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Robbie Fimmano

Robbie Fimmano combines several elements that I’d like to use in my own work: portraits of women; spaced out expressions; multimedia elements; reduction of the photograph into shapes and forms; contrasty lighting to draw attention to small (normally unnoticed) features to enhance the beauty of the subject; women with a combination of non-classical and classical beauty features (extreme paleness combined with an elongated body). 

While there are elements I draw inspiration from, I’m not really comfortable with Fimmano’s later photographs (4 and 5) of over sexualized/objectified women. The positioning of the boots and legs with the gray/desaturated environment draws attention to the shapes and graphic nature of the boots and legs, but the women posing are reduced to their sexual appeal. I can almost agree that in these cases, showing the butt was necessary to resolve the shape of the legs, but the arching of the nameless woman’s back makes the boots about sex and pleasure, and the pleasure of the consumer, not about the boots themselves. The body becomes a product  secondary to the boots. I find it marginalizing instead of empowering which is an approach I find difficult to reconcile with my feminist beliefs.

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Adam Jones

I like how Adam Jones’ subjects interact connect with their environment rather than just standing in it. However in images 5-8, the relationship between the subjects and their respective environments looks fake. Maybe it’s the over the top happiness (image 7 doesn’t look like people in a real bar). I prefer for there to be more genuine expressions instead of what looks like forced laughter. Images 1-4 look more like the camera stumbled across the scene, especially in image 2. 

I also like how the lighting changes to be appropriate for each scene (with the exception of image 6). The lighting in image 2 comes in through the garage door like sunlight and has a similar gradation and placement of shadows. Image 3 has a more even, blueish light that would be consistent with a dusty record shop. I do wish, however, that the window wasn’t blown out in image 6.

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Koos Breukel

When I looked on Breukel’s website, I thought his portraits all looked the same, but not in a dynamic Jill Greenberg way, in a flat, no energy way. I found the more interesting photographs were in his Publications section. I’m not sure why Breukel doesn’t show the work that’s been on magazines and such, but his attention to the texture and physical qualities of the subjects in the publications is compelling. The photograph of the hand and ring looks almost like a still life, drawing a relationship between the ring, the nails and the texture of the finger joints. The foot is also about the skin’s texture and negative space in between the toes.

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Michael Muller

My favorite thing about Michael Muller’s work is how he treats his subjects like portraiture and still life even if they wouldn't traditionally fit into those categories. The first and second photograph from Muller’s Expedition section are set up and shot like portraiture instead of wildlife/safari photography. There are photographs that are similar in style to popular wildlife photography, but like the 3rd photograph, the subjects are also arranged like still lifes. Also the 4th image is in Muller’s Portrait section, but feels more like the subject’s face is an object floating in space.

I find it weird how Muller also made the last photograph. It’s cheesy and predictable, much different than his elegant treatment of his other subjects.

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Joe McNally

Initially, some of Joe McNally’s work reminded me of specific Gregory Crewdson photographs, but it looks like McNally does less post work than Crewdson. I like how McNally integrates the subjects into the background using lighting, costuming and positioning to make the scene look totally in camera generated. Even the last image (from McNally’s series on dancers) combines the red and black found in the dancer and the red, pink and black found in the wall, pole and stairs. With this image, I feel McNally sets the garage up like a stage where the dancer, pole and stairs are all subjects

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Daniel Shea

Daniel Shea’s portraits don’t seem like they would be studio portraits. He doesn’t position his subjects in expected poses and in the third photograph, the image has motion blur and a color cast. Shea takes a more artistic approach to his studio work. While I was looking through his work, some of his images looked to be photograms.  I’m not sure if they are photograms or photographs, but he combines the look of both types of images to create a body of work that is radically different than the expected work of a studio photographer.

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Ryan Pfluger

I have mixed feelings about Ryan Pfluger. I dislike his fashion work because it seems over exposed, over dramatic, “America’s Next Top Model”-esque in the posing, clothing choices and lighting. The photographs don’t seem natural. However, I find the simplicity of his still life work in “Vestige/Memento” captivating. In many of his photographs Pfluger isolates a single object in its environment and shows the relationship between that object and where it was found.  His different projects don’t look like they were created by the same photographer which leaves me conflicted as a viewer and student. 

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Arno Frugier

Arno Frugier works as a fashion photographer, but his work is different that what I see as normal fashion photography. His photographs are gentle and subdued with muted color and simple posing.  I find his work interesting because even though he is a fashion photographer, he focuses a lot on creating shapes (like the cone in #4 or rectangles of positive and negative space in #2, #3, and #6) and using the garments to create overall graphic images.  #2 has a lot of negative space which allows the figure and garments to float in the space. Frugier photographs the garments in a way that reduces them to another formal element to manipulate, not as a subject or something to sell. 

