“Bill Cunningham, NYC” by Scott Schuman

        Scott Schuman is an American fashion photographer who primarily does commercial work, but has also been featured in several Conde Nast publications. He is most well-known for his ongoing street photography project, which he maintains in the form of a blog located at thesartorialist.com. The photographs displayed on the site, which has also spun off into a book deal, feature mostly strangers he encounters along the streets of Europe and New York whom he finds to be visually-inspiring.

        The subject of “Bill Cunningham, NYC” is, not surprisingly, Bill Cunningham. He is a fellow street fashion photographer, with a much more prolific career than Schuman’s as he has been working in the field much longer, primarily through his work with the New York Times. The photograph is dated September 10, 2008, which would place it in the middle of New York Fashion Week. In the image, the weather is clearly rainy and Cunningham is shown draped in a black garbage bag while attempting to photograph passer-bys. On his blog, Schuman simply states, “The man just goes and goes and goes.” One might guess that Cunningham is someone for whom Schuman has much respect.

        A repeating subject of Schuman’s work is accidental fashion. Often, he finds the most well-assembled outfits on the homeless or elderly, who are not concerned about fashion in the slightest and probably could not name a single designer. The photograph of Cunningham is no exception to this theme. The wearing of the garbage bag does not appear “trashy” in the slightest. The manner in which he has it draped around his shoulders causes it to resemble some sort of patent leather or vinyl black poncho. The subject does not appear to be wearing a trash bag at first glance. Through this image, Schuman is showing how something practical and last-minute can actually look good.

        This image is also a good representation of Schuman’s photography style on the whole. He literally tends to shoot color photographs on the street or sidewalk, typically in some sort of visually-appealing neighborhood. However, as far as subjects go, he shows no discrimination for age, sex or ethnicity. Schuman’s subjects only need be interesting in appearance. Typically, they are either stopped and asked to be photographed or just snapped on the go, as in this one. Also, his subjects always appear very crisp and in color, always shown from head to toe. One can easily pick apart the details of the person’s ensemble. Sometimes, in addition to showing the entire body, Schuman will accompany the image with a detail shot of something of particular interest. Meanwhile, the background is clearly visible but slightly out of focus. Schuman’s style of photography is easily recognized in comparison to other street fashion photographers due to its great clarity.

A Comparison of Eadweard Muybridge and Scott Schumann

Thirty years after photography’s birth, motion was still an undeveloped area in the field. In Eadweard Muybridge’s 1869 picture, “A Study of Clouds,” four frames depicting movement are juxtaposed to display the sky in a black and white albumen print. The photograph appears to be a bridge between the camera’s use in the scientific and artistic realms. The picture is beautiful but also could be relevant in classification of clouds, thus serving a dual purpose.

Muybridge is possibly most well-known for his studies of motion using photography. In other pictures, he documents the movement of horses and hands, thus assisting the scientific community. These photographs have proved useful in settling debates, such as whether a horse lifts all its feet off the ground while it gallops. Another set of his pictures depict a cat being dropped upside-down and landing on its feet right side up, so scientists could study the motion. The set used for “A Study of Clouds” could easily serve a similar purpose. Previously, a scientist would have to draw out clouds to study them, which is likely to be fairly inaccurate. A photograph is much more precise than a drawing. Also, a photograph captures a moment in time. Previously moments were only captured in one’s memory, which is not as strong as a picture. Through the use of photography in science, the picture can be created and further examined at a later point in time, allowing scientists to be more accurate in this sense. Also, because a photograph can be taken quicker than a drawing can be created, Muybridge is able to take rapid shots, rather than having to spend minutes or hours sketching. In this manner, these photographs are especially relevant in classification.

