Man Ray
Man Ray created photograms during the 20th century, he called them "rayographs". He experimented with numerous factors affecting photograms such as the length of time an object is exposed for and by moving objects as the image is being exposed. Each of Man Ray's images are well composed with an even amount of negative and positive spaces. My favourite "rayograph" by him is the first one in the slideshow of an unravelled camera film. I like the translucent organic shapes of the curled up film, the fact that the film is see-through means as a result it creates a much more interesting image than solid objects do. The intense contrast between the negative black space and the white positive space creates a strong difference in tones making the white feel a lot more powerful and stand out better. Lines also play a big part in his "rayographs" since the background of the image is black all the white object's outlines clearly show up creating many different lines. |
László Moholy-Nagy Photograms were most popular in the early twenties among photographers such as Moholy-Nagy, he used two methods of production The first consisted of placing the objects directly on a special photographic paper and exposing the whole thing to natural or artificial light: after a time the contours and shadows of the object left light surfaces on a dark background on the support. The second took place in a dark-room -where the evolution of the forms is no longer visible in real time- and the result could only be observed after developing and fixing the test. I think all of Moholy-Nagy's photograms are quite interesting, they all have semi translucent images in them and unusual compositions. However I am not that impressed with his work overall, I do not feel that they inspire me and I do not think his photograms of a high standard, but they were taken in the 1920s so for that period of time they are not too bad. |
Pierre Cordier
Belgian photographer, Pierre Cordier was a pioneer of the chemigram. Cordier stumbled across chemigrams by accident when he wrote out a dedication to a young German girl with nail polish on light sensitive paper. When Cordier first invented Chemigrams. they were not accepted by painters or photographers, the same as photograms in the twenties never received much public acceptance. Since the early 1980s chemigrams have become better well known and are studied by art schools. |
On The left is my favourite chemigram by Pierre Cordier, I love the mixture of different colours and shades of green, it reminds me of bits of glass washed up by the sea. I also like the presentation of the chemigram, the fact that it is a square reminds me of a small stained glass window, I think the image has quite a seaside feel to it probably because the different greens are quite similar to the colour of the sea. The rough, jagged border also adds to the overall feel and presentation of the chemigram giving the effect it could be ripped or broken. The mixed, geometric arrangement of squares and rectangles separated by thin black lines makes the image look really interesting, they are like building blocks stacked up on each other, the mixture of sizes also helps to create a greater contrast which is what makes this image so good. I would label this particular chemigram as a pattern because of the repeated shapes all next to each other, this is also the main and only focus in the image. |
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Eileen Quinlan is an american still-life photographer who shoots with medium and large format cameras.
She creates amazing geometric images full of angular shapes with beautiful dynamic contrasts and bright colouring. She experiments with shining artificial light onto glass and mirrors to reflect the intense colours. Her use of different materials and composition means her work results in a mass of colour and shapes that are almost like a kaleidoscope. Quinlan shoots only in film and tries her best to avoid using Photoshop and instead create all her effects naturally. I really like Eileen Quinlan's work. I think the colours are beautiful and the compositions are really well thought out and neatly put together. The first photo in the slideshow is my favourite piece of work by her, I really like the choice of colours in this image; dark green, streaks of teal, lime green, golden yellow, hints of orange and black. |