Researching the starting point
- How can photography change our relationship to things?
In many times, photographs are trying to convey a message, and you will almost substitute yourself into the picture. For example, when you see a desert, you might feel thirsty. And taking photographs somehow makes any regular things have an artistic sense.
2. What is pictorialism?
Pictorialists took the medium of photography and reinvented it as an art form, placing beauty, tonality, and composition above creating an accurate visual record.
3. What is abstract photography?
Abstract photography should be something that doesn’t show the message immediately. They are usually over-exaggerated that audiences will need to look through to see what the author was trying to say. Abstract images are conceived or imagined outside of “reality”, which makes us question what we see.
4. Write a (very) short biography of Albert Renger-Patzsch (just 1 or 2 sentences).
Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German photographer and a pioneering figure in the New Objectivity movement, which sought to engage with the world as clearly and precisely as possible. He lived and worked in Essen and Wamel, Germany.
5. From looking at his images above, What types of subjects do you think Albert Renger-Patzsch preferred to photograph?
From the images above, Albert Renger-Patzsch’s photographs are usually black and white, and almost all of them follows a pattern.
6. Why do you think he entitled his famous book, ‘The World is Beautiful’?
I think in his own opinion, he took very good pictures, and he wanted to spread his devotion to the world.
7. Why do you think Edward Weston moved away from the soft-focus of pictorialism to the new Straight photography movement? – the idea that ordinary objects and scenes can be photographed to reveal their beauty
Margrethe Mather influenced Weston, and with progressive photographers of the time looking to reject pictorialism’s soft-focus and heavily manipulated process, Weston began searching for beauty in everyday objects and settings.
8. Give examples of one of his pictorialist images and one of his straight images.
The fourth on the second row can be one of his pictorialist images, and the buttons can be one of his straight images.
We have already defined abstract photography. Now we need to look at the named photographers and describe their contribution to abstract photography.
- How has Aaron Siskind (above been influenced by the Straight Photography Movement
Siskind turned the medium of photography on its head, taking pictures of found objects that were simultaneously true-to-life and abstract; he was one of the first photographers to combine what was known as “straight” with abstraction.
- Name some other photographers that have been influenced by straight photography.
Ansel Adams, Brett Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Dody Weston Thompson, and Berenice Abbott, etc.
- What makes the work of Andreas Gursky and Uta Barth abstract. Are they straight photographers? Why?
They sure take photos from real life, but not the kind that we can easily identify the main message. Sometimes they follow a pattern, and sometimes it’s just so random.