Jeroen Hofman

Dutch photographer Jeroen Hofman is a commercial photographer whose primary focus is on portraiture. He is known for photographing firefighters, Baring Sea Fisherman, and coalminers. This series from 2005 is called Coalminers. It shows the tired, and dirty coal mining men of America. Hofman uses two strobes to brightly light the coalminers upper torso and face.This creates a vignetting effect that leaves a darkened circle shadow around the picture frame. Although the lighting is harsh, Hofman is able to capture the grittiness of the miners face. No details were spared in this series. You can see every smudge of coal, unsightly chest hair and rib shadow their is in this photo. It's a lovely way to show the wear and tear of this mans body by using a simple and easy portrait shot. 

 

Angela Strassheim

Angela Strassheim is no stranger to an intense and strange past. Born on the bible belt, and raised by a strict Christian family, Angela got her first photography gig by snapping shots of forensic evidence. She is known for her beautiful but unsettling photos of hardened family memories. This photo happens to be from a series she did called Left Behind, which spotlights her strict religious family memories.

This somewhat creepy photo shows a father grooming his young son. The dad bares an odd "American Psycho," grin while his son looks too scared to move. Although the subject matter is intense, its the lighting that makes it even more foreboding. Its easy to see that a strobe is positioned to the left, which highlights the majority of the father and foreground. By doing so the shadow of the dad then falls onto the shoulders of the son. Coincidence...I think not. The poor little boy also has shadow from the dads body on his face as well. One shadow is jetting from the fathers comb hand which gives the illusion that the little boy has a black eye.

 

Mariel Clayton

Clayton isn't an ordinary portrait photographer. She specializes in miniature toy photography which is virtually unheard of. Known for her dark sense of humor, Clayton recreates the dark side of western society through use of barbie dolls and Tokyo toys. Her images often reflect crimes of passion,sex, and violent fighting. Not exactly what you would expect Barbie to be doing.

The above photo shows Barbie and Ken after a domestic dispute. I'm going to go out on a limb here and make up my own story as to what happen. It looks like Ken got a bit too drunk off of his bottle of jack and beat the hell out of Barbie with a rolling pin. Barbie was too busy baking muffins to notice the stumbling Ken to be prepared to the attack. instead she now sits around her spilled muffins, bleeding from the knee and crying while Ken looks through the fridge for some "after abuse" munchies. 

All joking aside, this is a pretty intense sense. Replace the dolls with actual human and you have one hell of a dramatic scene. Clayton also uses a direct spotlight on her Barbie scene which makes it even more dramatic and somewhat sad. Her attention to detail ans storytelling is what makes this photo work.

Julia Fullerton-Batten

 

A seven year project consisting of three parts is what brought Julia Fullerton Batten into the photographic spotlight. Her project named "Teenage Girls," shows an eerie modern day spin of young adolescent girls.  The first is Teenage Stories, where the girls are placed in settings where they dwarf their surroundings. The second is School Play, where Julia compares Asian and Caucasian schoolgirls. The third is In Between, where the girls are floating in their surroundings.It is easy to see that this articular photo is from the third part of her series.

To be honest, the lighting in this baffles me. Julia is able to keep the background low lit. It has certain hot areas like on the bed and patches on the carpet. Not only is the background nicely lit but the floating girl is as well. She is completely highlighted in light. Every detail in her dress and composed face is evenly lit. What is even more odd is the subject matter. How in the world did that girl get that high enough to jump backwards? Their is no apparent mat behind her to break her fall as well. She is bound to severly hurt herself on that landing. These are all things that Julia has mastered. Mixing mysterious settings with awesome lighting. She has managed to create the most eerie and questionable portraits of female teenagers today.

 

We Love Pictures: Maike and Travis

Cape Town based wedding photographers Maike and Travis bring a fun new attitude towards wedding photography. This lovely couple adds fun group shots and theatrical props in order to create their signature photo look. This particular photo of the Bride and Bridesmaids is amazing. They substitute in the Groom and Groomsmen as the seamless background. Maike and Travis also choose to have their subjects jumping in mid air. This causes the women in the photo to make funny faces. Its a beautiful shot of what is normally a very boring staged photo.

