Leamy Style Paragraphs

Photography Style

Henry Wessel

Henry Wessel, New Jersey native, Penn State alum, and American West lover, discovered his passion for photography while studying at Penn State. A psychology major turned photographer took to California to study photography further, where he was inspired by the American West, which became the subject of his photographs. He explored the realm of landscape and documentary photography. His images are frequently displayed in monochrome, however, his book of “Real Estate Photographs” displays the images in color. In this book, he takes pastel, Californian homes and photographs them, providing no description or title of these images, thus allowing the viewers to insert themselves in the work and find something that speaks to them in the image(s). The soft colors in these images are captivating, and the lines and edges of the homes, sidewalks, telephone wires, etc. feel particularly important in the construction of the image. With that, it could be said that Wessel takes objects which are not monumental, but rather, objects that signify the everyday American life, and makes these objects, such as homes, into stories which previously did not exist. By photographing vast spaces and unsuspecting objects, Wessel would most likely need to use a small aperture to get the entire scene in focus. Furthermore, he is known for using one singular camera, with the same lens, and the same type of film in his photography career.

Gordon N. Converse

Gordon N. Converse was a photojournalist that worked with monochrome images and capitalized on natural light while creating images. These images were published in a Christian newspaper headed in Massachusetts. He was a pioneer in his field, as he was one of the first to utilize natural light as a centerpiece for newspaper photography. Converse was photographing while he served in the Pacific with the Navy and began working for the Monitor newspaper full time after serving in the Navy. Unlike some photographers who perhaps simply photographed what they saw because they thought that was reason enough, Converse, rooted in his photojournalistic tendencies, sought to photograph positive images about man. Using light as tool to do so, he could create arguments or craft stories that relied on light to tell said story. With that in mind, for images which depicted scenes rooted in landscape, Converse utilized a small aperture, to get all of the details in focus. However, when he did work with environmental portraits, a larger aperture was needed, so the focus was on the person and some attributes of the environment, to further construct a story. Converse used a 35mm camera to create his images, and titled his images with the location in which they were taken, which further illustrates his desire to portray a specific argument that he hopes his viewers will grasp.

Candida Hofer

Candida Hofer, a Germany based photographer, has become known to photograph public buildings and interiors of these buildings with a technical and conceptual approach. Through looking at her images, specifically those in the book Libraries, it is extremely apparent that each image is carefully constructed and the position of the camera is critical. Hofer photographs still rooms from a high vantage point near one wall, so that the farthest wall is centered in the image. This adds to the symmetry of the image. The images of the libraries and classrooms in Librarieshave concentrated color which feels to jump out/off of the page. Furthermore, stylistically, Hofer’s images utilize symmetric shapes and leading lines extremely well, which allow you to feel as though you are in the setting in which the image was constructed. In addition, this style of photographing highlights the vast qualities of public spaces which may have not been previously considered. Hofer uses almost exclusively with digital cameras, as she believes they are very high quality today. When photographing public spaces such as libraries, a small aperture is needed to get everything in focus and display a deep depth of field. Hofer also has experience with photographing with large format cameras and never uses artificial lights.