Generational Portraits
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In the Fall of 2024, I started pursing my Master’s in Studio Art with an emphasis in Photography. During this Fall semester I took a research course where I studied three film photographers who could encapsulate personality in a single image, Imogen Cunningham, Yousuf Karsh, and Irving Penn
These photographers traveled the world with their talents and creativity. They will be remembered for encapsulating the essence of their subjects. Each of these photographers have a different background, but they all loved the arts and wanted to show their love by capturing the beauty in mankind. Although these black and white photographers varied in their style and techniques, each had unique objectives and ways they were able to make a name for themselves.
In this course, I was required to create a series of images that conveyed a sense of these three photographers while adding my own creative flare. I wanted to infuse what I learned from these photographers into every photo. I leaned heavily on my family as subjects for these portraits and gained a few fond memories along the way.
I photographed my grandmother, my mother, and myself. Across three different sessions of lighting set-ups and sceneries, there are little specks of my researched photographers. Each subject, my grandmother, mother, and myself, have three images making the collection nine pieces in total. The elements of my researched photographers in my images were very specific. I wanted someone to be able to clearly see the difference in each photo and how they represent a place in time. Imogen Cunningham influenced my subjects, and for one session, my surroundings. I tired to emulate her use of light and shadow along with the airy haze that she so often had in her early photographs. As for Yousuf Karsh, I liked his proper lighting set-up and the fact that he had routine in his iames. The tonal value was clear and precise along with a tighter headspace in most of his portraits. Irving Penn had a variety of characterists I tried to emulate, from structed poses with a candid feel to using a wide angle lens to create a bit of awkwardness in the composition. I chose to crop all of the photos down to a square, Irving Penn’s classic portraits inspired this change.
I give all of this information to say that each of thee photographers had a large impact on each image and will continje to have an influence in my work throughout my career as a photographer.
FINAL IMAGES
I highly recommend research and learning more about these photographers! They are so very interesting and important to the history of photography as we know it. Take a quick look at there portfolios and see the beauty and inspiration they hold.
References:
Imogen Cunningham Trust - https://www.imogencunningham.com/
Estate of Yousuf Karsh - https://karsh.org/
The Irving Penn Foundation - https://irvingpenn.org/