Andrew Braithwaite

Andrew Braithwaite is a Sydney based photography who focuses mainly on street photography but also excels in almost every other area of photography such as landscape and creative portraits.

This image is one of my favourite examples of Braithwaite's street photography. Taken on the Rose Bay Ferry in Sydney this photo really appeals to me as it captures and documents the lifestyle of humans and tourists in the 21st Century- always using their smart phones. What appeals to me most about this image is the irony of a photographer photographing people who believe they are instantly a photographer because they can take a quick snap on their phone, slap a filter on it and voila!

Taken in Surrey Hills, Sydney. The symmetry, colours and the intrigue of the subject of this image are what appeal most to me. The four young men appear to be dancing, was it a late night or an early morning? The fact that he shot this with the subjects further away from him rather than waiting until they were closer and clearer makes it more intriguing and gives a more candid feel to the image.

I've recently become more and more interested in street photography, I've been wanting to go back to Sydney for a while now and looking through Andrew's pictures just makes me more eager then ever to go down and try my hand at some street photography in a city other than my home town, Brisbane.

Photography Over The Decades

In 1816 the first negative created by Nicephore Niepce using a camera obscura and placing sheets of silver salts coated paper at the back which was known to blacken in sunlight. These negatives were not permanent as they completely blacked once moved into sunlight.

From 1826; this is the longest surviving camera photograph taken using a camera obscura focused onto a 16.2 cm × 20.2 cm (6.4 in × 8.0 in) pewter plate coated with Bitumen of Judea, naturally occurring asphalt. The bitumen hardened in the brightly lit areas, but in the dimly lit areas it remained soluble and could be washed away with a mixture of oil of lavender and white petroleum.

"Boulevard du Temple", a daguerreotype made by Louis Daguerre in 1838, is generally accepted as the earliest photograph to include people. It is a view of a busy street, but because the exposure time was at least ten minutes the moving traffic left no trace. Only the two men near the bottom left corner, one apparently having his boots polished by the other, stayed in one place long enough to be visible.

The artist's van - 1856

Marcus Sparling, full-length portrait, seated on Roger Fenton's photographic van.

1 photographic print; A size; salted paper; 17.5 × 16.5 cm.

A photo of a veteran and his wife in 1860, created using the Collodion Process.

Make your own pinhole camera and place results onto your visual diary.

Child labourers  in 1880.

Taken in 1900 in Mulberry Street, before New York’s Little Italy became a destination filled with hungry tourists, it was actually filled with first generation Italian immigrants.

A 1920’s fashion photoshoot.

The streets of 1940’s New York, captured by famous photographer and director Stanley Kubrick.

Kids skating in the streets of New York City in 1960. Part of photographer Bill Eppridge’s series: Skating In New York City.

The South Bronx in the 80’s.

Berlin Street Photography in 2001.

Broadway and Spring, NYC 2010. Photographer: Orvillle Robertson.

The Camera Obscura

A camera obscura was one of the first optical devices that lead to the creation of photography and the camera. It is essentially a box or room with a hole in one side that projects an image of its surroundings upside down onto a screen or wall. The pinhole itself is the most important part of a camera obscura, otherwise it would just be a black box and no light would get in.

•   Earliest mention by Chinese philosopher Mo Ti 5^th Century BC
• He formally recorded the creation; called it a collecting place or the locked treasure room
• Aristotle (384-322BC) understood the optical principle of the camera obscure. He viewed the crescent of a partially eclipsed sun projected on the ground through a sieve.
• Islamic scholar Alhazen c.965 – 1039) gave full account of principle including experiments with five lanterns outside a room with a small hole.
• In 1490 Leonardo Da Vinci gave two clear descriptions on camera obscura in notebooks. Many first camera obscuras were large rooms like illustrated by the Dutch scientist Reinerus Gemma-Frisius in 1544 for use in observing a solar eclipse.

Alzahen, from Basrah, Iraq, was an Arab Mathematcian, Astronomer and Philosopher amongst other things; he significantly contributed to the research and development of optics, mathematics, medicine and scientific method. Alzahen’s work included the first clear description and analysis of the Camera Obsucra. Alhazen studied the process of sight, the structure of the eye, image formation in the eye, and the visual system.

There are a few different dates given to the invention of the first photographic camera, the earliest being 1816 “The first partially successful photograph of a camera image was made in approximately 1816 by Nicéphore Niépce using a very small camera of his own making and a piece of paper coated with silver chloride, which darkened where it was exposed to light.” Whereas the date for the invention of the first film camera called the “Kodak” was offered for sale in 1888. The next step was to find out how to record the image the camera obscura produced, different materials were experimented with i.e. paper, metals etc.

Music Video

I spent far too much time on this.

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson (born September 26, 1962) is an American photographer best known for elaborately staged, dramatic cinematic style scenes of middle American homes and neighborhoods. They feature what is often described as disturbing and surreal moments in time, though Crewdson himself sees them as optimistic.

