An artist that has inspired me and that has influenced my
photography is Arno Rafael Minkkinen. This artist focuses on the human body
while in nature. Every photo that he takes is then put into black and white and
usually edited in some way. Most shots are of appendages (arms, legs, etc.) but
some are of the whole body. He focuses on the angles so that either the body or
nature is highlighted, or even both at the same time. All of his pictures are
self-portraits including himself in one or more aspects of it.
The tonal contrast that Arno Rafael Minkkinen and Ansel
Adams use are very similar. They are both black and white photographers that
focus on nature. The blacks are very dark while the whites are light, meaning
that they both use high contrast when editing them to black and white. A huge
difference between Ansel Adams and Arno Rafael Minkkinen is the use of humans
and the beauty of the human body in their photographs. The human body is the
main focus for Minkkinen and nature is the main focus for Ansel Adams. I
appreciate the fact that both artists show nature and the body off in ways that
their audience has never seen before. As a viewer and admirer of both artists, I
appreciate the vantage point, depth of field and the editing the artists incorporated
into their photos to create the final product.
When composing my own photographs, I try to focus on vantage
point and the way that my audience will interpret the picture. I believe that
some photos should be converted into black and white, but some should show
color and contrast between the different color tones. Minkkinen has perfected
the art of black and white photography, and doesn’t have to produce color
photographs in order to please his audience.
The photo included in this exploration is
a perfect example of what Minkkinen strives for in his photographs. It is a
picture of a hand “writing on the water.” The audience is drawn to it because it
is so mysterious, and the photo raises questions when the audience evaluates
it. Some questions may include: Where is the rest of the body? How is the water
so calm? What are they going to write? I believe that Minkkinen purposely
cropped it to just the hand so that audience is more drawn to it.
A link to a small gallery of photos from Minkkinen is
included:
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| Writing on Water by Arno Rafael Minkkinen |
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I think all these pictures in the album look extremely fascinating. I love use of black and white that Arno uses and it just makes the photos look even better than if they had color.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that you choose an artist, photographer. I think that is really neat that he inspired you to be a artist yourself. I think it is cool too his concept of his human body in nature.
ReplyDeleteThe writing on the water picture is beautiful. The absence of color in the picture helps it send a much deeper message that just face value.I would also really like to see some of you pictures.
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