Photographer Yousuf Karsh- A Canadian photographer who found interest in photography after working for his uncle and then dedicated his entire life to the intent of photo shooting.

Yousuf mainly uses closeups and medium shots of his subjects while having their body turn a certain angle to the sides for his portraits. Although not purposely intended, the lighting he uses creates a contrast on the subject’s face of light and dark which matches my planned lighting.

Yousuf became my inspiration mostly based on the Einstein portrait. This portrait caught my attention while I was scanning through portraits because it is often used as a meme online. I then looked up the author behind this famous meme photo out of curiosity and found Yousuf. After brief research, I found Yousuf to be an inspiring and creative photography, especially due to the fact that he shot portraits for many famous figures such as Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr. His use of “stress” (done through black&white photography) and lighting, also matching my intended lighting use (light and dark contrast) which greatly represents my subject matter.

Main Image of Inspiration:

Critique- This is a portrait of Albert Einstein as the subject where he is looking into the distant background while thinking and looking “profound”. Based on the black&white features, this photo is taken during the 19th century (modern, for people during that time).

-Noticeable lighting contrast on face

-Not looking directly at the lens

-Black&white

-Detailed feature of face and clothing

Other Images of Inspiration:

 

Photographer Steve Mccurry- An American photographer generating photographs based on the intention of documenting the cruel impact of wars all over the world.

Steve, similar to most portrait photographers use close up shots focusing on the subject’s facial feature while having their body facing a certain degree. Steve exclusively uses color in his pieces, having each of his piece be colorful yet carries “weight” as he communicates the consequences of war.

Steve is a significant inspiration to me because his creative and special way of communicating “weight” and stress in his photos by using a compilation of different colors deeply attracts my attention. Usually a variety use of colors creates joy and delightfulness in an image, however Steve is able to use the facial expressions on his subjects to contradict the “joyful” feeling of colors, creating a distorted contrast between the two. This evolves into stress and perfectly matches my subject matters as it is the exact message I personally want to communicate trough my portrait.

Image 1:

Critique- This is a portrait of an Afghan girl as the subject who is looking directly at the lens and seems aggressive. This is modern and taken in the 21st century, also being Steve’s most famous piece.

-Eye contact with the lens

-Aggressive look (facial)

-Contrast of red and green color

-Minimimal shade

Image 2:

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