While “A Study of Clouds” is in the same vain as his other photography, it also has features which give it artistic merit. The picture gives the effect of laying in a pile of grass and staring up at a cloudy sky. The black and white format and the haziness of the photograph cause the images to appear a bit dreamy. This relaxing effect is furthered by the imagery itself. In each of the four images one can see different shapes which can be interpreted to be different items, as is common practice in sky-gazing. In this manner, the photograph takes one back to the comfort of childhood, as sky-gazing is often done by children who have plenty of free-time, as opposed to adults who are bogged down by full-time jobs and families for which they must care. Adding to this effect is the final cloud of the lower right-hand side, which resembles a body of water. The “water” is also a calming throwback to youth, in that it reminds one of the womb. Thus, the picture overall has a very relaxing mood. In this manner, Muybridge creates photographic art which has a similar effect to the work of painter Mark Rothko, whose color-blocks are designed to give the viewer an emotion via their primitive nature. The effect of “A Study of Clouds” is similar to several of Rothko’s paintings which cause the viewer to feel calm. If Muybridge is able to use photography to the same effect as a painter, the argument that photography is an art-form is given further evidence. Clearly, this photograph can be viewed as art, even if its original purpose was for the science world.

Over 130 years after Muybridge’s image was created comes the work of Scott Schuman, an American fashion photographer who primarily does commercial work, but has also been featured in several Conde Nast publications. He is most well-known for his ongoing street photography project, which he maintains in the form of a blog located at thesartorialist.com. The photographs displayed on the site, which has also spun off into a book deal, feature mostly strangers he encounters along the streets of Europe and New York whom he finds to be visually-inspiring.

The subject of “Bill Cunningham, NYC” is, not surprisingly, Bill Cunningham. He is a fellow street fashion photographer, with a much more prolific career than Schuman’s as he has been working in the field much longer, primarily through his work with the New York Times. The photograph is dated September 10, 2008, which would place it in the middle of New York Fashion Week. In the image, the weather is clearly rainy and Cunningham is shown draped in a black garbage bag while attempting to photograph passer-bys. On his blog, Schuman simply states, “The man just goes and goes and goes.” One might guess that Cunningham is someone for whom Schuman has much respect.

A repeating subject of Schuman’s work is accidental fashion. Often, he finds the most well-assembled outfits on the homeless or elderly, who are not concerned about fashion in the slightest and probably could not name a single designer. The photograph of Cunningham is no exception to this theme. The wearing of the garbage bag does not appear “trashy” in the slightest. The manner in which he has it draped around his shoulders causes it to resemble some sort of patent leather or vinyl black poncho. The subject does not appear to be wearing a trash bag at first glance. Through this image, Schuman is showing how something practical and last-minute can actually look good.

This image is also a good representation of Schuman’s photography style on the whole. He literally tends to shoot color photographs on the street or sidewalk, typically in some sort of visually-appealing neighborhood. However, as far as subjects go, he shows no discrimination for age, sex or ethnicity. Schuman’s subjects only need be interesting in appearance. Typically, they are either stopped and asked to be photographed or just snapped on the go, as in this one. Also, his subjects always appear very crisp and in color, always shown from head to toe. One can easily pick apart the details of the person’s ensemble. Sometimes, in addition to showing the entire body, Schuman will accompany the image with a detail shot of something of particular interest. Meanwhile, the background is clearly visible but slightly out of focus. Schuman’s style of photography is easily recognized in comparison to other street fashion photographers due to its great clarity.

Many of the differences between Schuman and Muybridge’s work are glaringly obvious, given the passing of well over a hundred years between photographs. Schuman’s image is in color and taken with a digital camera. The picture is a portrait and he is able to focus in on his subject with great clarity. In some ways, what Schuman is doing seems childish. While he is not the first to pay homage to an idol, the image really appears to be more like a pin-up for the avid photographer’s equivalent of Teen Beat magazine. Meanwhile, Muybridge’s clouds are shown in a black and white albumen print. The closest one could classify the image as is probably nature photography. The picture lacks the clarity of Schuman’s as Muybridge did not have the same technology available to him. Also, rather than a single image, Muybridge has strung together four of them. In comparison to Schuman, his picture is more mature. The purpose of the photograph is not idolatry, but scientific. Muybridge is trying to use the fledgling art of photography to further the field of science, while Schuman is working towards entertaining an audience and himself. Also, while Schuman’s image is fairly straight-forward, Muybridge’s clouds are much more abstract.

