Unit 57: Photography and Photographic

Practice Research of other

photographers work

Photographer:

• Mick Rock is a music photographer who was born in 1948 in London. He is known well for his photography of rock and roll legends such as Queen, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and many other famous rock and roll stars. He also spent a lot of time working as David Bowie’s official photographer where he managed to capture a lot of very famous images of David Bowie

Examples of photographs

Choose an image…. Describe it

• This picture of David Bowie was taken by mick rock in around 1970 This picture is of an early David Bowie before he really developed his style, this picture therefore was a big game changer for him and obviously used to publicise himself in the style he wished to be portrayed. The picture works well to show the artist in a rebellious light with the undone suit and the cigarette making the picture look very smooth.

Composition• The picture was intended to come across as a stylish image with

qualities to make it differ from normal music photography for example the style of the artist in the photo is a cool and rebellious style. The black and white edit makes this appear even more obvious. By that time colour photos had been invented, it was simply that the style of the picture suited black and white far more. The Photo is a very close up photo for a simple photo of an artist, the photographer clearly intended this because it appears that some of the photo has been cut out rather than the original image being that close up.

Techniques used

• The obvious style of most of mick rocks photography is a black and white, dressed up, unusual look. The example photo on the right displays this perfectly, as a photographer he chooses to work with specific artists such as the example who work well with such a style. The photographer clearly uses methods of photography such as rule of thirds in his photos making the actual image itself look in proportion and professional.

Strengths & Weaknesses• In terms of photography style,

Mick Rock has a very distinctive and famous style that shows good continuity throughout almost all of his work. I personally admire the his work shown in the image on the top to the right, displaying an old fashioned look on two famous artists living their lives out and getting along. The Style of black and white makes the picture look smoother and more effective. The work that I wouldn’t take for my own work is his more surreal and modern imagery such as the image on the bottom right, the style is too over the top unusual for it to be taken seriously.