascinated in photography since his childhood, he first had a career as a music composer before becoming a professional portrait/art photographer in 2010.He a very Morden photographer within the theme of black and white.

I picked this photographer as he was quite modern. When researching I picked a range of his work shown above, the best picture I feel is the one with the tear dropping down the baby/child’s face as to me as a observer it expresses emotions , by using the close up it captures the detail within the tear and person side of face. I like the way black and white has been used I believe to portray the light and dark tones and to capture light within the tear to make it standout as a whole.

Overall this was my favourite photographer as throughout his work his style was reflected as being different .

How has it Developed?

I do feel black and white photography has developed very well since this selection photographers of pieces….

For example the photographer Sally Mann is has been quite popular ever since she has experimented with black and white photography from the early years of 1960’s, epically her work candy Cigarette. This piece over the years had thousands of positive reviews and people have interrupted it through several different ways, for example Robert Quoted “A remarkable photo by Ms. Mann, it really grabbed me and made me want to see more of her work". I do feel overall this piece has impacted on the 20th century as Observers didn’t know the full story of the image, I feel it was composited to emphasises this and to let the viewers create there own stories. Today this has been included within black and white photography I feel to express different means between the photographer and Viewers.

Another example is the photographer Henri Cartier Bresson who has also become very popular since his movement shot of the man on the bike riding by, Ever since this was taken in 1930’s I do feel more people have experimented with the technique of capturing movement within shutter speed, for example when I was researching on the internet I found out that million's of people Amateurs professional and even beginners are taking movement shots every day, Overall I do feel this piece of Henri did impact today’s Figure as people though of his work being unique.

How do they all link?I feel all of these photographers link in some away through these themes:

•Abstract •Body language portrayed •Several photographers use hands alot.

Example:

Jerry Uelsmann and Bencoit Courti link through the use of hands used.

Also Toni Frissell, Henri Cartier Bresson and Sally Mann link through the uses of body language within there work.

Lastly Ralph Gibson, Henri Cartier Bresson and Paul Strand all Link because of the theme of Abstract.