WILL ORANTES PHOTOGRAPHY: May 2011

MoPA: Streetwise: Masters of 60's Photogrphy

Streetwise: Masters of 60's Photography

I recently attended The Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego where I really experienced some of the best photography I have ever really been exposed to. Before a lot of the photography I was familiar with was just fashion photography which can become somewhat repetitive and boring at times. This really opened my eyes to the many different beauties photography can bring about. Shapes, colors, subjects make all the difference in producing a powerful image. The Exhibit that caught my eye the most was the Streetwise: Masters of 60’s Photography. I love digital photography but this exhibit really made me want to learn how to use a film camera and a darkroom to develop my own photo’s. This really just made me a lot more passionate about learning photography as a whole and knowing every aspect of photography instead of just digitally taking pictures and editing them digitally on Lightroom (which I love as well).

Streetwise: Masters of 60’s Photography builds on what Swiss photographer Robert Frank began with his new "snapshot aesthetic," which was brought to the foreground with the domestic release of his ground breaking book The Americans, in January 1960. His focus on a more personal documentary style would influence a new generation of photographers: Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, Jerry Berndt, Ruth-Marion Baruch, Garry Winogrand, Bruce Davidson, Danny Lyon, and Ernest Withers.

Intent on redefining the nation based on what they saw, documentary photographers were increasingly concerned with revealing a more realistic, sometimes dire, but always challenging view of an America undergoing change. Ranging from the "outlaw culture" of bikers and chain gangs; Boston's red light district known as the Combat Zone; Black Panthers; the gritty streets and neighborhoods of New York; the politically charged South; to the darker sub-cultures photographed by Diane Arbus. Many of these photographers spent time with their subjects and wanted their photographs to represent the larger narrative of actual events.

Photographer 2: Jake Garn

Jake Garn

Jake Garn is a published photographer and international award winning photographer, but photography is not a full-time profession but more of a passionate hobby.

Jake has been filled with an unquenchable need to create for as long as he can remember, whether it was a drawing, building a fort, or even writing stand-up comedy. His photography bug was planted in the mid 90’s during a simple Introduction to Photography course. For Jake the dark room, the camera, the chemicals all screamed out with possibilities in addition to the new extraordinarily advanced Adobe Photoshop (version 2.5) a long term love-affair was set. As photography made it’s way into the digital age the format became increasingly custom-tailored to Jake’s love of instant gratification and attention-deficit tendencies. Jake purchasing his first digital SLR camera in 2002 which began the transformation of photography from a casual hobby into a bit of an obsession for this photographer.

Some of Jake’s inspiration include the Mona Lisa, American Gothic, Van Gogh, Picasso, Michaelangelo’s David, Richard Avedon (Matthew Cooke, Mario Testino, Herb Ritts, Mark Seliger, Patrick Demarchelier, Gerald Bybee and of course, above all of them his wife Jennifer.

Jake states that “I love color, I love crazy, I love beauty, I love a dash of humor in my images and I love my wife, son, dogs and cat”. I feel like Jake has a great eye and a good foundation for inspiration. He as well inspires me to become a better photographer and expand my knowledge and experience with photography. As Jake I picked up a camera as a passion and a hobby and it is slowly turning into what I want to do for a living. I love the very strong photos Jake takes and I feel we hold some of the same values with color and crazy photos. As Jake, I want to emit emotion and creativity through my photography.

Photographer 1: David DuChemin

David DuChemin

David duChemin is a world & humanitarian photographer, best-selling author, and international workshop leader. He has extensive international assignment experience on 6 continents. At 39 years old, David DuChemin’s idealism doesn’t seem to be fading any. In fact, it looks like it’s settling in for the long haul.

David specializes in creating compelling images that are both aesthetically and emotionally moving. If you need a photographer who shoots from the heart, has a strong work ethic and will go the extra mile for his clients, David’s your man. David has shot for a growing list of commercial and non-profit groups and is the author of the best-selling Within The Frame, The Journey of Photographic Vision, as well as VisionMongers, Making a Life and a Living in Photography; and Vision & Voice, Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. David is sponsored by leaders within the photographic industry.

While researching his work I really enjoyed the series on his site that he made for Global Goods, which showcase different people around the world, mainly in India and the different good which hold value in numerous areas of the world. The split toning he uses really brings out a great deal of emotion, power, and the connection of similarities to the audience. This series exemplifies the surrounding community and the subtle way of life which these people experience day by day.