Lee Friedlander
Born in 1934, Friedlander had been capturing picture with his camera from the age of 14. By 22 he had moved to New York City and started to photograph jazz musicians for record covers which started off his career within photography. By the 1980's some of his most famous photographs appeared in the September 1985 Playboy, which were black and white nude photographs of Madonna from the late 1970s. However, Friedlander was most notoriously known for his landscape, especially of social america. The reason I chose to look at this artist to research was because of one of his books titled “America by car” which shows a vast number of images looking at American landscapes from a car window. Both the car and the highway remain significant of his part of his adventures including capturing the icons of American culture. He is the first photographer to make the car a form for making photographs and capturing 50 states.
Las Vegas, 2002 Lee Friedlander
gelatin-silver print, 20 x 16 inches
The photo is of Las Vegas from the perspective of what looks like to be a passenger to British citizens, although the left-hand side is known to be the driver side in America and you can also see in the right the cars dials for speed. The photo is in black and white with the inside of the car having a much lower exposure compared to the outside. When first looking at the photo my eye is initially drawn to the architecture and the famous landmarks in the background which Las Vegas is known for copying and includes icons such as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and the Egyptian Pyramids. Creating a mini world to visit. The lighting was most likely natural due to the photograph being taken from a moving vehicle and this could suggest why the inside of the car has much darker tones. The photo was from a shoot called ‘America by car” in which he took photographs of American landscapes from the comfort of his car. This explains why the photo has included features of the car like the window, wingmirror and various controls inside of the car.
New York City, 1963 Lee Friedlander
gelatin-silver print, 11 x 14 inches
This photo is a landscape format from a series of photos titled ‘The street” which involves a string of photos all related to people walking around a city and going about their day to day life. The photo is in black and white with a high contrast and light exposure reflecting off the windows. Pictured is what looks like to be an office woman possibly leaving for her lunch break and to the left in the foreground a casually dressed man. By his face being covered in the photo it creates a sense of mystery as it Is not clear what his purpose and intention is from the photo. I would say the mood behind the photo is neutral and this is what the photographer had intended on, for the photo to be candid and the people within to show Zero expression.
From the Book (The street 1960s ) New York City, Lee Friedlander
This photo is again from the series of photos called ‘The Street’ the photo shows pedestrians walking across pavements and sideroads of what looks like to be a city in America possibly New York. It has a high exposure of black and white and when referring to the Ansel Adams zone system there is many areas of zone 0 which is total black in print.
The main subject of the image would be the man wearing the white fedora. He has a very subdued look upon his face which could suggest he has a lot on his mind, he is carrying a paper in his hand and by him being dressed in a suit could suggest he is a private investigator or businessman. The sign in the background shows how the image may have been taken when workers were on their break getting food from the cafeteria and by the café being called ‘crossroads’ it suggests they are by a busy street/ crossroads.
Robert Adams
Born in 1937 Adams was an American photographer who focused on landscapes within the West. He started photography in his spare time by choosing his first subjects early prairie churches and early Hispanic art. In the 1970s and ’80s Adams produced a series of books which were titled “The New West”, “Denver”, “What We Bought” and “Summer Nights” —that focused on expanding suburbs along Colorado’s Front Range. His portfolio “West from the Columbia” which was a series of seascapes in black and white which focused on the waves, rock forms and clouds.
Southwest from the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon, 1992
This landscape is from a series of images Adams took entitled ‘West from the Columbia’ It shows a wide range of seascapes mostly in black and white with a strong contrast of light and dark tones. In the photo you can see the waves gently rolling into the shore which can imply there was a slight breeze but nothing causing massive crashing waves of water. The image is composed of mostly areas of darker tones with the waves being the lighter areas of the image depicting a clear indication of where the waves form. The lighting used was clearly natural due to the image being photographed outside which means the exposure would have been higher. I like how due to the image being in black and white it really shows the detail and texture of the waves.
Looking south from Ecola, 1990
This landscape image shows a clear contrast between light and dark tones from the sky to the sea. The image has a mellow feel to it and this could be caused by the grey undertones by the image being in black and white. However, in the image you can see in the background a more intense white and when comparing this to the Ansel Adams zone system would be nearer to 9 which can reflect a bright white and shows detail in highlights. This can suggest that when the image was taken it in fact wasn’t an overcast day but quite sunny and if the image was in colour may make you feel more warm than when the picture is in black and white.
