Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice

Research of other photographers work (P1, M1, D1)

Photographer: Kai Ziehlhttp://www.wherecoolthingshappen.com/amazing-black-and-white-architecture-photography/

Theme or focus of images These images are the work of a German photographer named Kai Ziehl who is known for his excellent articulator photographs . The artist has a recurring theme throughout all of his images . For starters he always has a filtered added on the camera lenses so the camera only picks up on the black and white of the pictures and not the colour . He has done this to give the images the old fashion vintage style of the photography . He has also done this to show of the how the lights and shadows compliment each other the give of a very beautiful Patten effect. The artist only ever focused on a particular part of the building or structure that he is taking , he carefully picks out spots that has interesting patterns and shapes as well as symmetry . He also does this to attempt to show how people quickly forget the small parts of a structure because they are to busy focusing on the whole of the structure .This is a way of show how much people are missing when they are looking at landmarks .In most of his work there is always a singular lone figure that is in the distance on the image . I feel that this has been done as a way of the artist showing isolation this might mean that beautiful parts of billings are only ever noticed by so few people .Also the person in the image looks so insignificant to the photograph .He has done this to show that his main focused is the beauty of structures instead of the beauty of people .The artist also leaves a lot of free space in his work I like that he has done this because it shows of all of the shadows and lighting .

I shall take a look at two of the photos done by this artist in full detail the first being the one with the woman on the bridge .In this photo we see a woman walking away from the camera from a distance . We also see a bridge which i am unsure where this bridge is . The picture has been modified ether in post production on some sort of editing soft wear or during production with a camera filterer to make the photo come out as black and white . This has been done to give off the vintage style of photography . The photo has been taken at a low angle looking up this gives the impression that the structure is towering over us as well as the woman in the image . Because the woman is on her own it gives use the emotion of isolation which can give a sad feet to the image .I also think that depending on what type of person you are your eyes will ether focus on the woman or the bridge this gives the photo a different personally depending on the type of person you are .for example if you focused on the bridge you see beauty, and if

you focus on the woman you see isolation . I believe that the contrast on light and shadows work very well on this image I love the way that light shines in from the gaps in the bridge pillars but darkness comes from the end of the bridge .The artist main focus on this image is to capture this particular part of the bridge showing all of its beauty . I do believe that he has achieved this by showing of all of the patterns on the bridge pillars with the crosses on them , it also has some symmetry in the way it is show although it is not exact .

The next ne of his photos that is shall be looking at is the 2nd image this one shows a lone girl walking up a flight of stairs with snow in the corner of the stairs and her reflection in the water . again I am unsure where this photo was taken I can only presume that it was taken somewhere in Germany . Just like the rest of his work this one has been made black and white to give it the vintage type of look even the clothing of the woman in the photo agrees with her clothing looking like something that might be seen in a 60s movie . The shot has been taken from a crouched pose looking up at the scene . The scene seams to use natural light from the top of the stairs and blow the stairs there is next to no light that gives off a very strong shadow effect which I think works very well with the scene . One thing that i really like about this photo is the way that he has position the camera and the modal so she will be reflected of the puddle of water in the bottom of the photo .All of the artist work remind me of the old fashion American crime dramas .Unlike the other photo I feel like the artist put more focus of the woman in the photo since she is much closer to the camera than they usually are in the rest of his work .

Composition

The photographer always uses the same type of composition in each of his shots . He uses a wide angle camera lenses . Most of the times he does not seem to zoom in on a particular target he stays zoomed out to get the whole structure . Most of the time he takes the photo from a low angle from what looks like a crouching position . He also tilts the camera up at the structure he will sometimes tilts the camera to the side but it hardly look noticeable

Techniques used shutter speeds –the shutter speed of this particular artist looks to have a shutter speed of somewhere about the 1/120 mark since there is very little movement so there is no need for it to be higher or lower .The aperture will be a difficult one to analyse since the photo has both bright and dark parts I would say that the aperture would be something near to F10 and the IOS would be something near of 300

rule of thirds - The artist does seem to uses the rule of thirds for example with the one with the woman walking up the stairs the lines cross on the woman this has been done so that we are meant to focus on her .

depth of field- The depth of field is mostly all in focused except for way off in the distance because of this i would say that the depth of field would be somewhere around the F10 mark but it could be anywhere from F8 to F12.

light filter - I think that the artist has put on a filter on the lance of the camera in order to make the photo being taken in black and white . Thus lance will also make the camera pick up the shadows and lighting more clearly .

Strengths & WeaknessesStrengths

I like how he uses the uses of light and darkness and how he makes them complement each other

I like how he chose's the spots carefully to capture things that most people would not see

I like how he always adds in the lone person to give the shot some personally

I like the constant black and white theme throughout his work

weaknesses

some parts can be too dark

it can give a feeling of isolating(this might be intensely )