Darkroom Artist Research

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was an American photographer from the 1940’s through to the 1970’s who is known for her black and white prints of people who were different to what society considers to be the ‘norm’ such as the likes of giants, dwarves circus performers and so on. Diane Arbus was creating her photographs starting in the 1940’s this means that her photographs were shot on black and white film and she developed her photographs within a black and white darkroom as this was the only option for her during this time as colour photography was not widely used at this time. Unfortunately, Diane Arbus took her own life in 1971 as a result of depression and as sometimes happens, her death increased the interest in her work and a year later her work was displayed at the Venice Beinnale and millions of people saw her work featured in traveling exhibitions over the following few years. Here are some of Dianne Arbus’ photograph that I found interesting.

This photograph shows a person with a clear abnormality which is that the man in the photograph is quite a lot larger than the average sized person. This would mean he would have been known as a ‘giant’ by a lot of people and not seen as the ‘norm’. I like this photograph because I feel that it has a message behind it. The message being that even though this man would not be considered the ‘norm’ by a lot of people, the two other people in this photograph are still accepting of him. This is shown as they have welcomed him into their home. I think that another meaning behind this photograph is to show the sheer size difference between the two average sized people and this larger man and the purpose of this photograph is to showcase the fact that people who have conditions such as his do exist and should not be hidden away from media and art forms and that people with abnormal conditions are equal to the rest of society.

This is a photograph of a child holding a model grenade while stood in a park. I chose to include this photograph as I found it very interesting as there is such a contrast within this photograph. This contrast being that of the innocence of a young boy and the violence and destruction that the replica hand grenade represents. As this photograph is black and white, I feel that this adds extra atmosphere to the photograph highlighting the vast difference between the innocence and violence suggested within the image.

This is another photograph taken by Diane Arbus and it features a pair of identical twins. I chose to include this photograph as I thought it was such a simple photograph but it captures the ‘abnormalities’ which Arbus captured a lot within her work very well as identical twins are not all that common. I like the way the two girls in this photograph are positioned in the centre of this photograph and they are both dressed in the same way making the photograph nice and symmetrical. The facial expressions of these two girls differs slightly therefore if I was to shoot this photograph, I would try my best to make sure both of the girls also had matching facial expressions as this would make the photograph even more symmetrical than it already is.

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was an American landscape photographer who produced black and white photographs starting in the 1920s as in 1921, Ansel Adams produced his first photograph with the 1930’s being a very productive decade for him as he developed as a photographer and produced a lot of his work within this decade. Ansel Adams had a very successful career spanning around 60 years in which time he produced some truly beautiful photographs. As Ansel Adams was producing photographs as of the 1920s, this meant that he specialised in black and white photography as, at the time, this was all that was available to photographers. I feel that the black and white photographs produced by Ansel Adams are very beautiful and they capture a lot of atmosphere while the majority of his photographs remain simple yet effective. Here are some of Ansel Adams’ photographs which I find particularly nice

This photograph is called Mount Williamson. I chose to include this photograph as I love the way in which this photograph is composed with the rocks filling 2 thirds of the image and the mountains drenched with sun beams gracefully fill the top third of this photograph. This photograph is very appealing to look at.

This photograph is called Rose and Driftwood. I chose to include this image as I love the simplicity yet intricacy of this photograph. This photograph is such a simple and beautiful idea and I love the contrast of the gentle and pure rose against the intricate pattern of the driftwood which it lays on. I also really like the composition of this photograph as the rose is situated just off centre. This allowed the entire rose to be in shot while still being able to show off the pattern of the driftwood which may have been lost of the rose was situated perfectly central. 

This photograph is called Vernal Fall. This photograph shows a waterfall and the surrounding area. I chose to include this photograph as it differs quite a lot from the other two photographs which I have included as the previous two images were quite simplistic however there is a lot going on within this image. I like this photograph because although there is a lot going on within this image, the detailing is not lost and you can still see the rock detail on the mountain behind the waterfall.