Photo Montage

Photoshop

AirBrush

Exposure = Aperture and Shutter Speed

  Exposure = Aperture and Shutter Speed

shallow depth of field

great depth of field

slow shutter speed

fast shutter speed

panning

The Genius of Photography - Episode 1: A Review

"The photographer was to the 19th century, what the scientist is to the 21st."

In this episode of 'The Genius of Photography', we are shown the very birth of photography itself, and what purpose it actually holds in our world. I found the episode very informative in terms of its explanations of photography's importance in the 19th century, at one point comparing it to new technologies of the era, such as telegraphs and railway lines. It really highlighted the immense effect photography made on the world in a more technologically primitive era.

The episode compares the potraitist Nadar, who took photographs solely as an art form, to more recent generations - the Kodak revolutionaries - who have opened photography and it's meaning up to a whole new world, with different techniques and purposes in taking a picture.

The programme goes on to describe amateur photographer, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, a Parisian, who used the best technology of his time to further revolutionise the art of photography. Lartigue incorporated movement in his photographs, as a form of humour and wonderment, in an era where movement would previously have resulted in a blurry and disoriented picture. His ideas provoked many more photographers to do the same, and it changed photography forever.

My favourite image from this episode involves Lartigue's cousin, whom he simply asked to jump from the top of a set of steps, and captured mid-air. The photograph went on to become one of his most famous. In the album containing the original photograph, Lartigue wrote that his cousin "jumps for (his) snaps", obviously appreciative of the relative risk involved, and the enablement to perfect his art form.

The Genius of Photography opened up the world of photography and its history to me like nothing I've seen before, and although I thought I'd be bored by it, it was a genuinely interesting 58 minutes. It made me realise that at times we take technology today for granted. We have settings on digital cameras or smartphones now that these artists and entrepreneurs craved in their heyday. And it's as a result of their phenomenal work and effort that we have them to use today, be it for art like Lartigue, or while trying to instantly capture your friend vomiting in the bathrooms at Coppers, so you can hold them to emotional ransom the next day. (I joke, kind of.) It was a very insightful programme and helped me to understand the world of photography and how it has developed.

'VILNIUS' by Kestutis Stoskus: A Review

'VILNIUS' by Kestutis Stoskus: A Review

We recently visited Kestutis Stoskus' 'VILNIUS' exhibition in the Gallery of Photography, Temple Bar, Dublin.

The exhibition focuses on largely on the city of Vilnius itself - its architectural beauty, it's peaceful surroundings, its winding streets. Stoskus tends not to include people in his photography, which gave me a rather chilling and lifeless impression of what seems like an aesthetically gorgeous city. I personally prefer an element of human life in photography, in the sense that - to me anyway - it better portrays the emotions and feelings of every day life. Stoskus believes he can portray these same traits by way of the buildings' architecture - which is fine and he has elicited much success from it - but from a personal point of view, I found the exhibition a little bit depressing and void of life as a result.

The photographs themselves are fine pieces of work, but to me the exhibition as a whole made me feel rather lonely and sad.

Ironically, I had chosen my favourite picture from the gallery before my knowledge of Stoskus' preference to not include people in his photography. The picture that appealed to me most, 'Intersection of Subaciaus and Boksto streets', shows two people scurrying across a street which transects the street on which Stoskus stands, presumably still. I think the rarity in Stoskus' inclusion of the people means the photograph was intended to involve a human interaction of sorts, for he could otherwise have waited a brief moment while they left camera shot. Their running along one street in contrast to the photographer's obviously calm, still demeanour opposite them, to me represents humanity. It shows that while you're doing one thing, somebody else is doing another. We do not work to the same beat. We are all different and lead different lives, living through different trials and tribulations at the same time as each other.

What I took the photograph to represent interested me greatly, which contrasted my feelings towards the gallery as a whole. It was the human element that swayed me towards 'Intersection', and lack thereof that turned me away from other more chillingly lonely photographs.