Steve McCurrry most commonly uses strong colour in his pictures, which is what I have chosen to copy from his work. Almost all of his work has a human element in them, where as I prefer the colour element of his work; the human side of his work makes his work more evocative and connects to the audience more.
The two pictures are most similar in the lighting (although the reverse of each other) - blue light one side, yellow light on the faces. They very clearly have completely different subjects - the first was taken in a Emerald mine, the second while shopping at twighlight. The picture was taken (while looking for images similar to original pictures by McCurry) for the colour, rather than making the aesthetic and composition the same as the original.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Cartier-Bresson was a post-war photographer in France in the 1940's and '50's. His work is often said to be very down to earth - capturing life, as well as events. Many people see composition as his works greatest feature, his delight in showing every thing and nothing in a single frame. His picture below of a young woman reading a paper tells you (roughly) when it was taken from the clothes, the general opinion of the new fashion from an older generation, and there are (from the reflection in the glass - showing a lot of people) quite a few people out - it is busy; but you don't know what she's reading, where she works - if she works, or if 'young woman' means 15 or 30.
The composition is similar in both photos, in the original the main focus is on the lamp pointed to the left, in my version the focus is on the girl taking the photo, who is also pointed in the same way as the lamp in Cartier-Bressons photo. The original photo was taken during the day, while the second was after dark; the first was taken on the set of a film, the second on the set of an amateur photography shoot. There are less people in the second photograph to the first, from their stances, they are unlikely to be aware of the second camera.
For all the photographs by Larry Fink I have chosen to copy I have chosen to use flash, as, for his later work, it was a signature method.
Finks work has ranged from political satire, to fashion and event photography. What I like is his use of flash and black-and-white - for modern events etc it creates an eerily 1950's style picture.
In the original picture (below) the 3 women in the focal point of the picture are taking an interest in the same thing - unfortunately, in the picture I took, which I didn't notice at the time, the girl on the left is looking at her phone, instead of where the other two girls are looking; although the general stance of the 3 subjects is very similar in both pictures.
There are more people in the original to the version I made, which changes the feel behind the picture - the original with more people (all dancing) is blatantly a party of some kind, the remake, with its darker background and lack of people is quieter, and slightly sadder without them.
Making the photo for this turned into fun, so instead of looking tired and a little upset, like in the original with the young girl, the shorter model is in fact smiling and looks very awake. The angle I had my camera at when I took the picture is very different to Finks picture of a girl, where only the back and bottom of the (mother?) taller figure can be seen, while in my picture the front and head are both integral parts of the picture. This changes the feel just as much as the expressions do - you know more about the taller person, her expression, her features, etc.
Evaluation
The project so far has been a mixture of hard and easy. Some of the research was hard to come by - either because books were not owned by the college libraries or some of the information had not been added to the internet. Researching can be a very dull activity, often made harder when it is a necessity, researching is not a natural talent of mine, which made the first part of the project quite hard. Initially the project made very little sense, after it had been explained again in more detail, it was very easy to follow and understand. I have enjoyed analysing the photographs and trying to work out why they were taken, what of, and why. The third task was far more interesting than the first, second and fourth. I dont think I did the third task in exactly the right order; I had found picture I liked, but for the fact that all the photographers I chose to research and copy mostly worked showing moments, I tried to capture what came my way, rather than setting up the images to recreate what I’d found excatly. This means that the images are possibly too loose, too different to the original and I will have to take them again at some point.
Bibliography
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=larry+fink&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1223&bih=895&tbm=isch&tbnid=Y5dJTpGLql8QDM:&imgrefurl=http://tablettalk.com/2011/02/22/larry-fink-hollywood-at-lacma/&docid=2ePnQtCvyI4ngM&imgurl=http://tablettalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/larry-fink-lohan.jpg&w=810&h=400&ei=vozTTuKMBJDTsgbg-YDMDA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=226&sig=103364501929718450216&page=3&tbnh=145&tbnw=266&start=47&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:47&tx=234&ty=66http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=larry+fink&start=300&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1223&bih=895&tbm=isch&tbnid=RDgNdqPsLvPFUM:&imgrefurl=http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/05/pdn-photo-annual-2008/&docid=1Arfwt-Sp6Fy-M&imgurl=http://blog.photoshelter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/mt-old/pdn_fink.jpg&w=522&h=419&ei=jI7TToqcF4bCtAb7heCFDQ&zoom=1&chk=sbg&iact=hc&vpx=119&vpy=277&dur=2456&hovh=201&hovw=251&tx=121&ty=130&sig=103364501929718450216&page=14&tbnh=149&tbnw=186&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:300
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