Maike and Travis also choose to use strobe lights in order to illuminate their objects. Its easy to see that the light is being directed from the right causing shadows of the jumping women to reflect on the linen seamless. This is also a nice way to keep detail in a evening sky yet still get details in the foreground. By doing so the We Love Pictures team manages to capture a lovely African sunset while still highlighting the funny wedding party.

Sarah Stolfa

My sister in-law Liz is an excellent gift-giver. Somehow she manages to stay on track with every one's interest; which in return pays off during holidays.Liz ended up buying me this lovely little photo book called "The Regulars." It was written and photographed by a feisty Philadelphia student named Sarah Stolfa. Stolfa was a Drexel photo major by day and a grungy McGlinchey's bartender by night.

Stolfa's "The Regulars," is an honest book depicting by photograph Philadelphia's finest. In it she explains that she managed to set up a single strobe light in the center of the bar. She then would wait for one of her regulars to come in and enjoy their choice of libation.  Unknowingly Stolfa would snap off a few quick shots before they had a chance to pose or make themselves seem...well less drunk.

This particular photo is on the cover of the book and for good reason. It shows a red headed girl sitting in a dark barroom yet is only illuminated from the front. This shadowy figure emerging from the background isnt staring directly at the camera with a model like demeanor. She has her eyes closed,  smoking a cig and drinking a pint. What more could you ask for when taking a photo of a bar regular. The other beautiful thing about this shot is that the colors are gorgeous. Somehow Stolfa lucked out with having both the background and her regulars sweater to have a rich ruby red color. This clashes amazingly with the nice forest green shirt and brown bar table. This photo is exactly what you would expect to see in a book based on bar regulars.

Emma Summerton

Emma Summerton combines iconic vintage imagery with loud colors. Emma got her first gig by helping Fiona Apple with her record photos. Her photos caught the eye of a Sony exec who soon asked her to hop on board taking promo shots for the label. This pushed Emma into the world of fashion photography. Most notable for her Vogue ads, Emma has worked with top Fashion designers like Miu Miu, YSL, Anna Sui, and Nylon. 

This native Australian is said to draw inspiration from her family and homeland. As a young girl she would get dressed up in her Grandmothers old 60's and 70's clothes. She said the theme of the iconic subculture age has grown into her work. This piece here depicts a eyeliner heavy model in a more abstract yet still mod dress. It is easy to see that the background is flat ( a photo already of some sort).  The model bares small but heavy shadows to her right and bottom which indicates a light has been set up to her left from slightly above her height. Another light is either placed in front of somewhat to the side to completely illuminate the front of the model. A very very small vignette has also been made meaning that Summerton must have shot from a bit of the distance. Although this was shot in a studio, Emma does a great job of making the viewer feel as if they were in a foreign land. 

Thomas Jackson

Using light installations and photography, Tom Jackson creates eerie masterpieces with ominous eerie undertones. Jackson, who refers to his work as "the monster," is one of the most brilliant photographers using various methods of light. In this piece especially, Jackson builds an 8 foot tall nest composed of chicken wire, sticks and smoke bombs. This nest is then illuminated to create a creepy glow. Not only does he use this light but he uses an indoor strobe to help a bit when illuminating his models face. The strobe in this piece is probably positioned by the ceiling line.  This would be why a soft light is cast on the model, sofa, and lamp shade. 

Not only is Jackson the master of light but he is the master of using it in a way to invoke emotion. His speciality is invoking anxiety. The subject matter here is a small child looking at what could be either her sibling or doll laying on the floor in front of her. Not only is this scary but the ominous glowing nest in the background adds an even creepier nature to the piece. Its almost as if the nest is watching her. Creepy or not Jackson does one hell of a job channeling a persons inne fear into a photo.  

