Riley McConnell_Style Photographs

Sascha Weidner: Intermission II

Sascha Weidner was a German artist who was born in 1974. He was always drawn to the arts and as a teenager was a painter. In 1992 Sasha came to America and was lived for a year in Solon, Ohio where he attended a study abroad program. From there he studies Fine Arts and Visual Communication at an academy in Brunswick and then later took an internship under photographer, Dorte Eibfeldt. Weidner traveled a lot over the years until his untimely death on April 9, 2015. Weidner characterized himself as a “romantically moved traveler” and his photographs were a way for him to combine the cultural events, cultures, disasters, and some of his own innermost thoughts in one photograph. He often tried to mesh the bounds of “staging and authenticity” and draw attention to the unbelievable but still true reality of the world today. Commonly using contrasts such as light/dark and death/life the photographs and the names told a story of the trials of Sascha’s personal relationships as well. The title of the book Intermission II  is justly titled. In all of the photographs, you see the potential to what could have been a very peaceful or calm depiction of everyday life, such as a piece of linen, a body of water, a horizon, or even a face. Instead of being able to see that scene there is always an objecting blocking the viewer from getting the sense of calm, something is blatantly put in the middle of the photograph. Sometimes it will be a foot or something creating a ripple in the water, a tear in the linen, or a white plastic bag that got caught in the grass. Weidner puts the “intermission” into the photograph in a way that isn’t blatantly out of place, but it still creates a sense of interruption. He commonly uses light as an interruption in his darker pieces, or a person/shadow to interrupt his lighter pieces, especially those in water. In a way, this style could be replicated using a number of subjects, but the key will be to find an “intermission” that isn’t too out of place. I will have to find natural contrasts in the landscape or create my own using light/dark colors or insertions of body parts in scenes where they belong.

Loredana Nemes: Beyond

Loredana Nemes was born in Sibiu Romania in 1972. Although born in Romania it was her time in Shiraz, Iran that was the inspiration for a lot of her photographs. She relocated to Iran with her mother and father when she was 12 years old and it was there that she began to experience strict gender segregation that is connected with Islamic society. In 1985 she and her mother had to flee to Romania because of the Iraq-Iranian War. Soon after moving back to Romania they again left to go to Germany, where she was the only who was able to speak German (a skill she acquired from her wet nurse). Studying German and mathematics at Aachen University, Loredana started to formulate a theme that was prominent in her photography career. She used courage to overcome any difficulty that she came across. It was in 2001 that she moved to Berlin and started her career as a freelance photographer. She commonly used “first-class cameras and a well-equipped darkroom”. The use of the darkroom allowed her photographs to depict every piece of dust on the lens and that was in the frame. All of her photographs somehow integrate glass and although glass is universally understood to be transparent she captures it in a way that it acts as a veil or shield. We are able to see the people in front of the storefronts, but the panes of glass behind remain frosted over to create a layer of intimacy that we are not allowed to go past. The same goes for her subjects behind the frames of glass or cloth, Loredana set up a tripod and had lengthy conversations with each one of her subjects, but she keeps their faces still shielded from the public. We are able to see the scratches and the dust in the glass, but not the subjects themselves. If I were to replicate this style I do believe that I would need to have access to a dark room. The whole essence of the photograph is made through the use of the manual camera and our ability to see all of the scratches and the dust and not really get a clear image of our subject. The imperfections of the manual camera help veil our subjects and keep their privacy.

Emmet Gowin: Photographs

Emmet Gown was born in Danville, Virginia on December 22, 1941. He was very close to his family and of the environment in which he grew up. There was a strong protectiveness that he possessed for his home and a lot of his common themes of heart, mind, soul, family, and work was formulated in Danville. Gown’s main subjects were his family, especially his wife. He developed his early photographs in a darkroom in his hometown and realized how beautifully captured his hometown and family were in his photographs. He realized that he was in a position that no one else was in and had access to all of these people that no one else would photograph. For a lot of his photographs, he used an Eastman 2D 8x10 view camera without a lens and he fitted it with a 90-mm lens that was made for a 4x5 camera. This adjustment created a circle almost like a vinegete around the subject. He first trimmed the photographs so the circle wasn’t as evident, but then later realized the circle “involved a recognition of the inherent nature of things” and really focalized the subject. As time passed he began to become more and more intrigued with the environment that he had grown up in and the surroundings of Danville, rather than the people themselves. In 1971, after the loss of many of his relatives, Danville started to travel with his wife and son and began to capture more of the earth and the world outside of Danville, Virginia. I think a key to replicating Gown’s style, specifically his earlier pieces are to capture the very essence of family and making their everyday lives come to life. A picture of his father skinning a hog, or his niece surrounded by dolls may not be one of the most outlandish things ever photographed but the love and admiration for his family is a tone that is easily picked up in his photographs. Also, I think the blurred, darker, circular border is also a key to helping the subject stand out and one that I would also use when creating my own prints.