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Salzburg, Austria

"No place is boring if you've had a good night's sleep and a pocket full of film." - Robert Adams
​
"Tea first, then photography..." - Philip Lee Harvey

From an Article written by Philip Lee Harvey

Knowing the Person Behind the Lens

7/20/2018

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Picture
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
So six photographers were asked by Canon to shoot the same person, however each was given a different background of the person.  The six photographers shot drastically different photographs based on what they thought they knew of the person.  You can see an article on PetaPixel here.

This interesting experiment highlights the impact that a photographer has on the images they take. This is why, when I find a photographer I like, I need to dive deeply into their lives to try and understand their perspective. But in so doing, I am reinterpreting the image through a different lens, and this can cause problems.

Here is my own experiment to highlight the pitfalls of interpreting a photographers perspective.
Picture
Picture
Here we have two photographs by the same photographer of two different ladies. Both are interesting shots, the first an intimate snapshot of a woman who is caught on a toilet and manages a coy smile. The second, is a graceful posed image of a beautiful woman with a striking off camera gaze. Both were shot by Lartigue.

Anyone can look to these two images and see an eye for photography. Anyone can see the obvious talent and in spite of the very different photographic styles, it is clear that Lartigue executed both wonderfully well.

If one begins to look deeper at Lartigue's life, one finds that the first photo is of Bibi, his first wife. It was shot during their honeymoon. She was his main subject for years, both before and after they were married. As the marriage began to fall apart she asked for a divorce and left him. Lartigue then got together with Renee Perle who was a model. She became his muse and he shot photographs of her all over.

When you compare the images of his first wife, candid, unposed and innocent it is easy to believe one sees happiness and joy.  As one continues to look at the images of Renee Perle it is easy to believe that one sees fake poses, an act for the lens that must be covering up something that is missing...perhaps the joy we saw before.

Looking back up at the two images, we see them very differently now. We see the intimate joy of a young bride being photographed by her new husband and on the second a false pose, an image that could have been shot by any fashion photographer.

But these interpretations are adjusted based on our understand of Lartigue and his life. You can read his diary and see his thoughts of each woman, you can marvel at how his style changed and even feel a bit sad that his first marriage failed. But these things are not captured in the image. 

In this two dimensional representation of three dimensional ladies, we have wonderful images. We have gesture captured wonderfully, we have grace and we have composition. It is our biased attempt to extrapolate the photographer's intent based on our understanding of what was happening to his life that alters our perception and appreciation of two fine photographs. 

A photograph can be a simple snapshot that you glance over for a few seconds and move on. Or you can linger over the photograph and conceptualize it, but then you can go deeper and attempt to understand the photograph. Through each stage your perception of the photograph will be altered tremendously when the image itself has not changed a bit. 

As Canon proved in their experiment, a photographer will impact an image based on their perception of the subject. But as shown above, the viewer will impact the interpretation of an image based on their perception of the photographer. So a well thought out image is the product of the photographers bias intermingled with the viewer's own bias. 
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    Patrick...confirmed film & digital photography addict.

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Photos used under Creative Commons from left-hand, Ant Jackson, Skley, mikecogh, Helen.Yang, TheeErin, Dean Hochman, CJS*64, DaveR1988, FootMassagez, Loco Steve, dmytrok, Christiaan Colen
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Vintage Cameras
    • Argus 75
    • Brownie Flash II
    • Contax G2
    • Ensign Selfix 820
    • FED-1 (PE0320)
    • Graflex Crown Graphic
    • Ihagee Exa
    • Leica M6
    • Nikon S2
    • Nikon F
    • Nikon F2
    • Nikon F3
    • Nikon FA
    • Olympus OM-1
    • Olympus OM-2 SPOT
    • Olympus Stylus
    • Pentacon Six
    • Pentax Spotmatic IIa
    • Rollei 35
    • Voigtlander 15mm ver III
    • Yashica C
    • Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2
  • Learning Composition
    • The Monochrome Diaries
    • Single & Multi Elements
    • Symmetry
    • Keep the Right Strong
    • Framing
    • Color in Composition
    • Deep Dive Bubble Man
    • Photo Assignments
  • Darkroom Lessons
    • Building a Sink
    • Air Ventilation
    • Analyser Pro
    • Development Hints
    • Primer for Film Photography
    • Bulk Loading Film
    • Pushing & Pulling Film
    • Color Development
    • Digital Contact Sheets
    • Stick to One Film Stock?
    • HP5+ Shot at 200 ISO
    • HP5 Shot at 1600 ISO
    • HP5 Shot at 3200 ISO
    • Medium Format
    • Washing Film
    • Split Grade Printing
    • Using Distilled Water in Film Development
    • Darkroom Paper
    • Foma100 EI 400
  • Photography Books & Films
    • Colin O'Brien
    • Lartigue Life in Color
    • Magnum Contact Sheets
    • Top Photography Movies
    • William Eggleston's Guide
    • Helen Levitt
    • Sally Mann Immediate Family
    • Saul Leiter Early B&W
    • Leica 100 yrs
    • Calendar Days of Asaya Hamaya
    • The Decisive Moment
    • Regarding Women
    • Robert Capa in Love and War
  • Single Image Deep Dive
    • Sergio Larrain "A Man After Dark"
    • Colin O'Brien 'Comings & Goings"
    • Erwitt Mother & Child
    • Man Running
    • Samuel Becket
    • Koudelka Wristwatch
    • Dovima with Elephants