Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14 For this essay I have

decided to compare and contrast the work of Edward Weston and Richard Misrach. The reason why I have chosen to look at this subject instead of the other two is because of two main reasons, one being that I am very interested in Edward Westons work and how he uses shapes in a slightly misleading way and secondly I prefer comparing two artists in great depth rather than looking at a large range of artists. Even though I am familiar with Westons work, I havent looked at much of Misrachs but from first glance he looks like he mainly photographs landscapes. Also from first glance you can tell that where Weston photographs in black and white, Misrach photographs in colour, this straight away suggests a possible difference in eras, as black and white photography was widely used in the early 20th century but wasnt used without reason in latter 20th century. Edward Henry Weston was born in 1886 in Highland Park, Illinois. He was a 20th Century American photographer, Weston began photographing at the age of sixteen when he received a Bulls Eye #2 camera from his father. His first photographs captured the parks of Chicago and his aunts farm. In 1906, his first photograph was published in Camera and Darkroom, following this he moved to California. Throughout his 40 year photography career he photographed a wide range of different photography including landscapes, still life, nudes, and portraits. He has been classed as one of the most influential American photographers and one of the masters of 20th century photography. (Weston C. 2013) Richard Misrach was born in 1949 in Los Angeles, California, he is an American photographer who is well known for exploring nature and civilization in his landscapes. Misrach makes work that captures natures ability to preserve itself in the face of even the most invasive human encroachments. The topics in his work includes Cancer Alley, an industrial corridor along the Mississippi River and the graffiti produces in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Misrach was honoured in 2002 with the Kulturpreis for Lifetime achievement in Photography by the German Society for Photography. (Misrach R. 2013)

Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14 The photo of Westons I am going to look at is probably one of his most popular pieces, Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1). The reason why I decided to look at this photograph is because of how simple yet beautiful the picture is and I also wanted to use one of this photographs that isnt a portrait as, and I quote:Portraiture was the one genre that sustained him his whole life, although this attitude towards it was conflicted. On one hand he hated pandering to the vanity of his sitters, but on the other he had to earn a living. The portraits he made purely for pleasure of friends and family are some of his best. - BBC2 the Culture Show At the Edinburgh Festival (Williams. D) I personal wanted to choose a landscape or still life of Westons because I personally think they are his best pieces of work and the quote above may be a reason why, or it could just be self-preference. Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1) is a 8 x 10 silver gelatine print, it is a black-andwhite photograph of a nautilus shell standing on its end against what looks like a black background. In 1927 Weston visited the studio of California artist Henrietta Shore and noticed several paintings she had made of sea shells, Weston has made it clear in his writing that the paintings had a profound effect on him. Even though the shell looks to have been set out in a studio setting with a background I found that one of Westons grandchildren Kim Weston pointed out to Brian Pawlowski:The shell was photographed propped up on an oil barrel. On closer inspection, one can see the arc of the edge of the barrel at the lower third line in the image which subtly divides the space occupied by the shell, and the thin metal oil drum head was sensitive to the slightest movement. Weston expressed his frustrations in his daybooks. (Pawlowski. B) To make Westons frustrations more apparent Weston used to shoot at US256 (f/64) along with the film he used being equivalent to 16 on todays ISO scale, he was having to shoot at an exposure of more than four hours per photograph.

Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14 The photo of Misrachs that I am going to look at is Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2), it is a split-toned selenium gelatin-silver print. This is the first time I have ever seen this picture of Misrachs and when I first saw it I thought that it was very different from his normal work but it made me think of similarities of Westons Nautilus (Figure 1). The main research why I choose this picture is because it is a black and white where most of Misrachs work is in colour, because of this I want to look into if there is a reason why Misrach took it in black and white. Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) is also one of Misrachs night photographs. Misrach has photographed at night throughout his career, beginning with a documentary project of homeless people in Berkeley, California in 1974. (Keimig. L (2012) Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) was originally printed on long-obsolete Agfa paper that produced a wide range of colours using a slit toning technique. Shortly after creating this series of work, Misrach switched to the 8 x 10 view Camera and colour negative film. He was one of the first artists to produce large-scale photographic colour prints. (Keimig. L (2012) When comparing Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1) and Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) I have found out that both photographers, even though there is a large time difference between the two, either for the reason of colour film not being around or colour film only just starting to become popular, widely photographed in black and white. Weston photographed using black and white film for his whole career whereas Misrach started shooting in colour just after finishing the series of which and Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) was part of. Both pictures are placed In the middle of the frame with space on either side of them, the difference with the placement is that Westons Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1) is place closer to the bottom of the frame and gives a feeling of being closer to the viewer whereas Misrachs Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) is placed slightly closer to the

Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14 top of the frame, this places the horizon slightly below the middle and makes the stone look further away from the viewer. Knowing that Misrachs Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) is a night photograph we know that his picture is a long exposure like Westons Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1). Even though Misrachs picture was also a long exposure like Westons and they also probably had very similar exposure times the big difference between them is that Misrachs picture was taken in very low light, therefore needing a long exposure time whereas Westons picture was taken in a studio setup with good lighting, but needed a long exposure time because of the small ISO. Another noticeable difference that you can see between Westons Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1) and Misrachs Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) is that Westons picture has got an almost totally black background, the only thing you can see is the slight outline of the barrel the shell is sitting on. Whereas in Misrachs picture you have the grassy field of which the stone is sitting on, you can see the stones which tells the viewer that it is probably taken at Stonehenge, and the sky which is the biggest hint that it is a long exposure photograph. Another think that is very similar about both pictures is how both Weston and Misrach have lit the part of the picture that they want their audience to focus on. With Westons Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1) he has made the background as dark as he can to make the shell stand out. This is the same with Misrachs Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) but unlike Westons he hasnt darkened the background so that you cant see anything in it, I believe this is because he wants the audience to see the stones in the background so that they know the picture was taken at Stonehenge before looking at the title. So to distract from the background Misrach has made the main stone stand out lighting it more than the stones in the background.

Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14 On concluding this essay I have learnt that both pictures were taken before colour film was widely used and not for a particular artistic reason. I learnt that both pictures where long exposures one because of the ISO that was used at the time being not very light sensitive so needing a long exposure, even in studio lighting and the other because of the picture being taken at night time. Another similarity is that both photographers want to you focus on one point in the picture, and in both causes they have lit the shell and the stone to draw the audiences eye where they want it. A difference between the two is that at first sight you wouldnt think that Westons Chambered Nautilus (1927) (Figure 1) would take four hours to photograph whereas with Misrachs Untitled (Stonehenge #4) (1976) (Figure 2) if you had basic photographic knowledge you would know from the lines in the clouds that it is a long exposure. Another difference between the two is that where Misrach wants you to know where the picture has been taken by including the details in the background Weston has left it almost pitch black with no details, making the audience wonder and not even know until being told that it is sitting on a barrel. Concluding both pictures when you first look at them you would only think the only thing they have in common is that they are both black and white but when looking at it they are very similar in a lot of ways.

Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14

Figure 1 Edward Weston Chambered Nautilus (1927)

Figure 2 Richard Misrach Untitled #4) (1976) (Stonehenge

Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14

Bibliography Weston. C (2013) Edward Weston Biography www.edward-weston.com Date accessed 13/11/13

BBC 2 (2010)

The Culture Show At the Edinburgh Festival, Presenter, Sue Perkins Quote taken from David Williams, Date accessed 14/11/13

Ahrens. C (1998)

The Artificial of the Real. Hannover: Kestner, Gesellschaft Date accessed 14/11/13

Misrach. R

Richard Misrach, Artist Page, About the Artist http://www.artspace.com/richard_misrach Date accessed 27/11/13

Misrach. R (1976)

Richard Misrach Untitled (Stonehenge #4) 1976 http://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/richard-misrach Date accessed 27/11/13

UNKNOWN

The Weston Legacy - Edward Weston - Chambered Nautilus 1927 http://lumieregallery.net/wp/179/the-weston-legacy/ Date accessed 27/11/13

Pawlowski. B (2005) Briot. A (2005)

Notes on Photographing a Nautilus, Essay by Brian Pawlowski with a introduction by Alain Briot. http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/Thoughts24.html Date accessed 27/11/13

Keimig. L (2012)

Night Photography: Finding your way in the dark by Lance Keimig (quote)

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VpmWRRCwEIcC&pg=PT37&lpg=PT37 &dq=richard+misrach+(Stonehenge+%234)&source=bl&ots=JMZKjfLNkG&si g=X2nxfjuRKldnhlUgOe_a2SQpWmc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h_PGUt5siaqEBCOgbAM&ved=0CF0Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false

Zoe Coombes Year 1 Photography (Contemporary Practice) RPHC4003: Contextual Studies: Photography 13/14 Date accessed 10/12/13