Brett Matlock

Michael Kenna is potentially one of my favorite film photographers I’ve ever seen. He focuses on landscapes in interesting, contrasting lighting. He seems to use the light of dawn and dusk for most of his pictures in order to achieve such interesting effects. All of his pictures inspire wonder, with a powerful feeling in them as you look at the rays of light and the effects of light in his pictures. In one of my favorite pictures by Kenna, a sunset over a beach is featured. From a technical standpoint, this picture in very impressive. The bottom of the image appears to be a black abyss while the image gets brighter as you move up it. You can see the landscape far in the background past the water, hazed by the atmosphere. This is one of my favorites because it was timed so perfectly. Kenna photographed at just the right time of day to achieve the effects he wanted. The black at the bottom feels like it goes on forever, while there is a bright land of hope in the distance. I love that th...

 Man Ray had a very distinct style of photography. Many of his photographs were very interpretive, featuring women a lot of the time. Most of these photographs on first glance are very strange or whimsical, not making much sense. He is also notable for his work on photograms, which he used as a medium to create remarkably interesting black-and-white images. In one of Man Ray’s photograms, he features a film strip. It also appears there are some markings along the edges of the photogram. I do not know how he made these, but to me they almost appear like smoke trailing along the edges of the film. This image probably meant a lot to Man Ray. It is a combination of the two things he was famous for: his film photography and photograms. The film strip in this image represents his film photography career, printed out on a photogram. The smoke may symbolize a mystical element about it, or at least that’s how I see it.

Lee Friedlander was a black-and-white photographer who focused his work on “common” sceneries. Familiar urban places such as street fronts and people were his main focus. He liked to create interesting images out of these subjects. In this image, a man has a giant mirror or some sort of other large shiny object in which he seems to be positioning. The sunlight was behind him, which casted a shadow onto the mirror. This is all set in an urban backdrop with what I believe are trashcans in the background behind a large fence that the mirror is leaned up against. This picture to me seems to represent another side of the man. He is just positioning this object but when you look at just the shadow being cast on it, it almost looks like it is reaching to the sky. I believe this shows the power in ordinary people and workers on the everyday streets.