Irving Penn

    Irving Penn was an American photographer best known for his vivid black and white portraiture. Penn started out his career at a college in Philadelphia where he was enrolled in the fine arts department. He picked up his  first camera 1938 and began taking what today is known as post World War II feminine chic and glamour photography.

   This particular photo is called the Guedras in the Wind, Morocco. Penn was known for traveling to distant countries to scout out new Vogue cover ideas. Sick of taking endless fashion photos, Penn turned to taking shots of the natives of the land. In this piece he photographed two Goulimine female dancers. Penn believed that this photo represented "a very ancient cultural ceremony, a symbolism that has been lost in time.”

  The lighting in this piece is somewhat smoky and raw. Penn seems to have positioned a light directly behind the two women. This creates a halo of light that wraps around their dark veils. He also positioned another light to the left of the figure. This creates dark dramatic lighting on the right figure. This form of dramatic lighting helps illuminate many of the details in the clothing of the figures and small details such as the toes peeking out from under her robe. Compositionally this photo is quite interesting because Penn chose not to crop out the seamless in the background. 

Patrick Demarchelier

"Take pictures, take many pictures. And learn from them. Once again, being a photographer is like being an athlete. You must practice every day. Professional photography isn’t a 9-to-5 job. It’s a lifestyle." 

   

       Patrick Demarchelier is one the the worlds leading cover photographers. He has produced beautiful fashion covers for Vogue, Italian Vogue, British Vogue, Rolling Stone, Life , Elle and Newsweek. So what's the secret to his success...? " I learned most by just taking pictures; a lot of pictures." This is exactly what he did and continues to do. Patrick's photographic style consists of very classic and chic portrait shots. He does this by enlisting the help of famous supermodels such as Christy Turlington.

       One of his most famous portraits is of the late supermodel Christy Turlington (featured above). As you can see it is quite classic and chic. Here he has positioned this delicate model directly in the center of the frame. Looming over her head and part pf her face is this gigantic fabric rose. Now looking at this quickly you would think that its just a black and white shot of a rose. Upon closer inspection one would notice that this delicate rose is actually part human. Patrick manages to combine Turlington's frail back and shoulder blades into the stem of this gigantic rose. Its quite a beautiful composition. Further more he adds low key lighting from the side. My guess is that he used a soft box to lightly diffuse the light onto the body and rose. This adds soft illumination on the face and shoulders of Turlington. Due to the light being cast from the side, shadows seem to appear on the other side of the model. This helps create soft yet dark shadows that help pop out details. These details can be seen in the rose petals and the curvature of the ribs and shoulder blades. This photo is truly a classic shot. Cheers to Patrick Demarchilier for creating quite a lovely and elegant shot.  

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Mert and Marcus are a power duo that help create some of the worlds most interesting advertisement photography. They bring a sense of visual mystery to their photos by playing with experimental color lights and using makeup rich models. These genius photographers have landed numerous high end fashion covers such as Vogue, W Magazine, and Pop Magazine. Their client list is rich with such celebrities as Madonna, Victoria Beckham, and Bjork. 

This specific photo shoot featured the young Natalie Portman for a spread in an old W Magazine. Portman brought a unique style to the shoot by donning teased hair, intense dark makeup, and dead flowers. This set up Mert and Marcus to create a rich photo with an eerie undertone. They did this by using mostly gel filters and high contrast shadows. In this photo particularly, it seems that they used to red gel filter on a strobe that was set behind Portman. This creates the eerie halo effect that's illuminating her nest of hair. They also seem to be using a soft box to help make some highlights on her forehead and shoulder region. This would explain the high contrast shadow that is centered in the shot. This is by far one of my favorite photographs. The lighting in this photo turns what would be seen as a somewhat creepy subject matter into something that's quite lovely. The lighting in this is absolutely lovely with its rich colors and glamorous glow. This is by far one of my favorite photographs. 

