Edward S. Curtis,
Photographed the Navaho Indians in the early 1900’s. The photographs depicted the American Indian’s isolation and their way of life. They were very striking photos with bold highlights and good composition.
The same characteristics would work well with nighttime photography because when it is dark it also seems desolate and people feel isolated and vulnerable. Being able to emulate emotions in images is a powerful tool and something that I would investigate further.
Because of the long exposure, the sky and the horses appear bold and almost solorised in comparison to the grasses and water. It makes the horizon seem infinitely far away, which it is, but there are no buildings, no middle ground just the people and masses of space. We develop empathy for the Navahos which gives the image a sense of meaning. Whereas I would be working at night, the only source of light would be artificial. The topic would therefore be how artificial light effects us, and what feelings it raises. As it shows up very yellow in images you would assume that it would convey warmth and happiness, but because it is surrounded by darkness the message would be confused. I will look at trying to show different areas such as the border of a town. There you would have the warm glowing lights next to the stark and empty countryside.
Laura Smith
This is a series of images by Laura Smith, a St Louis based photographer. Her images are more like the ones which I would be trying to create because they are more modern than Curtis’s, particularly in the first image. In the background you can see the city lit up which is inviting. It has a barrier of lights around it which seems to be protecting the occupants from what is out across the water. Light is a sign of safety and protection. Because of the longer exposure needed at nighttime, the sky seems to have been lit up.
Jason Schock
Similarly to the previous photographers, Schock as used light sources to make his photos have more meaning. The first image of an American car with a bright red/pink light behind it is in the same style that I would like to do. There are definite areas of the photo made up by different light levels. The car is in half shadow caused by the neon light. This does several things. It gives the car a sense of mystery, but it also fetishises it by causing a sort of hallow around it and showing up the polished chrome bodywork.
Critique
Through the shooting process Alistair and I have tried to stick to the original plan which we laid out. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances we were unable to get into the power station to shoot. This left us with a tough decision to make. In the end we decided to leave the “journey” part out and focus mainly on the uses and emotions which artificial lighting conveys. It meant a more limited amount of material to work with, and forced us to look harder for a suitable composition. There are only five or so images which I feel are up to the standard which I first set out to keep, and I feel they are a more telling example of our work. Overall I feel that the images are good, but could have been better though they do go with the track with its industrial sounds.
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