World Photography Festival - London

Source: http://www.photographyblog.com/news/world_photography_festival_2011/

The World Photography Festival 2011 runs from the 26th of April to the 1st of May at Somerset House, London. The Festival is set to be an exciting week of workshops, seminars, photo shoots and talks led by the international photography industry such as Bruce Davidson, Francis Hodgson, Tom Stoddart, Yasima Reggad, Foto 8, Panos Pictures, Blurb and iStock. Somerset House will be a hub of photographers sharing their work, learning from the experts and being critiqued. In addition the Sony World Photography Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Odeon cinema on Leicester Square in London on Wednesday 27th of April.

The World Photography Festival are offering Photography Blog readers a 10% discount on the price of the festival tickets. To benefit from the discount, please enter the following promotional code MAG10 in the box ‘Gift Voucher’ under the following link: http://bit.ly/h2gavQ

I found this quite exiting and I think it will benefit my knowledge of photography substantially. I find events like this inspiring and they always get the ball rolling. 

Key points from research

Through my research I have spotted a few key points which do not differ. They all co-insider to create the mood and atmosphere of the photographs. These being:

• Emptiness
• Desolation
• Desertion
• Mist/fog
• Rain
• Extreme weather
• Texture
• Action shots - movement 
• Colours (black and white or the reverse, deep/bright)
• High connotations 

I will use these points when shooting my own photographs and that will help me to create similar effects to what I have witnessed myself.
 

Rinko Kawauchi

Harry Calahan

 

 All of the images are in black and white and instantly that stikes atmosphere. the photographs are very empti and still and are very landscape based. the horizon lines are always very distinct add to the endless feel of the images. i feel peaceful when looking at these images. i think the photographer may have felt as ease in these locations and he has captured that emotion and longing through his photography.

I love the sea and the desert, the texture and movement that they produce is quite chilling and always adds interests to images. here they add to the intensity and detail within. they are very typical landscape shots. the images make me feel very similar to William Chirstenberrys photographs as they involve the same emtiness and serentity that makes me feel peacful and in awe. 

William Christenberry

These images all have quite eerie components to them. I think that may be something to do with the backgrounds and the emptiness withing them. William intends to stir up emotions through seemingly ordinary photographs. these images certainly strike some form on be wilderness in me. they seem so serene and simple yet he has managed to capture some element from the surroundings with strike me. I think the colours and the orientation of the photos enhance the mood and atmosphere of the photo. I can always see atleast one striking colour in his images and that pushes it. they are very mellow and relax me which is because of the silentness of them and the desertion surrounding the buildings. buildings were built to hold people and that it how we all associate them so when you see a building completely desolate it causes a stir. You can see that all the images were taken in good lighting and the skies are normally very chilled colours which enhances the serenetiy of them. 

All of the images are the same. they include one focus subject - the buildings - and a small amount of landscape which are always empty and calm. they are all shot straight on which in a way adds some intensity to the images. it reminds me of fond memories where i have been at peace in a beautiful location on my own and at the will of my surroundings, i had time to think and was not discracted and shackled by societys forceful expectations and culture - although i love busy scenes and citys where i am emersed in wonderful sights it can often prove difficult to pull yourself away from all the technology and modern addictions that pull us in so tightly but really are absolutely useless. I think this is why i feel enlightened by these images.

I think it will be very interesting to approach this style of photography in my own way. i can pick and choose appropriate buildings that compel me for my personal reasons and i can attach connotations to those locations. I think i will prowl Brighton as it is my nearest city and is home to some very impressive locations. I will follow my emotions and photograph places that make me feel how i do when i look at these images, serene, intrigued, wondrous, compelled and  invigorated. I want to find somewhere that is very eerie and of course it must have an interesting atmosphere. i may approach this using a film camera as i think they capture so much more texture for shots like this. Also the black and white could create interesting results. 

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Ori Gersht

‘The series calls into question our familiarity with our own natural habitat, pointing out the gulf between the sky that we believe we know, and that of the photographs: a gap between the mechanical, attentive and assumptive vision of the camera, and the presumptive and subjective vision of the human eye.” Ori Gersht.

I studied Ori Gersht in my AS first year. Now I understand photography a lot more I understand that he is truly talented. These photographs are taken from a series called 'Rear Window'. if you look in to the bottom of the photos you can just make out the tops of houses which is a lovely addition to the contrast of the colours. The photos are so simple but the simplicity is compelling and so powerful I can't describe it. When I see colours like this in the sky I really do feel like I am on another planet. There is something other-worldly about them. The soft, natural blend of colours is so relaxing and wondrous. I have always loved colour photographs as if you use them correctly they are simply mind blowing.I have also always been a lover of natural elements. The countryside, mountains, rivers and the sky. These images remind me of fond memories when I have been on my own in the south of France in the middle of the mountains gazing at the multi-coloured sky, it has some form of magic about it that just puts me on edge. 

Ori Gersht is a photographer and film maker that was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1967, and now lives and works in London. He has an extensive and quite diverse series of beautiful projects going from panoramic images of European football stadiums, images of buildings scared by the war in Sarajevo to pure abstractions like the series “Rear Window” where he captures the beautiful light at twilight in London as seen from a single window in his apartment.

The dramatic skies in London create the illusion of abstract paints with an intricate blend of color and light in the polluted atmosphere of London. All the images were taken through the same window at different times of the year and at different times of day. It is quite amazing how the same place, the same view with different light, can produce such distinct images like they were taken in different locations (see two more examples below). The images were shot with no filters and the saturated colors are a results of cloud formations and light accumulation.

Richard Avendon

I absolutely adore these images. They are full of energy and character. His work is clearly fashion photography and Avendon is a noted fashion photographer. He has worked with the likes of Vogue - prestigious. All of his photos are in black and white and all of the poses/postures and extravaghent and exotic. I think the Avendon is trying to make a bold statement with his photos as they are very dramatic and he has certainly captured true emotion in them.

All of the subject in the photograph are women and very strong, beautiful women. I believe Avendon wanted the element of femininity and elegance in his photos and this coincides with the very fairy like feel. He likes to focus on action shots - a lot of movement and a sense of reality. All of the images are uplifting and invigorating to look at.

The way in which the women float around and almost fall to ground gives me a sense of helplessness. Also the black and white help to freeze frame the situation as if the moment has just been suddenly torn from reality.