"If my pictures are about anything at all, I think it’s about trying to make a connection in the world. I see them as more optimistic in a certain way. Even though it’s very clear there’s a level of sadness and disconnection, I think that they’re really about trying to make a connection and almost the impossibility of doing so. And I think maybe the figures in my pictures are stand-ins for my own need to make a connection."

Gregory Crewdson

To take one photograph he employs large crews of people who are experienced with motion picture production, but the subjects in his scenes often have no experience in modelling or acting at all. Whether he builds the entire set (as with the image above) or shuts down an entire street, he pays particular attention to even the tiniest details in his shots that most other people wouldn't see. (Note in the image above the stains on the walls and that one of the lights in the ceiling is missing its fixture. The lighting has also been done in a very particular way that indicates a car has just driven past and its headlights are briefly shining in through the windows.)

Much like my previous post here, it is this meticulous attention to detail in order to tell a story that really catches my attention. The more you look the more you see, and the more you're drawn into the image and the story that's being told.

At first glance, your eye is drawn immediately to the relatively well-lit girl on the bed. In stark contrast to everything else in the scene - and particularly the woman on the other bed - the girl has an eerie beauty about her with her smooth skin, her pristine white nightgown, and her straight hair sitting neatly behind her shoulders. Even her bed looks relatively neat and tidy - as if she hasn't yet lain in it - compared to the other, whose messy sheets indicate its occupant was highly restless and disturbed at some point prior to the photo.

My first thought was that maybe something happened to the husband/father of the family, but the fact that there are two single beds in the room contradicts this. The two have clearly been living alone in that old house for quite some time, so it could just be general misfortune - a lost job, a poor life, wondering how they're going to manage or survive, how the woman can provide for the girl's future - that has gotten the woman seeming so hopeless and depressed.

Whatever ill has befallen these two - or most likely just the woman - the expression on the girl's face as well as her position on the bed (not sleeping) shows she is not ignorant of what's going on, but is entirely helpless to do anything about it or for the woman who has clearly been hit by it very hard. In fact, given that the woman is turned away from the girl, it seems that the woman herself is refusing to allow the girl to help and doesn't want to open up and share her burdens.

As such, this image really does reflect what Crewdson said in the quote above about trying to connect and yet it being impossible to do so. These two figures are clearly connected - perhaps as mother and daughter, which one usually expects to be a fairly close bond - and yet in this moment they are certainly not connecting (it may even be almost impossible for them to do so) even though both might perhaps deeply want to.

James Nachtwey – Slaughter in Motion Critique by Madison Galloway

 

 

 

 

The above emotionally evoking image was taken by famous photographer James Nachtwey. Natchwey was born March 14, 1948 and was/is an American photojournalist and war photographer. He studied political science and art history and Dartmouth College in Massachusetts where he grew up.


"The main purpose of my work is to appear in the mass media. It’s not so much that I want my pictures to be looked upon as art objects as it is a form of communication. Whatever I did that accomplished something, I’m glad for it. But there’s always so much more to do. I’ve never felt complete; I’ve never felt satisfied. I wouldn’t say I could use the word ‘happy’ about it because its always involved other people’s tragedies and other people’s misfortunes. At best, there’s a kind of grim satisfaction that perhaps I brought some attention, and focused people’s attention on these problems.Perhaps it brought some relief. But its shifting sand that keeps moving."

~ James Nachtwey


My first impression of this photography was one of disturbance and strong confrontation because of the main subject, a starving – nearly dead man. To me this image tells a story and can be interpreted in two ways. A figure is handing something, most likely a piece of paper to the starving man. Notice the watch on his wrist and what appears to be some type of suit jacket. Both these elements suggest this figure is obviously at a higher standard of living. Now the question I’m faced with is why is this man giving him a piece of paper? What could this piece of paper possibly contain that is going to help this man in the last few hours or days in his life. The sickening fact that the figure could not even crouch down to the starving man’s level seems almost inhumane. However the next person may see this as an act of kindness as if the figure is helping this poor human by offering something and reaching out to him.

But as I thought about this image more and more I started to question myself. When we donate to charity here in Australia is it fair to say we are the figure reaching down to the starving man? Some would see this as a king gesture but others would see this and useless. Nearly all this mans bones can be seen and looks like if he had a meal it would kill him. So are we really helping the way we think we are?

The composition for this image was well thought even though there would have only been a time frame of opportunity to take this image. By cutting the figure out only leaving his arm in the frame it leaves unanswered questions for the view to interpret. The leading line of the arm also puts the focus on the main subject. The man’s body also I spread across the three points of the rule of thirds with the figures hand in one of the points. The fact that Natchwey has chosen the monochromatic colour scheme adds to the overall feel of the images as it puts focus on the main subject and separates it from the boring background. There is also a sense of balance as one side is not overly heavy opposed to the other. The texture and colour of the blanket he has over half of his body almost blends in with the ground and gives the illusion that he is part of the earth which shows the viewer how sick this man actually is.

Although this image emotionally affects me because of the strong confronting images I really admire how the photographer captured this moment in time and the look on the starving man’s face. All in all I think this image is very powerful.