Photographer of the week... Kylie Grinham

I told you my friends are talented!

Mother and Son by Kylie Grinham

How could I regularly post a photographer of the week and not mention my friend Kylie Grinham? She's just completed a series of images that re-interpret the work of Melbourne Painter John Brack. The image above is one of them, the rest can be seen on her website.

Photographer of the week... John Gollings

image from here

Whilst looking for a link to the Seaford LSC for my What's Hot + What's Not post last week I found some great photos of it that happened to be by John Gollings and I was instantly reminded of how fantastic his photography is.

image from here

I first came across his work when I was studying photography many years ago. His images are arresting in their perfection and are just gorgeous to take a long look at. And he is a Melbournian!

image from here

It's worth taking a look at his website where there is a wide variety of his work that is much better presented than here. And this is a good article about him.

Photographer of the week... Irving Penn

I'm a bit late hearing the news from here that Irving Penn died last week. Hats off to one of the greats (pardon the pun)!




All images by Irving Penn from Artnet. More info from Wikipedia and another very good report about his life and his passing here.

Photographer of the week... Mary Ellen Mark

PJ Harvey

Melanie from Kimono Reincarnate reminded me about the awesomeness of Mary Ellen Mark. Coincidentally she has photographed many of the same celebrities David LaChapelle has (my photographer of the week last week) but in a totally and completely different way. And in a way I relate to her photography more in the sense that it's is much more like the way I compose photographs and relate to the subject (don't think for a second I'm comparing myself - I'm not).

Miranda Richardson

Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica-Parker

She has a very human/humane approach.

All images from www.maryellenmark.com.

Photographer of the week... David LaChapelle

He's fun, decadent, frothy and frivolous. He's tongue-in-cheek and sometimes satirical but also thoughtful, insightful, and sometimes political.

Marilyn Manson (image from here)

David LaChapelle has his finger on the pulse of celebrity-dom, photographing just about every major celebrity at their zenith and in doing so he indulges our voyeuristic desire to consume them.

Britney Spears (image from here) and Lady Ga Ga (image from here)

The photo below of fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and Isabella Blow the famous magazine editor who discovered him, is my favourite I think.

Alexander McQueen (image from here)

I love it. I went to his show at the Barbican a few years back and it was an absolute visual delight. He is one very very talented man (well one very very talented man leading a team of talented people really) and I can't wait to see what (and who) he does next.

You have to visit his website to see the gorgeousness, and you might also be interested in the Wiki entry.

Photographer of the week... Bill Brandt

I really connected with this guy's work when I was in high school taking life drawing classes, I really liked the perspective, in fact it kind of reminded me of Brett Whitely's fat-bottomed girls that I was also quite partial to.

Bill Brandt image Brett Whitely image

Bill Brandt image from here

Bill Brandt image from here

Bill Brandt image from here

You might also be interested in the official website, the Wiki entry, and/or some great photography advice from Bill Brandt.

Photographer of the week... Ansel Adams

I can't say anything about Ansel Adams that hasn't already been said (and better) elsewhere. What I will say is that although everyone knows he was a Master, a God, a Forefather of photography it is absolutely something else to stand in front of one of his images, printed by him, in a gallery; a computer screen just can't do it justice - so instead this is a picture of him at work - he lugged that behemoth around mountainous Yosemite on his back and it took 8x10 glass plates!

Ansel Adams shooting in Yosemite from here

I was fortunate enough to see an exhibition of his work at a London gallery a few years back and have been absolutely in awe of him ever since. It's little wonder that this guy literally invented the zone system, you can see it in the prints through and through. Big respect.

If you get a chance to see his work in the flesh DO (even if you don't think you're into landscape photography)!

You might also be interested in the official website, the Wiki entry, and/or a video tour of his home-studio with with his son, Michael.

Photographer of the week... Diane Arbus

This photo fascinated me as a teenager just becoming interested in photography.


The format, the light, the era, the boy and his hand twisted into such a passionate claw, combined with his expression (begging the question what was his relationship to the photographer?), the decisive moment of releasing the shutter - it all seemed different from anything I'd seen before and I became really interested in her work and her life.

This website says "Arbus' work impacts the photography world with a sharp attack on the boundaries of what is considered to be "proper" or "tasteful" art. In 1972, Diane Arbus was the first American photographer to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale."

1. Diane Arbus NY 1963, 2. Diane Arbus 1966,
3. Diane Arbus NJ 1967, 4. diane Arbus 1970 1971

She was talented and successful, it would have been wonderful to see what she produced had her life not been cut short so early.

Admittedly I was more drawn to her work and found it more meaningful when I was younger; I don't know if it was the infatuation with a new passion (photography), or that I identified with the subject matter being a teenager and feeling out of place. What seemed raw and honest then seems more voyeuristic and confronting now. Maybe I'm just going soft; her work is still very impressive. And seeing it again transports me back to when I experienced her work for the first time and the way it made me feel.

More images at http://diane-arbus-photography.com.

More info here and here if you are interested, and I really like what this blogger had to say.

Photographer of the week... Alfred Stieglitz

This may or may not become a thing but I suddenly had the urge to pay homage to a photography great: Alfred Stieglitz.

This nude of his wife, Georgia O'Keefe (famous artist in her own right), moved me as a student photographer many years ago.

Who can say why an image speaks to one person and not another? Some may see this image as clinical or impersonal (for example) but I immediately saw the intimacy, the adoration, the openess, and was emboldened and inspired.

image from here

The intimacy where Georgia is concerned can be seen in many of his other images and she is absolutely intriguing...

image from here

...and beguiling!

image from here

Kick-ass photographer, kick-ass woman!