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Posts Tagged ‘Robert’

Influential photographer Robert Frank passes away at 94

11 Sep
This Super 8 footage, shot in 1971, would later be repurposed for The Rolling Stones 1972 album Exile on Main Street.

Legendary Swiss-American photographer, filmmaker and artist Robert Frank, who is best known for his 1958 book The Americans, as well as his behind-the-scenes work with rock band The Rolling Stones, passed away from natural causes on September 9th at the age of 94. His death, which occurred at the Inverness Consolidated Memorial Hospital in Nova Scotia, Canada, was confirmed by his gallerist and longtime friend Peter MacGill.

Frank was born in Switzerland on November 9, 1924. He emigrated to the United States in 1947, after releasing his first hand-made photography book, 40 Fotos, landing in New York City where he secured employment as a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar. He also started hanging out with an eclectic crowd that included Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg and On the Road author Jack Kerouac. Kerouac provided the introduction to Frank’s seminal photography book The Americans.

The collection of 83 black-and-white photos, captured on a cross-country road trip that began in 1955, with a Leica 35mm camera, exposed the neglected aspects of American life. In an era that glorified family values, clean-cut figures, and a booming postwar economy, Frank’s dark, grainy imagery was subversive. While The Americans was not well-received initially, its eventual success would present a level of notoriety that made him uncomfortable.

As a result, Frank pivoted to creating experimental short films and autobiographical documentaries. This would lead him to develop a relationship with one of the world’s most notorious rock bands, The Rolling Stones. The group commissioned him to create photos for their 1972 album, Exile on Main Street. Thrilled with his work, they invited him to shoot a documentary about their return to America and supporting 1972 concert tour.

The Rolling Stones were thrilled with Robert Frank’s work for the cover of their 1972 release, Exile on Main Street. However, they would go on to block the widespread release of his documentary Cocksucker Blues.

The resulting work, titled Cocksucker Blues, exposed rampant drug use and escapades including excessive orgies that the band deemed unflattering for their image. A restraining order was put in place to limit where and how often the documentary could be screened. It was ultimately shelved in favor of the documentary Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones which consisted of strictly on-stage footage.

Upon hearing of Frank’s passing, The Rolling Stones posted the following statement on their Facebook page: ‘We’re very sad to hear the news that the visionary photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank has died. Robert collaborated with us on a number of projects including the cover design of Exile On Main Street and directed the Cocksucker Blues documentary. He was an incredible artist whose unique style broke the mould. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.’

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Robert Frank has passed away at 94. As one of the key figures in postwar American art, Frank has never wanted for recognition. Few works in the history of photography have landed a punch as woozying as that book, “The Americans.” An unconsoling portrait of his adopted country, the 83 photographs in the book are a record of the Swiss-born Frank’s on-the-road travels in 1955 and 1956. It is a country of empty highways and drained faces in barrooms, divided by race and income. Frank’s people seem bereft, beaten. It’s a portrait by an outsider identifying to his fingertips with other outsiders. “In America, they had another tone, the pictures,” Frank told @nytmag in 1994. “One became aware of white cities, black people, no money, no hope. The noise. The violence. How brutal people were. A brutal country. Still is. And I began to be part of it.” Read the 1994 piece at the link in our bio. #RobertFrank photographed by @eugenerichardsphotography

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In a poignant moment from his first video project, Home Improvements, created in 1985, he films his own reflection through a glass door and reflects on his method with the following quote: ‘I’m always looking outside trying to look inside. Trying to tell something that’s true. But maybe nothing is really true. Except what’s out there, and what’s out there is always different.’

‘I’m always looking outside trying to look inside. Trying to tell something that’s true. But maybe nothing is really true. Except what’s out there, and what’s out there is always different.’

Frank’s lasting impact includes being deemed ‘the father of ‘the snapshot aesthetic.’ His ability to create compelling images on-the-fly inspired influential artists including Jeff Wall, Mary Ellen Mark and Ed Ruscha. Critic Sean O’Hagan, writing for The Guardian in 2014, said The Americans ‘changed the nature of photography, what it could say and how it could say it. [ . . . ] it remains perhaps the most influential photography book of the 20th century.’