However, the two photographs are not without similarities. Both are a form of documentation. Muybridge is documenting cloud formations to pass on to scientists and Schuman is documenting an encounter with his colleague to share with his audience. Both are debatable in their artistic merit. Schuman’s photograph is not necessarily appealing to the eye and does not contribute to his field of street fashion photography. While Muybridge’s images are visually-stimulating, he is unlikely to have created them towards that purpose. He explicitly states an intent to assist science through the new photographic technology which allows him to capture motion. Also, in their separate ways, the two images are examples of what these photographers normally create. Muybridge photograhed motion and, as per usual, these photographs show the motion of clouds. Meanwhile, Schuman does full length portraits of people who stand out to him on the streets and this image is no exception.

A Comparison of Richard Avedon and Nan Goldin

Richard Avedon was a Russian-Jewish photographer who worked primarily between 1946 and 2004, when he died of a cerebral haemorrhage in San Antonio, Texas. He began his career as the merchant marine in charge of taking the portraits for crewmen’s identification cards. He only kept the job for a few years before moving onto work as an advertising photographer at a department store. After a very short time, the artistic director of Harper’s Bazaar discovered him and by 1946 he was the magazine’s head photographer. Avedon was interested in fashion photography from a young age. Growing up, he read his parents’ subscriptions to Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar. He plastered his bedroom walls with his favorite photographs, particularly those of Hungarian photographer, Martin Munkacsi. However, attempts by Life Magazine to commission photojournalistic images from Avedon resulted in the photographer’s realization that he felt morally obligated not to take pictures of subjects without their knowledge or consent, as that type of photography demands. Furthermore, he did not want a magazine to muck up his pictures with some sort of layout which would take away from the mood he wished for his images to convey. The photographer continued to work in fashion photography throughout his life, receiving several retrospectives starting in 1962. Between 1980 and 1985, he began his famous series, “In the American West,” which documented the people who lived in the Texas countryside (Avedon 10-28).

The photographs Avedon did fall into two categories. Initially, his work captured the essence of city life and high society. His images typically either use New York or Paris as a background. “Homage to Munkacsi” shows a model holding a black umbrella and displaying a Pierre Cardin coat leaping off a Paris sidewalk while crossing the street. Also, Avedon primarily works with models or non-mainstream celebrities, such as Truman Capote, Dorian Leigh and Marian Anderson. His photograph, “Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent,” in which the title model is wrapped in a snake who is hissing into her ear, has become an iconic poster. Both New York City and high society come together in his group image, “Andy Warhol and Members of the Factory.” The image does not show the Factory itself, but rather, the people of the Factory interacting. The lack of backdrop suggests that the Factory is actually made such by the people who work there rather than the space itself. Forty years into his career, Avedon took a different approach to his photography through his series, “In the American West.” The series shows the people of rural Texas taken out of their natural habitat and depicted against a plain, white backdrop. Besides being visually-striking due to the black and white contrast of the photographs, many appear to have an intensity in the images which likely dissipates in their normal environments which lends to the idea that the camera deceives the eye.

Nan Goldin lived a very different life from Richard Avedon. Growing up in 1960s east coast suburbia, she used photography to display the dysfunction which was mostly kept hush at the time. When she was eleven, her teenage sister committed suicide. A week later, Goldin was seduced by an older man, who awakened her to the concept of sexuality, which became a theme throughout her life. The high school she attended used a new age form of education in which there were no classes, which only gave her more free time in which to explore sexuality. She began to photograph for her school when she turned eighteen as she became more social and began drinking more. The images she produced were a way for her to keep her memories as a sort of diary. After high school, Goldin left her home to live amongst friends, creating a new family among them which relied heavily on sexual bonds. Goldin continued her photography in fear that she might have her history as seen through her eyes in the event that one of these new “family members” ever left her in the manner which her sister did. In 1986, she published her book, “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency,” which displays a small portion of the photographs she kept (Goldin 6-9).

