Brook's Blog

     Sebastiao Salgado is a Brazilian documentary photographer and economist. He has a passion for both professions. He was born in Aimores, Brazil (International Center of Photography) in 1944. He traveled around a lot as a child, sparking his interest in economy. As a result, he got his MA and PhD in economics from Sao Paulo University and University of Paris respectively. He started his work in photography in the mid 70s and is known to post a majority of his work in collections rather than separately.     As a documentary photographer, Salgado has been to 120 countries, capturing the most powerful photographs of humanity and how those not in first world countries live. This photo portrays the everyday traffic of an Indian train station named Church Gate. Indian trains are well-known for being overly crowded. It should be noted that Indian train rails are normally not blocked off as well, leading to thousands of deaths per year. It shows us the struggles of b...

    Arnold Newman was an American Photographer, born in New York City, who specialized in environmental portraiture. He was most well-known for a portrait of a composer Igor Stravinsky, in which Stravinsky is mostly hidden by his piano and only his head can be seen, and of his colored portrait of former Nazi industrialist Alfried Krupp (Wikipedia). The photo of Krupp is particularly interesting when you understand that Newman grew up in a Jewish family, and he decided to depict Krupp in the factory he used even when working for the Nazis. In the photo, Krupp is front in center, though in the shadows, giving his face a menacing look, while the factory behind him is well-lit.      When asked about his interest in environmental portraiture specifically in an interview with the magazine  American Photo , Newman replied; "The surroundings had to add to the composition and the understanding of the person. No matter who the subject was, it had to be an interesting...

     Ralph Gibson is an American artist who grew up in Hollywood surrounded by famous individuals. He was born on January 16th, 1939. The man got his inspiration from the sets of movies he would visit as a child. According to the International Photography Hall of Fame, his father was the assistant to Alfred Hitchcock, so he was able to visits the sets with his father.      His art is focused mainly on the human subconscious. It relies on the feelings of the viewer and the interpretation of his works. I find that many of his photos bring a sense of nostalgia to the viewer.      This first photo is reminiscent of looking out the car window as a child. Notice how the photo is of the camera looking out of the back window of the car. It can portray a child looking out the window, a person looking out the window of a taxi, or maybe even a pet. I personally view it as a child looking out the window at the bikers. It catches a moment of life in ...

     Michael Kenna is a British photographer known for his landscape photography and his long exposure times. According to jacksonfineart.com, sometimes his exposure length for a photo can be ten hours. Kenna was born to an Irish-Catholic family in Lancashire, England in 1953. Oddly enough, I couldn't find an exact date for his birth, which leads me to believe he may be a private man. Despite this, we know that he was one of six children in his family. He aimed to become a priest when he was younger, but left the schooling for it when he found his passion for the arts.     A notably rather boring life for an artist, and the most normal upbringing of the photographers we have talked about so far. I find artists with a more tragic or traumatic upbringing tend to have better art. Though this is my personal opinion, Kenna proves me wrong on it as I find his works very aesthetically pleasing. According to multiple sources, including his own website, michaelkenna.com...

       Lee Friedlander was born in Aberdeen Washington to immigrant parents on July 14th, 1934 (Wikipedia). According to Wikipedia, he is known as a very shy and private man, notoriously giving very few interviews and staying away from social media, so not much is known about his private life or how he grew up. What we do know, is that his mother, Kaari Nurmi, died when the photographer was just seven years old. While little to nothing is known about his upbringing, we do know that he took an interest in photography around the age of fourteen (icp.org).     Friedlander is famous for his work in cities across the United States, most notably, New York City. He would take his camera out every day, and photograph things he deemed interesting enough to take photos of. He is quoted as saying:  "You don't have to go out looking for pictures. The material is generous. You go out, and the pictures are staring at you ." - Lee Friedlander (artnet.com)  ...

     Emmanuel Radnitzky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Russian-Jewish immigrants on August 27th, 1890. He grew up in a fairly large family consisting of his mother and father, him as the eldest child, a brother, and two sisters. It is a shame that his family felt they had to hide their ethnic and religious background due to the discrimination of the times. In 1912, they decided to change their surname to Ray for these reasons. Emmanuel changed his first name as well, leading to the name we associate with his work today (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Ray)  .     Ray grew up working in his parents' home-run tailor shop. He was ashamed of this as well, which I find both very interesting and sad. Back in the early to mid 1900s, it was more of a burden than a blessing to have the public knowing of your humble background than it was if you grew up in a wealthy home with more respected parents. Today, Ray could proudly shout out his humble begi...