Frank experienced personal tragedy in his life. He lost his first daughter, at the age of 20, in a plane crash. Twenty years later, his son Pablo took his own life after suffering from schizophrenia. He is survived by his second wife, June Leaf.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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3D Four Letter Words: Robert Indiana’s LOVE Sculptures

15 Feb

[ By Steve in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Looking for love in all the right places? Replicas of artist Robert Indiana’s iconic Pop Art “LOVE” sculpture have spread to the 4 corners of the globe.

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Robert Indiana (formerly Robert Clark) first expressed the essential iconography of “LOVE” in 1958 but it wasn’t until 1964 that the image garnered wide public notice, via a Christmas card commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the first three-dimensional LOVE sculptures has stood, since 1970, in front of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

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Like many metal artworks designed to stand out in the open, the IMA’s LOVE sculpture is made from Cor-ten steel, an alloy that weathers to a rich, slightly iridescent, purplish-brown patina after years of seasonal changes. The sculpture measures 12′ x 12′ x 6′ and has recently undergone a structural and aesthetic restoration.

I LOVE New York

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There are currently around 50 LOVE sculptures installed in public and private spaces worldwide. Some are better-known than others, mainly due to their proximity to pedestrian traffic. One of the first NYC LOVE sculptures was installed at 59th Street and 5th Avenue in 1971, while perhaps the most prominent NYC LOVE sculpture stands at the corner of 6th Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan. Kudos to Flickr users Chee917 and Robert Wright (wrightrkuk), who snapped the sculpture in 2012.

LOVE Is Blue

Vancouver LOVE sculpture

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Most of the world’s LOVE sculptures have red painted facades with blue or blue & green sides to match Indiana’s original MOMA card and popular USPS stamp. This isn’t a must, however, as Indiana famously neglected to properly copyright the work. This bright blue representation outside 1445 West Georgia Street in Vancouver, Canada (later moved) shares its blue & green color scheme with another LOVE sculpture located at the Park Mall in Singapore.

Reflections of LOVE

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Photographer Wassily from nl brings us the striking scene above. Featuring a large LOVE sculpture set into the reflecting pool outside the Langen Foundation’s main building in Neuss-Holzheim, Germany, the photo dates from 2005 shortly after the building opened.

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3d Four Letter Words Robert Indianas Love Sculptures

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[ By Steve in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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PIX 2015: Robert Hurt and the hidden universe

29 Nov

Robert Hurt might just have the coolest job in the galaxy. He’s a visualization scientist with NASA, helping to interpret research data from space telescopes and NASA missions into photography. In short, he helps reveal the hidden universe that exists beyond the realm of human vision. In his PIX 2015 talk, he shares his insight on how his images are created and what kinds of things we can hope to discover when the unseen world becomes visible. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lessons from the Masters: Robert Capa and Jerry Uelsmann

19 Feb

Before you or I ever picked up a camera, our photographic forefathers( and mothers) were out shooting, learning, and blazing new trails for us to follow. I’ve always taken great comfort in that fact. Knowing that we are part of a long line of picture takers and image makers should lend us a sense of pride. Through sheer will and determination they worked through hard times, failure, and sometimes controversy in order to give us an incredible head start for becoming better photographers.

Ironically, many of these giants of photography, like most other people of great influence, did not start out to be such at the beginning of their careers. Many simply needed a job, others needed an outlet for their artistic inclinations, and still others…well, they had failed in what they initially wanted to become.

In this edition of what I’ve come to lovingly call, The Master’s Series, we will look at two great photographers who didn’t come by their fame easily. You will learn from their hard earned wisdom some tips, that can help you to improve your own photography.

Robert Capa

Capa by Gerda Taro

Capa by Gerda Taro

Robert Capa, who was actually born into this world under the name Endre Friedmann, was a Hungarian photographer and photojournalist. His passion was to give war photography to the masses in an up-close and personal way that had never been seen before. He was born in the October of 1913 and met his untimely end on May 25, 1954. In those 41 years Capa shot photographs in the heat of battle during five wars. His work virtually defined the image we have of World War II including the invasion of Normandy from the front lines of Omaha Beach.