Goldin’s photographs tell a story involving themes of human interaction and American taboos. Typically her images are shown not singularly, but in correlating groups in order to give some sort of history. For example, “Susan in the Shower” is shown alongside “Kaethe in the Tub” and “Ryan in the Tub.” While Goldin is in many of the photographs, most of them show the people she surrounds herself with, which lends to the idea that a person is composed of their interactions with others. Even though the pictures are not of her, they still tell her life story, as she took them as she went about her daily life. Furthermore, a lot of her images are of two people rather than one, showing how humans in her life interact with each other. However, this interaction nearly always goes against the norm or displays that which American society attempts to hide. For example, Goldin seems to have no problem showing a group of men congregating in a bathroom while one urinates in her photograph, “Boys Pissing.” She shows child sexuality in the image, “Antonia,” which shows a young girl laying on her back in a dress with her legs spread. While this is a normal activity for a girl her age, it is not one which is openly discussed.

One obvious difference between the two photographers’ images is that Avedon almost always shoots in black and white while Goldin shoots in color. However, this says a lot about their opposing styles. Goldin is trying to capture a moment in her life with as much clarity as she can manage so she can hold onto a memory. Color helps facilitate the process of remembering. Meanwhile, Avedon’s photographs are more concerned with style than content. Although his images have clear themes, his real talent shows through his use of proportion, contrast and line. One of his most famous images, “Dovima with Elephants” utilizes the black and white palette. The whites and blacks of her dress appear crisper in the single palette. The elephants in the backdrop use their trunks to pose similarly to the model’s use of her arm, which creates a strong wavy line. While many of Avedon’s images appear to be improvisational, they are almost always posed, as he discovered his aversion to voyeuristic photography early in his career. Meanwhile, Goldin is very explicit in her desire to allow others to peer into her life through her photograph sets. She has no issue showing the intimate details of her life, such as her boyfriend’s post-intercourse cigarette.

In some manners, the two photographers find common ground. Both of them use photography for documentation and social commentary, but they do so in their own styles. Although he is not documenting his subjects in their typical environments, Avedon’s “In the American West” series does successfully depict the people of the Texas countryside. The use of a white background serves to make certain the viewer’s eye is focused on the subject, rather than the subject’s surroundings. However, one only sees part of the picture as they do not see any other details of the subject’s life. The series proves to be a sharp commentary on what is normal of Americans. The subjects are flawed and intense, rather than attractive and relaxed. Meanwhile, Goldin not only shows a lot of content in her photograph’s in relation to her subject, but she almost writes a biography for some of them by using pictures. One of her most famous sets involve Cookie, who many people feel they can relate to through Goldin’s sets of her. Also, her work provides commentary on a number of subjects, including sexuality, AIDS, human interactions, the nature of family, abuse and drug-use.

Works Cited

Avedon, Richard, Michael Juul. Holm, and Helle Crenzien. Richard Avedon Photographs, 1946-2004. Humlebæk, Denmark: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2007. Print.

Goldin, Nan, Marvin Heiferman, Mark Holborn, and Suzanne Fletcher. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. New York, N.Y.: Aperture Foundation, 1986. Print.

“A Study of Clouds” by Eadweard Muybridge

Thirty years after photography’s birth, motion was still an undeveloped area in the field. In Eadweard Muybridge’s 1869 picture, “A Study of Clouds,” four frames depicting movement are juxtaposed to display the sky in a black and white albumen print. The photograph appears to be a bridge between the camera’s use in the scientific and artistic realms. The picture is beautiful but also could be relevant in classification of clouds, thus serving a dual purpose.

