Hannah Lehew- Book Photographers

Frederick Sommer

    Frederick Sommer was an Italian immigrant that specialized in black and white photography. Although he is well known as a photographer, Sommer also expressed himself in other art forms such as drawing, painting, collages and poetry. In the beginning of his career, Sommer used a 21-cm Zeiss Tessar with 4x5 films. In 1938, he switched his photography to predominantly black and white films captured by his 8x10 Century Universal Camera. A lot of his inspiration for his work came from observing the work of Alfred Stieglitz. This inspiration can be seen throughout within his portraits and landscapes. He has a dark, twisted style with the majority of still lifes pertaining to death and decay. Sommer’s work has been added to the collections of over fifty museums. When asked about his work and attention to detail, Sommer stated that “Art is not arbitrary. A fine painting is not there by accident; it is not arrived at by chance.”

      I really appreciate the unique and intricate nature of Sommer’s work. It is very obvious that he takes the time to arrange each abstract in order to evoke a deeper emotion from the audience. I also appreciate his use of depth of field especially, within his 1948 portrait of Max Ernst. The unexpected nature of his still life images are also very interesting to the eye and are unmistakable from another artist. Within his nude photographs, I found it interesting that he often shoots out of focus whereas the majority of his other images are very sharp. One thing I do not like about Sommer’s work is the absence of sky in the majority of his landscape photographs. Although I believe that the sky would provide more detail, its absence does tie in well to the other areas of his work when compared side by side. 

Aaron Siskind

          Aaron Siskind was born in New York to a family of Russian and Jewish immigrants. He spent the majority of his youth roaming the streets. There he became well known as an artist, preforming in his own soapbox with a regular audience. In college, Siskind shifted to poetry. After visiting galleries in college, Siskind became drawn to Renaissance art and architecture. Siskind received his first camera from his first wife and quickly became a part of the abstract expressionist movement. Early within his career, Siskind became a member of the New York Photo League with other artists such as Frederick Sommer. With the league, he quickly shifted from documentary work to architectural work.  After leaving the league in 1941 due to personal matters, he began to “let objects speak for themselves in their own way.” Siskind used several cameras throughout his career including a 9 x 12 cm Voigtlander Avis, a Rollei SL 66, and a 4 x 5 Linhof. Each morning, Siskind has been said to have walked out of his house with twelve sheets of film, making two exposures of six different images. Siskind made a few color images however he didn’t exhibit them until he was older. A lot of these images function mono-chromatically.   In 1949, Siskind left his secure job as a New York English teacher to teach photography at the IIT Institute of Design in Chicago.  Siskind is now known as one of the most influential photography teachers of the twentieth century.

     I really appreciate and relate to the work of Siskind. I feel that my style of abstract photography is pretty similar. Like Siskind, I am very fond of textures and patterns and keep my camera on me all of the time. One thing I would change is to make the color more dynamic within the few that he did publish.   That being said, the darkness of his black and white photos is very dynamic. I especially enjoy his use of shadows and attention to detail within the frame. A non-abstract series that I really like from Siskind is Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation. In this series, Siskind uses a minimalistic background to give an out of this world appearance to the audience. Siskind uses a fast shutter speed with each of the subjects in this series. I feel that this is very effective and works with the message that he is trying to get across. 

Mary Ellen Mark

                   Mary Ellen Mark was a photographer born in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania that specialized in photojournalism, portraits and advertising photography. She stated that she likes to take photos of those who were “away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes". Mark picked up her first “Box Brownie” camera at the age of 9 and had been interested in art ever since. After receiving bachelors and master’s degrees at the University of Pennsylvania and taking a year tour of Turkey, Mark moved to New York to photograph many important historical events. Her photography often addresses social justice and issues such as homelessness. Mark is well known for depicting children and for befriending the subjects of her work. In addition to this, Mark also photographed films as a unit photographer on set. All of Mark’s work is Kodak Tri-X film. The majority of Mark’s work is black and white however there are a few colored photos by her.  The cameras she used varied and included a 35mm, 120/220, a 4x5 view camera, and a 20x24 Polaroid land camera.  Mark was also well known for being honest to her subjects about what she was photographing. She has expressed the need for transparency by stating "I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul." 18 of Mark’s collections have been published however she is most well-known for Streetwise and Ward 81.

                 I appreciate the emotion Mark gets out of her subjects. Many of her subjects exude strength and confidence within the portraits. My favorite collection that I went through was Streetwise.  Looking at the photos, you can definitely see that she spent a lot of time with her subjects and that they were comfortable with being photographed. The message within her photographs is always apparent without description which is something I also like about her photography. Some things I do not like is the way she cuts some of her images, especially in her portrait titled Attitude. I believe that this photo would be more effective if you could see the entirety of the first person’s eyes. That being said, the photograph as a whole is still well composed and effective on its own.