Sam Haskins 

(1926-2009)

" He explored a fresh approach to photographing the nude female figure and contained important first explorations with black and white printing, cropping and book design which went on to become a key feature of all his subsequent books and photographs."

                  Studio photographer Sam Haskins has a reputation for making what was once seen as obscure into what is now considered beautiful. That being the female nude. Haskins breached the boundaries of 60's fashion and portraiture photography by mixing amateur models, graphic compositions, and experimental studio light. His main approach was to "create tension in the surface of his photographs between flat graphic elements and 3D chiaroscuro." He is reknown for adding a modern and slightly risque twist to the 60's world of fashion photography.  

                 Haskins lighting technique mostly revolved around a well lit studio and what is said to be the use of double exposures. The above photo is from the cover of Haskins 1972 Poster Book. It is evident in the piece that Haskins used his normal approach of hard lighting and extreme cropping. From the looks of it it seems that he may have used two strobes. Doing so would even lit the face yet add enough hard light to create shadows in the face and hair region. It is not only the lighting that helps make this photo a Haskins original; it is the models. 

 These models all have something in common, they draw the viewer into the photograph. They are able to make the shot look controlled yet offer a sweet disposition to it in the end. It is a true Sam Haskins theme to be able to make something that may seem erotic to be very beautiful and full of grace. 

Leigh Wiener

"In many ways, innovation is a photographer's lifeblood. He has an idea and wants to obtain a certain look. Just because there is no ready-made equipment available doesn't mean you can't develop the idea. Make it yourself. Sometimes innovation doesn't require special hardware or equipment; it might just involve a different method of lighting or a new technique. Try it. The worst that can happen is that you fail. On the other hand, there can be the excitement of success. It is no accident that great photographers are also great innovators."

Leigh Wiener pioneered the use of "accidental lighting." He believed that anything could be used as lighting equipment. You just have to be clever enough to invent it. Wiener's brand of thinking reverberates through many of his famous studio portraits. One of his most famous portraits is of the young Johnny Cash.  Cash, the stark country singer of the south, is photographed from the chest up directly centered in the photograph. Behind him stands what seems to be modeling light set to Full. This light sends almost a halo of light cascading around Cash. Wiener also seems to be using another light, which may be a soft box. This light/soft box is casting a highlights onto Cash's forehead and shadows onto his left eye ridge. This lighting set up helps render the subject matter as being dark and mysterious. This is exactly what Johnny Cash was. 

Annie Lebovitz

                                                                 Annie Leibovitz

         Annie Leibovitz perfects the portrait shot with her photo of Heath Ledger and Christopher Nolan. Lebovitz is known for her extreme stark portraits.Everything about this photo screams with eerie undertones and an intriguing composition. To start with, Lebovitz chose great subject matter. Who cant say that Heath Ledger is captivating. Add in the fact that he is partnered with one of the most powerful Directors in the world and BAM! An amazing studio photograph is captured. 

      Setting up an extremely haunting photo is quite difficult. Annie nails it by using soft light and a dark gray seamless. She chooses to not take the typical straight on portrait by shooting more of Heath's body from the side, cutting off the photo by his knees. He is also half lit using what seems to be a soft box. Not only is he lit but Nolan who is standing a few feet behind and to the left of Ledger is also lit. 

    This photo is beautiful on so many levels. Firstly, I love the composition. The close up of Ledger and the Nolan in the background is very visually appealing. Secondly would be the complete mood of the photo. Ledger is sittings straight faced, coat buttoned up with arms crossed. He resembles a pouting child that just got yelled at by a parent. Nolan; on the other hand, is standing quite professional with his hands in his pocket. He breaks up the darkness of the photo by showing a bit of a smirk on his face. Both faces are dimly lit, just enough to make the details glow.

    Leibovitz does an amazing job when it comes to working in a lighting studio. My only question is why didn't she center them more on the seamless? Nolan is clearly off of it as if he is waiting in line to get his portrait taken. Other than that everything is lovely. Kudos to Annie for taken an amazing photo of this power partnership.