Naming Names

     Shooting this project forced me to approach everything as I see as normal, differently. I had to expand the view of my surroundings and search through anything and everything in order to find objects that represented a letter from my full name. 12 letters. That's all I needed. Simple enough, right? It was soon proven otherwise. I searched far and wide for the best letters I could find, and yet still caught myself struggling to see the handle of a pencil sharpener as an upper case "L" or shooting a light switch to be a lower case "r".  I became slightly obsessed with analysing the objects and settings around me, constantly searching for a sudden "ah-HA" moment that would hurdle my creativity into overdrive. What I did discover through this project is that it takes time to be able to effectively pick out the shadows, shapes, patterns and angles that cause every day objects to be pictured into something different. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson

      Henri Cartier-Bresson was a famous French photographer of the 1900's (1908 - 2004) who single handedly changed the way photography was viewed and captured through his stunningly strange and beautiful photographs. Describing his own family as "Socialist Catholics", Henri was from a well-to-do family who was able to support his passion for photography and the arts from an early age. He was sent to study at a conservative Catholic school and when it came to his art work, was constantly being told how and what he should paint and create. As countless schools of Photographic Realism were popping up all over Europe at this time, Henri was smack dab in the middle of Photographic revolution and began talking to many different surrealist photographers. These conversations sparked an intense interest within Henri. 

     

     What I love most about Henri's work is the way he captures such precise moments in time. He is able to tell riveting stories - despite the absence of colour - with his beautiful black and white images, which is what I believe all photographers should strive to do. His weird photos also captivate me. His framing, repetition and timing techniques all flow together to make beautiful, strange and interesting images that I will never tire of admiring. 

      

     Henri was influenced by political and social factors as well as things he just found intriguing. The way he was able to effortlessly capture so many diverse images from intense politically themed photos to funny, repetitious photos was incredible. I admire his diversity and the talent he continuously displayed.