Muybridge is possibly most well-known for his studies of motion using photography. In other pictures, he documents the movement of horses and hands, thus assisting the scientific community. These photographs have proved useful in settling debates, such as whether a horse lifts all its feet off the ground while it gallops. Another set of his pictures depict a cat being dropped upside-down and landing on its feet right side up, so scientists could study the motion. The set used for “A Study of Clouds” could easily serve a similar purpose. Previously, a scientist would have to draw out clouds to study them, which is likely to be fairly inaccurate. A photograph is much more precise than a drawing. Also, a photograph captures a moment in time. Previously moments were only captured in one’s memory, which is not as strong as a picture. Through the use of photography in science, the picture can be created and further examined at a later point in time, allowing scientists to be more accurate in this sense. Also, because a photograph can be taken quicker than a drawing can be created, Muybridge is able to take rapid shots, rather than having to spend minutes or hours sketching. In this manner, these photographs are especially relevant in classification.

While “A Study of Clouds” is in the same vain as his other photography, it also has features which give it artistic merit. The picture gives the effect of laying in a pile of grass and staring up at a cloudy sky. The black and white format and the haziness of the photograph cause the images to appear a bit dreamy. This relaxing effect is furthered by the imagery itself. In each of the four images one can see different shapes which can be interpreted to be different items, as is common practice in sky-gazing. In this manner, the photograph takes one back to the comfort of childhood, as sky-gazing is often done by children who have plenty of free-time, as opposed to adults who are bogged down by full-time jobs and families for which they must care. Adding to this effect is the final cloud of the lower right-hand side, which resembles a body of water. The “water” is also a calming throwback to youth, in that it reminds one of the womb. Thus, the picture overall has a very relaxing mood. In this manner, Muybridge creates photographic art which has a similar effect to the work of painter Mark Rothko, whose color-blocks are designed to give the viewer an emotion via their primitive nature. The effect of “A Study of Clouds” is similar to several of Rothko’s paintings which cause the viewer to feel calm. If Muybridge is able to use photography to the same effect as a painter, the argument that photography is an art-form is given further evidence. Clearly, this photograph can be viewed as art, even if its original purpose was for the science world.

“A Study of Clouds” by Eadweard Muybridge shows the artistic beauty within science. Not only is this photograph helpful within the scientific community through its study of motion, but it is also pleasing to the eye, giving it artistic credit. The calming tone is a far cry from the staleness of a laboratory full of beakers, bringing art into the scientific sphere.

The American Tintype: A Book Review

The tintype, also known as ferrotype or melainotype, was one of the first available photographic methods and particularly faired well in America during the Civil War. Despite its name, very slim pieces of sensitized iron, rather than tin, were used to take a positive print. In Floyd Rinhart, Marion Rinhart and Robert W Wagner’s The American Tintype, the technology’s history is explored in two parts. The book’s first half concerns the history of the actual tintype process, while the second half examines tintype photographs for cultural clues into the lives of Americans during the second half of the nineteenth century. Besides the text itself, the book features plenty of examples of tintype, many of which are printed there for the first time.

The images in the book serve both artistic and historical value, making the collections featured in the second portion of the text particularly interesting. Through section’s focused on the men’s sphere versus the women’s sphere, important life events and vacations, one can gain a better understanding of the era’s culture than that which is found through only reading a text. Since the process was cheaper than its predecessors, it also captures moments in lives of a broader group of people in very nice detail. Additionally, a section concerning fakes and forgeries using tintype reveals an interest in both the supernatural, through fake images of spirits, and heroes, through fake photographs of political figures. Meanwhile, explanations of the tintype processes allow for a greater appreciation of the technical history and display the process’ inferiority to modern film development methods. Not only does the book cover that portion of photographic history, but the photographs it displays also serve as an excellent resource to those interested in the period’s general history in America.

Rinhart, Floyd, Marion Rinhart and Robert W Wagner. The American Tintype. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press. 1999.