Project 11: Photographer Research Project

Kōzō Miyoshi (Japanese, b. 1947)
Seligman, Arizona, 1993
© Kōzō Miyosh
DESCRIPTION 

This project is a little different than some of the others we have been working on. In a concerted way, you are going to research a significant photographer and present your research to the class. By learning about the work of other photographers we find inspiration for our own work and see how our visual sense has been influenced by the work of others.

This is a self-paced research project with a PowerPoint as the largest part of this project. You are going to pick a photographer from a list and then begin the process of finding out all the information about him or her you can. There are some basic requirements for the project:

REQUIREMENTS
  1. A biography of your photographer which must include:
    -Where and when they were born
    -Education
    -Where his/her work appears (publications/newspaper/magazines/museums)
  2. What style of photography he/she is known? Explain what that style is about.
    -Early influences on the photographer-where do they get their inspiration?
    -Any Unusual or interesting facts about the photographer
  3. Six (6) different images made by your photographer Each photo must include a title, where it was taken, and the year.
  4. Answer the following question for each photograph:
  • What ELEMENTS of ART (line, color, shape, form, value, space, texture) are predominate in each photo? Describe them.
  • What PRINCIPLES of ART (balance, harmony, pattern/rhythm, unity, contrast, proportion, variety, movement) are predominate in each of the photos?
  • What is the main subject of the photograph?  How can you tell?
  • Explain HOW the composition works to make the photo so striking? Think lines, lighting, rules of thirds, texture, etc.
  • What is the photographer trying to communicate in the photograph? Is there a story?
  • Why did you select this photograph as opposed to any other?
You must include a slide containing citations for both the photos you used and the research you completed. You must give credit to the sources you used. I’ll share the format for this BIBLIOGRAPHY slide in a later post.

PHOTOGRAPHER LIST

Gordon Parks  Danny Clinch  Edward Weston  Ansel Adams
Cindy Sherman  Diane Arbus  David Lachappelle    Imogen Cunningham
Eliot Porter  Alfred Eisenstadt  Linda McCartney  Henri Cartier-Bresson
Robert Frank  Mary Ellen Mark   Dorthea Lange  Arnold Newman
Steve McCurry  Joe McNally  Tristian Savatier  Robert Capa
Paul Strand  Richard Avedon  Irving Penn     Weegee
Nigel Barker  Dawoud Bey  Man Ray  Kozo Myioshi
Alfred Stieglitz  W. Eugene Smith  Sebastiao Salgado  Vivian Maier