In 1947, Capa was part of a group of photographers who came together in Paris to form Magnum Photos. Among the members of the group where such greats as Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, David “Chim” Seymour, and William Vandivert. Magnum would become the first worldwide agency for freelance photographers and photojournalists.

Lessons you can learn from Robert Capa

Position yourself for the shot

Increase your chances of making better photos by putting yourself into a position to make them. When I say “better position” I mean this both figuratively as well as literally. Capa was famous for saying, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” Capa was renowned for being fearless and would get right up in the action to make his photographs. Truly, as a general guideline, moving in close to your subject can improve not only the quality of an image but also increase its visual impact with the viewer.

That being said, putting yourself in the position to produce better work also means that you should know what photograph you are trying to capture. Come prepared to make the photograph, i.e. the right lens, tripod, permissions, etc. Lastly, be sure you know what needs to be done in order to make an exposure to the best of your potential.

Promote yourself creatively

Thumbs Up

Why did Andre Friedmann stop being Andre Friedmann and become Robert Capa? The answer is simply better marketing. If you’re of the exceptionally linguistic sort, you may have noticed that Capa is the Hungarian word for shark. When Capa was a boy, that was the nickname given to him by his friends. You see, Capa wasn’t getting very much attention under his given name, so a new persona was invented as front for his work. This new persona was that of famed but wholly fictional American photographer Robert Capa, who was supposedly touring Europe at the time. Clients loved it. Soon work was pouring in and Capa was on his way to becoming a photographic legend.

This doesn’t mean that you have to stop being you in order to be more successful as a photographer. It just means that sometimes you need to bring out a little creativity when you’re selling yourself as an artist. In a way, work to manufacture your own identity as an photographer. Cultivate your own style. Be sure to show only your best work. Tell the story of the photo instead of just showing it. Be charismatic and welcoming with your clients and don’t be afraid to speak favorably (not boastfully) of yourself and your work.

Don’t always obsess over technical perfection

Camera Display

This can be a very difficult task to master. It’s easy to get caught up in getting your aperture just right or making sure there’s not too much grain with that ISO. When it comes to photojournalistic imagery such as street photography, the emotions and mood of a scene or subject should command your primary attention. In the amount of time it might take to tweak that focus, the moment may pass by. The important thing is to teach yourself that a good exposure of a great moment, will almost always trump a great exposure of a mediocre scene.

Street Musician

This shot could have been focused better, but I might have missed the look of concentration.

Mentor those who want to learn

Books

This is a biggie, and perhaps one of the most important things you can learn from Robert Capa to help yourself grow as a photographer. Capa recognized that photography would never advance if there were no new photographers coming along to take the place of himself and his colleagues when their time had passed. So he directed a good bit of his time to networking with, and teaching, other photographers the craft.

When you mentor or otherwise give of yourself to help a new photographer better themselves, you are perhaps unknowingly having an enormous impact on the art of photography. An appreciation for the passing on of photographic principles and techniques is possibly the single greatest contribution a photographer can make to the world.

Jerry Uelsmann

Uelsmann

Image courtesy of Indiana University

To say this next photographer is an interesting individual is both accurate, and at the same time a resoundingly inadequate description. Born on June 11, 1934 in Detroit, Jerry Uelsmann is one of those great artists who flies just beneath the radar of the mainstream, but whose work is truly one-of-a-kind and inspiring. Like many, his rise in the photography world was slow and painstaking. He discovered photography as a teenager. By his own admission he believed that through making photos he was able to live outside of himself and reside in a world of his own creation.

He would eventually go on to obtain degrees from multiple colleges, and ultimately found himself teaching photography at the University of Florida in the early 1960’s. His career was kickstarted in 1967 when he landed a solo photography exhibition at the The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Jerry began his work about thirty years prior to the advent of photo editing software such as Photoshop. He rose to fame through his production of highly surreal and manipulated black and white photographs. He did everything in the darkroom – using may different negatives with up to twelve enlargers, that he then literally “layered” on top of one another to create his finished product. Many of his images combine elements of the natural world as well as humanistic representations and man-made objects.