Garry Winogrand
Born in New York 1928, this was where Winogrand lived and worked most of his life. Best known for his portrayal of U.S life he focused on The visual elements of city streets, people, rodeos, airports and animals in zoos. These subjects are part of his most influential work and within his lifetime he received many grants, including several Guggenheim Fellowships and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
San Francisco International Airport, 1964
In this photograph, it is showing workers in an airport. The faceless character in the foreground is a pilot and this can be shown by the uniform he is wearing. By looking at the clothes an attire I would assume this photo was taken around the late 50’s which would also explain why the photo was in black and white and also why it was easier to access and take photos of terminals as the laws were not as strict.
Los Angeles Airport, ca. 1975
This landscape photo depicts travellers going to and from an airport. This includes passenger’s excited and about to go abroad as well as loved ones waiting for their family members as they’ve just got home. You can see on the right a woman dressed in what looks like to be a stewardess uniform which could suggest that she may have just got in from a flight and on the left is a slightly older woman who is in a wheelchair and looks like she could be waiting for someone. The picture is in black and white and could imply that the photo is older, perhaps from the 70’s-80’s by the way people are dressed and the clothes that they wear also due to the style of luggage they carry that is not as evolved as present modern day. The photo is composed of many lines, that of the doors and columns but by the way the photo has been taken at angle I would think that they did not have the use of a tripod. I think the photo is trying to show an everyday life of at airport and reflects the different emotions through the image.
Relevance of the photographers research to my personal project.
My photographer research is relevant to my study as each photographer has focused on a different approach to landscapes. By my study being on based on the theme of travel there are many different ways this can be explored and therefore I have looked at different photographers work and how each one has different ideas and perspectives.
In the first image the artist I based my work around was Garry Winogrand. After looking at his portfolio titled ‘Airports and Animals’ I wanted to try capture a similar representation of an airport lifestyle through my own work. So I decided to go inside the airport terminal and capture pictures of people getting ready to fly away to a different country. By this being such a huge impact of travel I though it related within my theme and I would be able to produce a strong series of images. Furthermore, when looking at Winogrand’s series of work because of the era these were taken in they were all in Black and white so I wanted to convert my own images in photoshop and experiment with black and white tones to resemble a similar pattern of work. 
For second image I looked at Lee Friedlander who took a series of landscape images entitled ‘the streets’ this focused on a city and tourists walking around within the city and capturing the emotions within each individual. He also had another series of photos which looked at the monuments of New York city and other places around the world which included him photographing buildings and different locations etc. This related to my study again as this time I wanted to explore looking at images and taking photos of the destination. This means that once you have been on public transport what do they places you arrive to look like, how does each one compare and differ from the other, how people react within these locations, are they sad or happy? This then resembles almost a story of travel and how there are so many elements that can be discovered and explored. How different signs and symbols are seen in different places, in example my image below shows souvenirs of famous British landmarks as well as the union jack flag and plates with public figures like the queen on them. All things that attract tourists to travel to the UK and London.
In my third image I experimented with images of seascapes. For this I had researched Robert Adams who had a portfolio where he had captured the ocean and the movement of waves. All his images were again in black and white, so I decided after shooting my own images to again convert my own into black and white and create a strong series of images incorporating tones by using dodging and burning within my edits.
5. The future
I think Travel photography is going to become a huge part of society in the future due to the development of technology and social media platforms such as Instagram, VSCO (an editing/ sharing platform), Facebook etc. This is due to a high demand of users now being able to post images that can be viewed globally for anyone with an account to see. This will enable photography blogs and so much more to be spread by just a tap of a button, compared to having to go to museums and galleries to see photographers work. This means that in the future there will be a much larger target audience and viewing travel photography could be as easy as going onto your phone whilst in bed. By so many platforms also being influenced by travel photography such as holiday sites, clothing sites and even Instagram models it means that there will always be a circulation of images to do with travel being shared and exploited. Therefore, I see this aspect becoming a very big part of society in the future compared to what it may have been in the past and to this present day.
6. Conclusion
In Conclusion, I intend to further continue my study on travel photography by taking into consideration the research of artists such as Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand and seeing how their work compares to one another and incorporating some of those ideas into my own. However, due to technological changes and photographs now being captured with something as simple as someone’s mobile phone it means that I am able to experiment in different ways with my photos. One difference that will be noticeable is that many more of my images will be in colour rather than black and white as for many photographers that was all that was available to them in their era. The areas I intend to focus on more is capturing big cities and as well as modes of transport and almost creating a montage of factors of travel as I feel this is how I want to express my own work.
Bibliography of all sources used.
