Abby Bennett - Style Paragraphs

Tim Carpenter- Local Objects 

Tim Carpenter is a photographer and writer based out of Brooklyn, New York. He was born in 1968. He obtained an MFA in Photography from the Hartford Art School in 2012 His father was in the U.S. Air Force so his family moved around a lot but they had family mostly in Central Illinois and often went there to visit. He attended the University of Illinois and shortly after moved to Portland,Oregan to experience a place with more cultural activity. Eights years later he moved to New York City. His book Local Objects puts everyday objects into the spotlight. Although these objects are ordinary there is an unusual element to the images that captivate the viewer. The book is comprised of 74 medium format vertical photos all in black and white. His images show physical distance from the subject matter. Carpenter says his inspiration for this was Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping, where a major theme is our disconnectedness from the world. He uses a higher aperture to allow for more depth of field and a fixed normal lens. The images were made in the semi rural American Midwest and explore the stillness of outdoor spaces.

Andreas Gefeller

Andreas Gefeller was born in 1970 and is a German photographer based in Dusseldorf. His photographs are labor intensive. Gefellers images are abstract and built segment by segment, he puts small aerial images together to create a large-scale photograph. The lack of a central focus in his images challenge the viewers perception. He photographs urban and man-made spaces in color. By photographing from an exaggerated bird's eye perspective he brings a surreal quality to his images. It is said Gefeller uses the camera as a tool of truth and deception. His images are influenced by satellite images and Google Earth. He uses an extremely long exposure and digital imaging techniques. He uses a narrow aperture to gain a greater depth of field. The images have a sharp focus.

John Szarkowski

John Szarkowski was born 1925 in Ashland,Wisconsin, he died July 7th, 2007. He was an American photographer, historian, critic and curator. He first became interested in photography at the age of 11. Szarkowski studied art history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated in 1947. He was the director of photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art from 1962 to 1991. During his time there the Museum of Modern Art produced 160 exhibitions of photography. His book Photographs contains black and white images,all American landscapes, some from big cities in the U.S. like New York and Chicago, and some from the rural midwest. He uses a narrow aperture to gain a greater depth of field. His style was said to be more spontaneous. He gives attention to the way things are structured in the images rather than the subject matter. Although he might not think the two can be separated, as he said in an interview; “Photographs, explain very little, even of small private issues. Photographs show what things look like, at a given moment from a certain vantage point, and sometimes this knowledge proposes the most interesting and cogent questions.”