Lessons you can learn from Jerry Uelsmann

Don’t be afraid to post-visualize

If you’re just starting out in photography then you likely have heard some key phrases mentioned over and over again. One of the most important is that of pre-visualization. Teachers and writers (myself included) love to verbalize or write poetic analogies about what it means to “see” an image before the shutter is released. What is meant by this is that you can teach yourself to mentally compose, frame, and process a photograph before it is ever made. Making photographs becomes so much more satisfying once you have managed to develop this difficult, yet essential photographic skill.

The flip-side of that coin is something that seldom gets talked about, but is nonetheless interesting and thought provoking. What we’re talking about here is the act of post-visualization. THis can be thought of as the exact opposite of pre-visualizing a photograph but it’s not exactly that easy. Uelsmann is literally the original master of this process. He photographed distinct objects and scenes, with the express intention of later making a finished work that blends together elements of each. Essentially, he saw the completed photograph after he already had produced a series of otherwise unrelated images.

Try out post-visualization for yourself. Go through some of your old images and see if the passing of time helps you look at them in a new way. Look for different crops that might make the image stronger. See if an image might work well in black and white and experiment with the shadows. Tweak the white balance and completely change the mood of a photo. That’s really all post-visualization is; looking at something that already exists and seeing what else it could become.

Waterfall

An image I made over four years ago.

Reworked Waterfall

Here we see it in a completely different way after some recent creative processing.

Fulfill your vision

Stay true to your vision. That is the key phrase that you should take away from this point. Uelsmann produced images that were hard to understand by some. They weren’t readily accepted, and the techniques he used where viewed by some as nothing but trickery. Still, he produced the images that he wanted regardless of what manipulation he had to do in the darkroom.

Do whatever you need to do. Be it post-processing, filters, funky borders, weird color selection – anything. It might not be to everyone’s liking, but thats the beauty of photography. Do whatever it takes to achieve the image that you set out to make.

You will fail, but you’re not a failure.

Failure

Jerry Uelsmann is a classic case of someone who refused to give up. He kept trying despite his initial difficulties in school, and the poor acceptance of his early work. Instead of shutting the doors of his darkroom for good he decided to keep going. Making images that moved him was his goal and he didn’t let life’s friction stop him.

The very nature of his work which was at first off-putting began to be what people came to love. So if you’re stuck on a project, you have trouble with a client, or even if your camera seems to be unlearnable, just remember to keep going. Nothing worth doing was ever easy.

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The post Lessons from the Masters: Robert Capa and Jerry Uelsmann by Adam Welch appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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11. Türchen: Robert Herrmann

11 Dec

11. Türchen

Wie auch im letzten Jahr haben wir uns in der Redaktion von kwerfeldein selbst umgehört, ob nicht jemand etwas Persönliches in eines unserer Kalendertürchen legen möchte. Immerhin machen wir selbst auch Fotos und daraus wiederum Bücher, Abzüge und andere schöne Dinge.

Im letzten Jahr hat Euch unsere Redakteurin Marit das Heft „monotony“ von Robert vorgestellt, das er ihr in einer schummerigen Lokalität über den Tisch schob. Und richtig, drei Exemplare dieses Heftes von Redakteur Robert Herrmann liegen unter anderem nun in diesem Türchen für Euch bereit.

monotony © Robert Herrmann

monotony

Seiten: 24
Abbildungen: 17 Schwarzweißfotografien
Sprache: Englisch
Druck: Digitaldruck
Softcover
Auflage: 50 Stück
Jedes Exemplar ist nummeriert und handsigniert

Aber das ist nicht alles!

Hinzu gesellen sich noch fünf Exemplare seines weiteren Büchleins „Der Atem der Straße“, erschienen anlässlich der gleichnamigen Ausstellung in der Fotogalerie Friedrichshain im Jahr 2011.


