Artists to get you started

I thought I would get you all started looking at photographic artists by listing some of my favorites.  Take a look and see if there are any you like:

Robert Adams Eugene Atget Lewis Baltz Olivo Barbieri Christopher Becklow Bernd and Hilla Becher Albert Bierstadt Oliver Boberg Edward Burtynsky Harry Callahan William Christenberry Chuck Close Lynne Cohen Paul D'Amato Tim Davis Joe Deal Thomas Demand Mitch Epstein

Terry Evans Walker Evans Mary Farmilant Scott Fortino Alex Fradkin Frank Gohlke Andy Goldsworthy Dan Graham Philipe Gronon Andreas Gursky Beate Gutschow Todd Hido Candida Hšfer Keneth Josephson Barbara Kasten Idris Khan Sze Tsung Leong Richard Misrach

Richard Nickel Matt Nighswander Nicholas Nixon Timothy O'Sullivan Bill Owens John Pfahl Ed Ruscha Richard Ross Hiroshi Sugimoto Thomas Struth Richard Renaldi Erick Rowe Thomas Ruff Mark Ruwedel August Sander Toshio Shibata John Schott Josef Schulz

Andre Serrano Charles Sheeler Stephen Shore Paul Strand Bob Thall Brian Ulrich Friederike von Rauch Jeff Wall Henry Wessel,Jr. Michael Wolf Jay Wolke

Selfie Sticks

So what do you all think of Selfie Stick? Great invention for tourists so you don't get your camera stolen asking a stranger to take your photo (think National Lampoons European Vacation)? Or is it the dumbest thing you have ever seen?

Here is a npr article on the phenomenon:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2015/01/08/375617481/the-unstoppable-selfie-stick-trend-is-now-on-american-shores?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150108

Bernd and Hilla Becher

I will get this started with my favorite photographers of all time, the team of Bernd and Hilla Becher. They began collaborating in school at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf, Germany). First exhibiting work in the 1960's, they eventually influenced most of the well known photographers coming out of germany when Bernd began teaching Photography at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Some of their students include: Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Candida Höfer, Thomas Struth.

There work examines industrial architecture through a vision of classifying and comparing one type of object.  Through their gridded imagery you find out how similarly things are constructed yet have subtle interesting differences.  Note how they photograph in black and white on cloudy days and compose their images from half height so that the images almost appear as architectural drawings.

I first saw their work in book form as an undergraduate: The water towers but later saw much of their work in person at the Museum of Modern Art.  They were one of a few photographers that showed in The New Topographics Exhibition at the George Eastman House in Rochester and signaled the start of a new trend in photography toward a deadpan aesthetic. Other artists in that exhibition include Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Frank Gohlke, and Stephen Shore.

One of my mentors in graduate school Greg Foster-Rice has researched and written extensively about The NewTopographics.  He recently published a book Reframing The New Topographics examining the influence that exhibition and the artists work has had on the art/photography world.

Welcome

Hi All,

Now that you are connected I just wanted to lay out the guidelines for posting:

Each week you will be awarded 1 point for posting on the blog (once a week for fifteen weeks). All posts should be about historic or contemporary artists using photography (not commercial/fashion/wedding photography, equipment, or technical processes). As a guide post about:

1) an artist with their name, a brief bio, a paragraph that describes and analyzes of their work, 

2) 1-3 images of their work, and 

3) a link to a site to view more images (if you can find one). 

You could also post about a photo-art related article and a summary with your reactions.

Posting should be done once every week before the end of the day on Saturday so we can get a preview before class on Monday. Points will be awarded weekly (Sunday-Saturday). You should post 15 times over the 17 weeks (if you include spring break). Incomplete or missing posts will be awarded fewer points.