The Art of the Image

Recently I watched an inspiring video The Art of the Image by Art Wolfe, on Talks at Google.  In this video he talks about finding your own vision and how to see differently. Art is not a technical photographer, his background is as a Painter and Art Educator. He asks “How to find a compelling image when we are surrounded by a 360 degree world” and “How do we find the subjects as we are walking down the street, in any location on the planet, and create images that 99% of the population will never see”.  I was so excited to hear that his thoughts resonated with mine.  When he was asked which photographers influenced him the most, his reply was, it was really his study in Art History. My influences have included photographers such as Henri Cartier Bresson, but it is mainly Artists that have influenced my vision.

Here’s my top 3.. Henri Matisse His Cut-outs, in his last 14 years he painted with scissors, his work with colour and line was so direct and so immediate. Marc Chagall a Russian French Artist with his colourful dreamlike imagery that echo his Jewish Culture and Religion. (It is interesting to note that his painting titled ‘The Fiddler’ was the inspiration for the musical Fiddler on the Roof). Salvador Dali who was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter most famous for his moustache and his painting ‘The Persistence of Memory’ which features his melting clocks. The Surrealist movement was such a big influence on modern art and culture. Dali accessed the subconscious mind when creating his art. The list goes on… So how do we use Art as inspiration for photographs..  Art talks about how he uses influences from the Impressionists, Cubists, as well as modern artists such as Jackson Pollock. He has some fabulous examples and uses line, form, texture, composition, light and shadow.

Personally I enjoy the surreal aspect in Street Photography, I would like to share my Salvador Dali series from Paris where there is an amazing Mural near the Musee Pompidou and the local children were having some free time.

In this series I enjoyed having the discipline of the one backdrop and the many stories that evolved.

This process of  finding my vision is very slowly falling into place. I study all the principles and then when I walk out the door with my camera, I forget all the theory, relying on my intuition. I am always searching for new ways to see the world. To see like a child.

T

What Artists and Photographers inspire you to create?