Ebenfalls auf 50 Stück limitiert, kann eines davon nun Euch gehören. Bestückt mit Gedichten und wunderbaren Straßenaufnahmen aus Tibet, Vietnam, Deutschland, China, Italien, Dänemark und dem Baltikum, die, als sie unser Herausgeber Martin Gommel wiederum das erste Mal sah, mit einem „Ohhhh“ und „Ahhhh“ quittiert wurden.

Der Fokus liegt hier auf den Bewohnern der uns fremden und bekannten Städte. 48 Abbildungen beleuchten die Stille und Hektik verschiedener Metropolen und lassen uns für einen Moment daran teilhaben, als wären wir selbst auf Reisen.

Um eines der acht Hefte zu gewinnen, schreibe einen Kommentar mit Deinem Wunschgewinn unter bürgerlichem Namen und gültiger E-Mail-Adresse bis heute um 24 Uhr. Danach verlosen wir sie per Zufallsgenerator unter allen Kommentatoren. Die genauen Gewinnspielregeln findest Du hier. Viel Glück!


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Unlocking the Secrets of Commercial Photography: The Robert Humphrey Interview

15 Nov

Commercial photography is an avenue many people think of when considering photography as a career. The steady payslip and indoor working conditions are a lure to anyone, but studio lighting and a tight work schedule can be the undoing of any great worker. Robert Humphreys is the photographer for Country Baskets, and here he talks about what it’s like to Continue Reading

The post Unlocking the Secrets of Commercial Photography: The Robert Humphrey Interview appeared first on Photodoto.


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Robert Capa speaks for himself: ‘The camera was far above my head’

02 Nov

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‘If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough’, said famed photographer Robert Capa. He was certainly close enough to take his iconic ‘Falling Solider’ photograph during the Spanish Civil War. In a recently discovered radio interview from the 1940s, Capa explains how he took the photo that many have since alleged was staged. Learn more

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Come Photowalk in the Biggest Photowalk In History with My Pals Trey Ratcliff and Robert Scoble — We’re Giving Away Google Glass!

09 May

New Videocast Photo Talk Plus Premiers Live Tonight at 8PM PST

Next Tuesday evening, May 14th at 5:30pm, my good pals Trey Ratcliff, Robert Scoble and the awesome team at Google+ Photos will be joining me for an historic and truly epic photowalk in San Francisco. We think it will probably be the largest photowalk ever held in the history of photowalking — already almost 600 people have signed up! We will start the walk in Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco.

Most exciting, one of our lucky photowalkers will win Google Glass. That’s right, a winner will be selected randomly — you must pre-register for the walk here and must be present at the end of the photowalk in person to win. We will go over the rules and details on how to win the Glass at the photowalk.

This is a free event open to everyone regardless of skill, experience, camera type, etc. Bring your Holga/Diana or your Canon 5D Mark III or your Rebel or your Android phone — or even that other phone that I can’t ever remember the name of ;)

We will be announcing more details between now and the event, but you won’t want to miss this fantastic San Francisco event. We will have a great afterparty too where we can all geek out about photography.

See you there!


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Imaging Resource unpacks the mystery of Robert Capa’s ‘Mexican suitcase’

06 Apr

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Imaging Resource has published an interesting article by Steve Meltzer, which examines the mystery of the so-called ‘Mexican suitcase’ – a long-lost collection of images taken by the late Robert Capa. Before escaping Europe ahead of the Nazi invasion of France, Capa entrusted a large number of negatives to a friend for safekeeping. The collection went missing, and was presumed lost for decades until being identified in Mexico in 1995. Robert Capa’s brother, Cornell Capa, finally got to see the long-lost negatives in 1997 – forty three years after his brother’s death. Click through for a link to the full story.

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Robert Rich Discusses Modular Synths (Part 2)

21 Jan

This is part 2 of musician Robert Rich discussing the Synth Tech MOTM synth he is using on his current live tour. Additional info about Robert can be found on his web site hrobertrich.com I took the oportunity to record video clips of this evening on my Nikon D300s camera using an AF-S Nikkor 35mm lens. Sound was recorded just using the camera’s built in mic, which while not optimal, yeilded reasonably good results. Thank you for watching and don’t forget to watch part one!
Video Rating: 5 / 5