Artist Analysis #9

Gregory Maiofis

Taste of Russian Ballet

Gregory Maiofis is a Russian photographer known for his modern surrealist photography that emulates the old style not only in subject but also in process. Every image he shoots has a deep meaning behind it and usually focused on various russian fables or fairy tails. Gregory shoots on black and white film and develops on Bromoil giving his images an old style feel. He revives not only the old method of printing but also the old mechanism for creating meaning in everyone of his works.  

This image is from a series of other bear and ballerina photos and one of his more humorous series. Showing a ballerina dancer performing in front of an attentive grizzly bear. This was not Photoshoped or manipulated in anyway. It turns out that he knew an animal trainer from the circus and convinced him to let him bring a 400 lb grizzly bear into his studio. It must have been a fast shutter speed knowing how fast things change when working with animals and the dancer is completely in focus while moving. The lighting is very dramatic, looks like only one main light is set up to the left and maybe a dim fill off to the right. I think its fascinating that he still uses such only technology for his work, it gives it a sort of timelessness that is further strengthened by this old look.

Chair Gif

Artist Analysis #8

Richard Prince

Richard Prince, "Untitled (Cowboy)" 1989

Richard Prince is a well known photographer, known for rephotographing found images and collages. He began his career as a painter, and making a living by working for TimeLife Inc. clipping articles for staff writers. At the end of the day he would end up with tons of torn out advertisements on his desk. During this time, he became extremely fascinated and repulsed by the images presented in these magazines, mostly focusing on advertisements. He saw them as trying to portray or evoke "hallucinatory fictions of society's desires". What he would do is crop out the text in order to remove the context of the original photo, and sometimes he would cut them up and adding drawings or other photos to them. Some of his works included cowboys, gangs, celebrities, car hoods, and nurse paintings. Prince's main influence was Jackson Pollock, not only based on his abstract paintings but also because he was fascinated with Pollocks loner lifestyle. His work has been viewed as very controversial over the years, because some people see it as a form of steeling or copying. Although because he takes the photo out of its context and re purposes them in a way, his work now days is considered original.  

This particular work the "Untitled (Cowboy)" was originally an image taken from an advertisement for Marlboro cigarettes taken originally by Sam Abell. This series in particular clearly highlights American's dreams and desires and looking at societies attraction to watching others rather than experiencing something themselves. It was printed using the chromogenic printing process, and is 50 by 70 inches.  

Artist Analysis #7

Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham is an English photographer who is best known for his series called "Who's Looking at the Family?" later published into a book called "Rays a Laugh".  In which he documents his family life and captures his childhood memories of growing up in poverty with an alcoholic father and an obese mother. As it turns out, Billingham actually ended up becoming a photographer almost by accident.  He graduated from Sutherland University in 1994 with a degree in fine arts, specialising in painting. So originally his photos were intended to be used only as source images for his paintings and nothing more. It was until later that he realised the uniqueness he had captured and became interested in film and photography professionally.

This image is part of a set from an exibition called "Who's Looking at the Family?" All the photos from this series were taken at his families house. This photo in particular shows an older man in a sports coat sitting in a chair, pulling back from the camera covering his mouth with his hand, as if he's about to sneeze. Above him is a black and white cat suspended in mid air. The surrounding room seems to be untouched by the photographer and seems quite natural. This photo has a sort of candid feel to it, like a snap shot. All his pictures would be taken on the cheapest film he could find, and contain many aspects of consumer photography, such as harsh shadows, brash colours, and bad focus. However this all seems to add to the authenticity of the images. This photo probably was taken with a small aperture to get the background blur, and a fast shutter of no lower than 200 because of the flash.     

Photo A Day Project

Johnson Field, motion blurred soccer players, and a beautiful Albuquerque sunset.

Experimenting with double exposures in dorm room.

Ghosted students on their way back from the Frontier.

Abstracted motion blur and hospital.

Wide angle, sunset, motion blur.

Ghost bus

Artist Analysis #7

Alec Soth

Alec Soth is an American Photographer who concentrates his work on "off beat, hauntingly banal images of modern America".  Some think his photos have a very cinematic feel to them, like they were taken straight out of a movie. He shoots portraits mainly, and uses an 8x10 camera. What he attempts to capture in all his photos is the equal importance of the subject and the the journey getting there. Some of his influences are said to be Walker Evens, Stephen Shore, and Diane Arbus. He shoots most of his photos outside, using natural light, avoiding harsh shadows by shooting on overcast days. All his photos contain very dull colors in order to better blend in with the surrounding nature and avoid drawing too much attention to the subject. This also makes his pictures more relatable and seem more natural and real.  

This image was taken from the cover of one of his books called "Sleeping by the Mississippi". It was taken in Minnesota during the winter. A man is shown dressed in a flight suit standing on a roof, holding two vintage model planes. This photo just begs to have a story associated with it, as many of his works do, although I could not find any back story on it unfortunately.This picture looks like it would have been a fairly bright scene to expose for, so he probably had to set the shutter moderately fast, while using a larger aperture to achieve the blurred background. The original print is a Chromogenic print mounted on aluminum and is blown up to 40x32 inches. The fact that he was born in Minnesota, I think really effects the final product of his work. All his work ends up embodying some memory or familiarity from his own life.