Archive for the ‘Wedding Photography’ Category
Ever since photography was invented, there have been famous names associated with it. Ansel Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Dorothea Lang are just a few of those who have changed how we look at the world and at photography. What about famous photographers today, those who are currently changing the way the world looks at photography, especially at portrait photography.
One of the all time great portrait photographers was Don Blair. He was known as a master in the field of portrait photography where he used lighting and composition to create timeless images. His interest in photography came when he was in sixth grade, when he went to work for a photography studio carrying equipment and helping in the lab. He learned all he could from the owner of the studio and eventually took it over and named it Don Blair Photo Studio. He was an advocate of continued learning and growth. He was known for his kindness to amateur and professional alike, and was willing to share what he knew with everyone, if they had the desire to learn. He was a mentor to many contemporary photographers.
One couple that he mentored is Joseph and Louise Simone out of Quebec, Canada. They learned the skills of seeing light and paying attention to composition and use this to not just take pictures, but create art with their photography. They met while working at Don Blair’s photo studio in the 70’s. The experience they had at his studio and the things they learned set them on their photographic path and they are still creating beautiful photography today. They are unique in their photography in that Louise “paints” their portraits after they have been photographed. She uses both Corel Painter and Photoshop tools to do her painting digitally, creating timeless, lasting portraiture.
Anne Geddes is another photographer who has chosen a different subject and path for her art, with a very successful outcome. It wasn’t until age 25 that she really started into photography. She had always loved looking at images and when she finally started capturing them, the results were spectacular. She specializes in infant and childhood photography and keeps the prints simple and clean. She often times uses props or adds in props digitally after the shoot. Her style is innovative in that she is the first to pose infants in such simplistic, unique poses. As a mother herself she knows and understands children and her photography reflects this. Each of Anne Geddes photos capture more than just a stunning image, it is difficult to look at Anne Geddes photos and not feel an emotional connection to the image.
Capturing portrait photographs of individuals is more than just capturing an image, it is about capturing facets of the subject’s character and those subtleties that make them a unique individual. Great portrait photographs speak volumes about the person. Great portrait photographers capture not just the likeness of the individual, but also preserves the person’s personality.
Portrait photographs are cherished because they capture and preserve an individual at a specific point in their life.
Art museum is the collections of much variety of exhibitions and paintings. There are old art, new art, pretty art, art that makes us think or is even shocking. Anything that people experience turns up in art: love, war, eating, sports, nature, and faith, anything at all. Most museums are either free or have free days when you can go and enjoy the art. Commercial galleries are also free. Many places offer free lectures, either by an artist whose work is on display, or by individuals who are very knowledgeable in a particular collection on display.
At Saatchi Gallery you can see the List of Main Art Museums around the World as follows.
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art is the leading advocate of 20th- and 21st-century American art. Founded in 1930, the Museum is regarded as the preeminent collection of American art and includes major works and materials from the estate of Edward Hopper, the largest public collection of works by Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, and Lucas Samaras, as well as significant works by Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Georgia O’Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Kiki Smith, and Andy Warhol, among other artists.
The State Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg is Russia’s premier art museum. It began life as the private art collection of the imperial family and was nationalised and greatly expanded after the Revolution. The Museum is housed in the buildings of the former imperial palace in the centre of St Petersburg.
Art Institute of Chicago
A world of art is on display––European and American paintings, sculpture, prints and drawings, photographs, textiles, decorative arts, and architectural fragments and drawings, plus the arts of Asia, Africa and the ancient Americas.
British Museum
The British Museum holds in trust for the nation and the world a collection of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures. Housed in one of Britain’s architectural landmarks, the collection is one of the finest in existence, spanning two million years of human history. Access to the collections is free.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston was founded in February 4, 1870 and on July 3, 1876 opened its doors of its building in Copley Square, a John H. Sturgis and Charles Brigham-designed gothic structure of red brick and terra-cotta.
Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston was discovered by Flo Ziegfeld of the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Flo was a master of publicity and when he saw what “Cheney” was capable of creating with a large studio camera and glass plate negatives, Ziegfeld hired the young photographer on the spot. Cheney was shrewd beyond his years thanks to being mentored by family friend and famous illustrator Charles Dana Gibson who became famous for the Gibson Girl drawings. Gibson advised Cheney to make sure every photograph of his had the name, Alfred Cheney Johnston, clearly stamped on it. Thanks to that bit of advice Cheney would become world reknown for his amazingly beautiful photographs of the gorgeous stars of the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway.
Cheney, though married since his art school days promoted himself in the Manhatten night club scene as a bachelor man about town. There is some evidence to suggest that this was an agreed upon arrangement between he and his wife Doris possibly to enhance his artistic career. They lived seperately. By day Cheney would photograph some of the most beautiful and alluring women in Manhatten. And in the evenings he attended a myriad of parties or stood backstage watching the amazing Follies production while cheering the Follies Girls on during their musical or dance numbers.
Alfred Cheney Johnston shot thousands of photographs in his life time. He was in great demand both by Flo Ziegfeld, the denizons of high society in New York City and the Hollywood Studios until the stock market crashed. It wiped out Flo Ziegfeld who’d always spent money like it was water. The Follies were forced to close down. Cheney’s steady and most lucrative job abruptly ended.
Cheney and his wife eventually bought a farm on the edge of Oxford in rural CT. The barn was converted into a photography studio. There he dabbled in giving photography lessons. On a couple occasions Johnston attempted opening studios in the surrounding towns but nothing much came of them. Alfred Cheney Johnston’s star slowly faded over the years.
Sensing a need late in life to have his work live on after him, Johnston contacted the Museum of Modern Art where Edward Stiechen was the curator of the Photography Department to offer the museum a collection of his famous images. Stiechen turned him down.
Ultimately it may have been Stiechen and Stieglitz who delivered the greatest blow to Alfred Cheney Johnston’s photographic legacy. Did they deem him too commercial? If so, how unfair, for Stiechen did commercial photography throughout his career.
It appears that Alfred Cheney Johnston simply lacked the business sense to steer his photography career successfully. At the point that Johnston lost Flo Ziegfeld as his greatest and wealthiest client, his career began to slowly and systematically unravel. Johnston who was trained in the classic fine art traditions of Europe may have been overwhelmingly ruled his artist’s soul which possessed little interest in the business side of his career as a photographer.
Thanks to the internet however Alfred Cheney Johnston’s photography is being re-discovered by photographers and collectors worldwide. The beauty of his work and the depth of his creativity can no longer be denied.