Alfred Stieglitz, The Flatiron, 1903
Stieglitz has portrayed the Flatiron as if the building is not an important aspect of the photograph but we all know that its supposed to be the focal point as the Americans celebrated the building in the same way the French celebrate the Eiffel Tower it also portrayed the idea of modern America New York City
Stieglitz has composed his 1903 photograph in a similar way to the other photographers of the time capturing The Flatiron building as well this idea of the trees surrounding the city finding nature still existing in the city the use of the tree maybe also used to portray the idea of height to the viewer and the size of the building in the city and what New York is becoming the idea of Skyscrapers being built in New York. They all used natural day light lighting conditions maybe the photographers were trying to portray the mood of New York City
The Intention of Alfred Stieglitz was to capture the Flatiron in a new an innovative way due to the excitement of the Flatiron this new and incredible building. Stieglitz wanted to take the focus away from the building but onto the landscape surrounding the building the weather conditions also helped this and created this misty view covering the building and turner the focus onto the nature found in Madison Square Park .
Visual Strategies incorporated in to the work of The Flatiron were, an array of tones a lot of tonnage was captured in the twigs you can see the groves of the branches and the different textures found on the tree in comparison to the Flatiron itself where you cannot find too many tones just the brick work tones and the grain effect created from the type of film used. The camera was situated left of the building in line with a row of trees facing the building. The image has been focused on the upper third of the image where the tree splits into two parts. Stieglitz has used a small aperture to allow only a small amount of the image to be in focus.
Alvin Langdon Coburn, The Flatiron Building
Coburn Portrayed the Flatiron building in a different way than other photographers did for the early nineteenth century style of photography. Coburn wanted the building to be the focal point so he has everything surrounding the Flatiron is out of focus so the viewer concentrates on the building. The Flatiron in this image is represented as a mighty building towering across the rest of the city. From the people captured in this image it gives the building a different significance it portrays this idea that this was a wealthy area of the city men in suits and top hats which allows us to believe that this building had to be in perfect condition adding a quality to the New York Skyscrapers which had to be seen to keep the reputation of the villages of that area and era of the time.
Coburn has composed his photograph in a new innovative way for that era of time he has captured the whole environment of the Flatiron District the class of people found in that area the style of cars and the grandeur of the buildings. Due to the people having a less important impact on the image they are blurred this maybe also because there was movement in the image. This photograph has a natural not composed style about it I believe Coburn was trying to portray the lifestyle of the people in the Flatiron district.
Coburn’s visual strategies for this photograph were a small depth of field due to the top half of the photograph being in focus. The camera position was straight onto the people walking towards the camera the people are in line with the camera but was taken at a great distance from the building to enable him to capture the whole building and the sky. Coburn used mainly natural lighting with the help from the street lighting to light up the middle ground found in the photograph. The tones found in this image are two very distinct tonnages the buildings people cars and trees are very dark shadowed tones where as the sky, pavements and lights are very light tones which may be classed as a highlight.
Edward Steichen The Flatiron, New York
Steichen portrayed the Flatiron in a way that makes it appear less important in the context of the photograph due to the fact that it was taken early morning where it was still misty and dull looking outside you can hardly see the detail of the building just the outline.
The image has a feeling of a fine art painting, the top of the building has been cut out of the shot showing the large scale of the building. The use of the silhouettes created depth between the building and the foreground. The Flatiron showed the modern New York City
This was a Platinum print capturing picturesque environment. Steichen used a shallow depth of field to allow only a small the image to be in focus
Walter Gropius – The Flatiron Building , New York
The building is portrayed in a similar way to how the leaning tower of Pisa is photographed The composure of this photograph is very different to all the other photographs I have analysed of The Flatiron the whole photographic space is consumed by the building and the sky surrounding it. The intention of the photographer was to make sure that the viewer understood the composure and of the building and what it represents the coming of modern New York
Walker Evans, Flatiron Building
Evans captured his image from a different angle compared to the other photographers. He decided to capture The Flatiron from underneath this portrays a more documentary style of work showing the building for what it is. It also portrays this idea of importance to the American history. Evans positioned the camera underneath the building which has created an a ray of tones from midtones and shadows found in the architecture.
Bernice Abbott, The Flatiron Building
The Flatiron in Abbotts photograph is portrayed as a new innovative documented piece of photography. Abbott seems to portraying this image as documenting the scene in history rather than creating a piece of art work like some earlier photographers have done. Natural lighting was used, the camera was situated low down to capture the whole building in the frame a large depth of field was used to allow the whole image to be in focus.
From these six images the first three showed this iconic building as a fine art picturesque painting. Where as the last three photographers showed the Flat iron building as a documentary photograph recording the American icon in the century it was created.
No comments:
Post a Comment