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Walter Smith

These particular portraits stood out to me, because the backgrounds and color temperature reflect the subject. For example, Bill Clinton is wearing a black suit and a blue tie. He is also a more formal subject. The background is a grayish blue and the over image is cooler and grayer than, say, the last image which is overall warmer and yellowish-brown to reflect the woman’s  brown shirt and warmer skin tone. I like how Walter Smith combines his subject, lighting, color temperature and camera position to create a single portrait package. The whole package of the 2nd image is totally different than the whole package of the 4th image, yet all of the photographs are identifiably Smith’s.

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Lucia Iturbe

Similar to Andrew Martin, some of Iturbe’s work focuses on scale, proportion and position.The first image uses toys and small foods to replicate a tractor and a bale of hay (which is actually bird’s nest pasta). Her lighting and background choice also reference the sunset and farmland. I most enjoy her “Don’t text and dad” work because it draws attention to the dangers of not paying attention to your kids, but doesn’t take the heavy handed approach of “Don’t text and drive” PSA’s.  A distracted dad feeding his kid hot sauce is not a good idea, but it’s (probably) not going to kill the kid or lead to catastrophic results. I also like that the ads don’t depict the nuclear family or hypermasculine dads, just an everyday run-of-the-mill dad and his kid.

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Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin’s photographs come across as dramatic and larger than life. I enjoy his manipulation of scale, proportion and positioning - how the car looks small enough to float in between hot sauce and breakfast, or how the poodle looks bigger than the car in a kind of “Attack of the 50 foot Poodle” setup. His portraits also focus on positioning and proportion. The portraits come across as genuine and true to the person because they depict moments that would normally be bloopers or when the camera is off  - the expressions and positions fall somewhere between laughing, sneezing, and falling. 

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Jeff Riedel’s sense of humor and willingness for the subjects to relax appeals to me. His portraits aren’t the same stand up straight, neutral expression, no movement shots.  In his portrait of Mike Huckabee, Huckabee moves in a way that’s plausible for him. The portrait - even though it is a still image - has movement and passion embedded in the image. I also like his sense of humor in his “30 Rock” shot and the series “The Orthodox Hit Squad.” Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin look like they are enjoying themselves and the scene is playful but still plausible for the actors and their characters to be in.  Orthodox Hit Squad also creates an environment and world where the serious tone is met with a less serious, somewhat silly topic (an Orthodox Jewish hit squad) 

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Hugh Kretschmer has a unique sense of humor that he incorporates into his work.  The work is interesting because Kretschmer finds a way to be both clever and thought provoking while still producing advertising or illustration shots. He branches out into the ridiculous - ridiculous in both idea (like the punny egg) and presentation (showing a powerful woman as a museum piece to show the rarity of strong women/ women role models in the professional work environment)

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Martin Klimas

Martin Klimas stood out to me among other studio photographers because he manipulates materials, and the circumstances those materials are photographed in, to make his images.  In the flying paint photographs, Klimas used the vibrations and movement of large speakers when the volume is really high to move the paint sitting on top in interesting and unpredictable ways. Klimas makes the photographs about colors and shapes as well as evidence about how these materials behave. Independent of how the images are used, they aren't originally product or fashion shots.

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Mary F Calvert

This is from Calvert's project "Nigeria - Polio's Line in the Sand"

She is very specific in her documenting. She is just doing Polio in Nigeria around 2002.  I like her focus and her ability to expand such a specific area to an entire project. Also her manipulation of light and the black and white medium is extraordinary. The shadows are so deep and intense without being choked up and that enhances her portrayal of human suffering.  And they are so sharp! Every detail shows up.  The images come to life and plant themselves in your mind

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Weegee (Arthur Fellig)

Weegee did work close to what we now consider street photography, but thought of himself as a photojournalist or news photographer.  I'm amazed that he did this kind of work with such a large camera. Now, street photography is done with a small and portable camera, a 35mm or digital, but Weegee's camera was large and conspicuous. He got into the nitty gritty of New York in the 30s and 40s and the images are classic and edgy.  He photographs back alley happenings, families living on the edge and murders.  I admire his commitment and mastery of the camera.

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Alec Soth

Many photographers I've seen make a connection between the subject and the viewer, but Soth does the opposite and the disconnect and emptiness of the image is the compelling part of it.  Alec Soth's photographs feel empty, like there is a vast distance between you, Soth, and the subject, but it's not a bad empty like haphazard or halfhearted.