What to learn from Masters?
Comparison of photoghic styles of the best. What makes them unique?
These are visual excerpts to revisit once in a while when thinking about next photography endeavours to get an inspiration how others see the world.
Drama of Landscapes
Pre-visualized results (with his "zone system").
Revisited the same negative with multiple interpretations or even returned to take the same photo with different filters.
Steve McCurry
Tell a story that takes us on a journey
Sometimes ambiguity, unbalance or surprise works.
Favorited Kodachrome. He received the very last roll of the film made and exposed it in 2010.
From ranch to Paris.
Always look for the moment, graphics, spacial relationships, separation or negative space.
You need first an access, then, acceptance.
Used harsh shadows in a graphic sense.
William Albert Allard
Ranch
"Paris"
…and culture in other cities.
Favorited Kodachrome film and 35 mm lens, or 50 mm to get more selective.
Photo poetry – turn boring reality into an artistic expression
"I'm not interested to see new things, I'm interested to see things new" – ordinary in a way that surprises us.
Ernst Haas
"Photographing at night can be fascinating because we lose some of the control over what happens in front of the camera. Over a period of time the world changes; rivers flow, planes fly by, clouds pass and the earth's position relative to the stars is different. This accumulation of time and events, impossible for the human eye to take in, can be recorded on film. For the photographer, real can become surreal, which is exciting. … At night the light can come from unusual and multiple sources. … There is often a sense of drama, a story about to be told, secrets revealed, actors about to enter onto the stage."
Peace of Landscapes
Details
Culture, habits & festivals
Highlight extraordinary
In Motion
An ordinary life
Look through mundane
Portraits & environmental portraits
Reveal something about the person or humanity.
Element of emotion.
Ask for permission; you can't steal pictures from a distance.
Natural and simple interior light.
City life and cityscapes
Get the city vibe.
I knock on doors and ask people to photograph from their window to get better city perspective.
Returned to the same place multiple times to get the moment.
See compositions and think how people coming in might complete them.
Story about journey
Journey that became a story
Landscape photography is about persistency
Human element in the landscape.
Sometimes followed a group of people for hours to get the right scene.
Sports Motion
City Blur
Started to observed NY when he immigrate into it.
Conflict zones
A refugee in a hotel invited me to photograph the Afghan war and show it to the world.
Details
Moments
"Travel"
"I wanted to travel, see and experience – what better profession could there can be than the one of a photographer? Almost like a painter in a hurry, overwhelmed by too many constantly changing impressions."
Shapes & Colors
Pioneered artistic use of color.
Structure
Almost like a painter in a hurry, overwhelmed by too many constantly changing impressions.
Quiet but compelling.
Meaningful, coherent, compelling.
"The quiet picture, the extremely dry or quiet photograph has a greater chance of lasting than a busy, dynamic, hectic photograph."
Summer internship in National Geographic turned into an assignment.
I know I'd never be back here.
Sam Abell
See differently
"I'm not interested to see new things, I'm interested to see things new" – ordinary in a way that surprises us.
Compose and wait
"I like to see life for what it gives me, and not arrange."
Empty Stage
"I like to photograph the empty stage, before or after the performance, even in between acts. I love the atmosphere of anticipation, the feeling in the air that events have happened, or will happen soon."
Minimal Landscapes
"I love the journey as much as the destination. If I wasn’t a photographer, I’d still be a traveler."
Minimal Sights
.
Details
Lyrical moments from around the world.
Raymond Depardon
Moody, but candid snapshots of the world
Tireless explorer through an essence of life and culture
Father of landscape photography.
Realism with emotion: your authentic view.
Ansel Adams
Zen buddhism of photography.
Minimalistic extremely long exposures, balanced compositions and deep blacks and whites.
"Perhaps most intriguing of all is that it is possible to photograph what is impossible for the human eye to see - cumulative time."
Michael Kenna
Microcompositions
Link a still life to a landscape
Flat horizons: Land, See & Sky
"I know I'd never be back here"
The Teachable Moment
How Sam gradually seached for the final composition:
Shared his experiences and knowledge in books: The Camera, The Negative, The Print.
