Shakthi Suresh - Style

Arnold Newman: Born in New York City, he grew up in several cities before moving to Florida where he studied art at the University of Miami. His photography career spanned from the late 1930s to mid-late 1980s. He rose to fame in 1945 for his “Artists Look Like This” exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Newman photographed some of his most prominent works using a Speedgraphic 4x5, 8-inch lens and BW film, later on, with color. He describes how he tried to let his technique and preparation speak in a photograph as opposed to the latest equipment.

Newman is widely regarded as the pioneer of environmental portraiture. This unique style of portraiture paints a picture of the person by using the environment (background) to add to the photographs. Newman’s photographs comprise of carefully controlled backgrounds and environments that describes and narrates the subject’s work, life and accomplishments. He uses framing, lighting and composition to define the person. His style included telephoto shots of the subject, posed to enhance their character and work and position of the subject within the frame; often using or violating rule of thirds to enhance the composition while using negative space the guide the viewer’s vison. He regularly utilized angles, distance and height to accentuate certain characteristics about the subject being photographed. Newman’s photographs often include unfamiliar symmetry and clever cropping to help audience connect with the subject. Some of his later work also included darkroom experimentation that added to and described the subject’s personality. His style attracts viewers to the subject while the background paints a quiet story about the person. One gets a sense of familiarity and nature of the person being photographed, mixed with an uncomfortable feeling that came to be defined as Newman’s style.
Newman’s motivation for these photographs were simple: He set out to capture the subject’s life, their purpose, in a photograph. He aimed to translate the empathy he found through his interaction with the subject onto a photograph for all to, eventually, realize what he/they felt.

Newman’s work in portraiture was unique in its ability to captivated viewers and leave them wanting for more. His photographs weren’t famous because of the people in them, but for the story they conveyed.

Sally Mann: Born in Lexington Virginia, Mann’s career spans from 1980s to present. Mann graduated from Hollins College with BA and MA. Mann is known for her controversial work and bold themes in her photographs. She is known for photographing in large format, BW film.

Mann started her career photographing landscapes, but she received recognition for “AT Twelve: Portraits of Young Women” and “Immediate Family”. Her intrigue for photographing young and adolescent children came soon after she began having children in late 70s. Due to her kids limiting her ability to travel and thus photographing landscapes, her interest shifted over to capturing her children’s childhood.

Among her prominent works, “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women” were first to garner attention. It captured the struggles and transformative journey of young girls. A series of portraits that tried to convey the identities of these growing young women, Mann photographed them in their own environments that tried to convey the girl’s status, identity, struggles and expression. The subject look straight at the camera while the background (sometimes with other people in it) blended in with the narrative of the girl’s story. Along these lines, the famous photograph from this collection, reinforced Mann’s objective. The image involved a young woman standing arm’s length away from her mother’s boyfriend. Mann tried to get the young girl to stand closer, but she was reluctant to do so. The story goes that her mother’s boyfriend often abused her, which led to her mother murdering her boyfriend. Mann said that the photo is a chilling reminder of this.
The images from this collection, often leaving the viewer uncomfortable, suggested to many about relationship issues, child abuse etc.
Her second collection, “Immediate Family” is controversial for containing nude images of her own children. Mann’s objective was to convey childhood innocence and neutralize the term childhood sexuality by juxtaposing the nude images. These portraits contained children, often semi-nude or nude, holding a strong gaze at the camera while contrasting it with poses unlike those found in children. By doing so, Mann tried to strip the stigma while upholding the pureness of children.

Mann’s work is a bold statement that questions young adulthood while trying to question the journey and struggles of children. She used juxtaposition and contrasting body languages to get rid of the taboo and show the photographs for they are

Bernhard Fuchs is a contemporary photographer active from mid 1990s to present. Born in Upper Austria, Fuchs was a student of Bernd and Hilla Becher, famous duo known for their photography of industrial structures and typology, a Kunstakademie Dusseldor. Fuchs currently lives in Dusseldorf, Germany. Fuchs utilized color film and later digital through most of his career.

Fuchs photographs portraits, typographic and landscape around his home in Upper Austria. Particularly, his work between mid 2000’s and early 2010’s dealt with the farm life and nature in Upper Austria and Germany. Famous for his photographs of farm roads/path, vast open roads/paths and roads and paths in the woods, his style utilizes strong adherence to rule of thirds, often with the focus along horizontal centerline with shapes in the photograph framed in such a way that guides the viewers. This technique creates a pleasing and comfortable image to look at. His style also includes a vibrant color palette often with a softer contrast to create an ethereal feel. This is due to him photographing during the mid hours of morning and late afternoon, avoiding direct sunlight that gives a light feel to them.

Fuchs is motivated by the memories and experiences he gathered growing up in Upper Austria. His relationship to nature and farm life. His photographs, though don’t have a inherent purpose, hopes for the viewer to feel nostalgic and/or warm. This makes the photograph feel necessary without having overbearing themes or narratives. This unique approach to his work leaves the viewer feel at ease and happy.