The Photographers Eye-Traditional Photography

The Photographers Eye is a book by John Szarkowski that i came across in my research in tradition photography. I found that it really helped me think of my images in a traditional manner. It had may types of images in it but i was more struck by the street and cultural ones, as these reflected what i wanted to explore in my images.

These first two photos i find particularly interesting as they depict shadows and reflections within photography culture and i find this a very interesting concept to look at.

Roger Fenton


Included in this book was work by Roger Fenton, who photographed The Valley of the Shadow of Death in 1855 when photography was a new method of capturing images.

Szarkowski comments on his work,

"Once he left his studio, it was impossible for the photographer to copy the painters' schema. He could not stage-manage the battle, like Uccello or Velázquez, bringing together elements which had been separate in space and time, nor could he rearrange the parts of his picture to construct a design that pleased him better.

From the reality before him he could only choose that part that seemed relevant and consistent, and that would fill his plate. If he could not show the battle, explain its purpose, its strategy, or distinguished its heroes from its villains, he could show what was too ordinary to paint: the empty road scattered with cannon balls, the mud encrusted on the caisson's wheels, the anonymous faces, the single broken figure by the wall." 

Arthur Rothstein


Another artist shown in Szarkowski's book is Arthur Rothstein. His work is important as he took some of the most important photos of rural America in the 1930's and 40's. His photos inspired me because they are pure images of simple parts of culture, they are beautiful pictures which show something of the people in them which is not a particularly beautiful subject as it highlights how poor and starving these people are. However, i find it amazing how he has made this subject into interesting images.

(Reference:

The Photographers Eye, Szarkowski, John, 2009, The museum of modern art, New York)