THOMAS STRUTH
Thomas Struth, a German native,
photographs in what some would call an unorthodox. Born in 1954, he initially planned
on learning painting at Düsseldorf Academy but
eventually became fond of photography. In 1976 he joined the very first class
at the school for photography, this is also the point where his photography
career started. Thomas Struth seemed to go through a lot of different “genres”
of photography. He started with different residences in England when he teamed
up with others. Later he moved onto more famous places and buildings around the
world, however somewhere he picked up portraits of individuals and families.
His portraits were some of the more interesting pieces he did in my opinion
because he had a very simple and almost casual style. The subjects would look
directly into the lens and he let them do whatever felt comfortable to them
(not staging). When taking his portraits he used a camera that can only be
described as massive and ancient. It was about the size of a tv at the time and
weighed so much it had to be used on a tripod. Not only that but it also
required long exposure times in order to make any images, so his subjects had
to stand very still for long periods of time in order to get a good picture. It
was also difficult to take these pictures so only a few could be made at one sitting.
But the results were great, very simple, candid, pictures that the subject was
looking directly at the lens. This made you have a connection with the person
which is what is believed Thomas Struth’s goal as he talked with a psychoanalyst
in order to try and show the social dynamic in a picture that may not be
obvious to most. I actually really liked his work (portraits and eventual landscapes)
as it was simple, usually symmetric and casual.
MICHAEL LUNDGREN
A seemingly ghost when it comes to
information online, Michael Lundgren is a resident of the Sonora desert. After receiving
his BFA at Rochester Institute of Technology he moved to phoenix to get a
change of landscape. When living there he earned a MFA in studio art from
Arizona State. While being schooled he found what appears to be his real love,
landscape/nature photography. Michael Lundgren really likes to show the world
something they might not have realized before. He stated the reason he loves
the desert is because if you go out looking for nothing you will find
something. Many interviews help explain how he sees the world differently. He
really has an eye for what many others can’t see. To capture these things he
uses a view camera (at least most pictures of him only show that camera). Most
of his pictures are taken in the desert or outdoors, and most are also taken of
nature but he does have a few portraits. What Michael really does is try and
show the less obvious world to the masses. By using selective colors where most
of his landscapes are black and white he can really highlight specific things
such as bushes or dead cactus’. Like stated before Michael is sort of a ghost
on the internet (I’m not even able to find his date of birth or location
besides possibly new York). The thing I liked most about Michael’s work is how
he really can take something that looks like nothing to something that is
meaningful. In particular there was a dead cactus that really didn’t mean
anything upon first look. However upon further looking you could see the dead
cactus is really a home for another creature. Things like that really made his work
memorable to me. His very minimal style really brings me in and his attention
to detail is what keeps me looking at his images.
CLAUDIA FAHRENKEMPER
In
1959 a child was born in a small city in Germany, this child was named Claudia
Fahrenkemper. As much of his history is in German and my web browser will not
translate to any comprehensible English much of his history is confusing. From
what I can read she studied as a teacher of arts and geography. She then went
onto teach a little in these subjects but eventually went back to school to
study photography. Starting in Cologne and eventually went to get her masters
studying under Nan Hoover. She then taught again eventually ending up as a visiting
artist at the university of Canada. There really was nothing too large or too
small for her to photograph. Everything from large landscapes to the smallest
visible things with the aid of a microscope. For the smallest things she attached
a camera to a microscope to see the finest details. She really focused on
insects (for whatever reason) to show the minute details of these creatures.
The micro photos are all black and white, either out of necessity due to
technology or in order to show the maximum amount of detail. They show all
aspects of these insects including heads, feet, and hands. In all honesty these
pictures really creep me out as when you use a microscope to see them it looks
so big when in reality it is very small. Recently Claudia has done more
interesting works including a set of nights’ armor. She attempted to show the
world what was used in the past. I could not find information on how she
actually takes these pictures, as in what camera, but it does seem to be relatively
newer as I would assume these pictures need a high shutter speed in order to
freeze motion. Overall she is a very talented photographer who always teaches
people with her photographs. You could say her style is almost surreal with the
amount of detail all of her pictures show whether it is a suit of armor, a
giant mining machine, or a beetles head.
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