Nick Knight

Fashion photographer known purely for his unique style and way about's of his imagery.
Working for one of the top magazines Vogue.
Knight concentrates his idea's and flow on bringing fresh new medium to the front page of Vogue.


Starting off as a student at bournemouth university, there have been no breaks for the photographer.
After an exhibition he was noticed and commissioned by i-D editor Terry Jones to create a series of 100 portraits for the magazine's fifth anniversary issue. 


After his career took off, he went on to work for companies and advertising such as Audi, calvin Klein and more, working in the editorial and advertising parts of photography.

Nick Knight

Nick Knight

Knight directed back in 2001 his first music video ever, the controversial Pagan Poetry video, for avant-pop star Björk.
In 2011 he directed the video for Lady Gaga's single "Born This Way”.
Since shooting Lady Gaga, he has continued his chain of work with the talented musician and artist and created some of the new styles and face of fashion onto Vogue's front page.

Nick Knight

Nick Knight

Knight has an extraordinary way of thinking and creating art, his work above, both the images for vanity fair. I find the photographs very loose and softly lit, creating a shallowness that can join well with the colourful hair, lipstick etc and contrast highly onto the out of focused background and foregrounds.


images from :
http://governmentgaga.com/gallery/nickknight-vanityfair/
http://deadpassarita.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/nick-knight_27.html

Iain Crawford

 A fashion photography expert, you can usually find his photographs associated with brands such as L'Oreal, Givenchy, Harpers Bazaar and Vogue. Iain Crawford's work is simple but produces an un-mistakable aesthetic. Always through the use of simple backgrounds, his pictures stand-out for their colour and patterns surrounding the model. In this essay, Crawford captures the moment a woman comes into contact with a substance - paint, powder or water - thrown across the sky.

Iain Crawford

Crawford created a very strong set of images using female models, paint, water and sand.
Iain capture's images that have a strong graphic and textural quality, often searching out the graphical symmetry in chaos, while still maintaining the personality and emotion of the subject. His career has lead him to shoot campaigns for many of the world’s top brands and receive commissions from a host of top international magazines.

Crawford has a unique eye for fresh uncontrolable photography with subjects and materials.
Still looking at his work, there is so much to look at an absorb, this is why his work is so strong and has such an impact on the viewer.

http://obviousmag.org/en/archives/2009/12/iain_crawford_colour_bath.html#ixzz1sChAvV8H

William Lesch

William Lesch has been a working photographer for over twenty years. He earned his BFA in photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1978. Lesch had his first one-person show at the newly established Center for Creative Photography in Tucson in 1979, and since that time his work has been included in over one hundred group and one-man shows, both locally and around the world.

He began shooting at night in the mid to late seventies, and developed his signature style of light painting in the early 80’s. A monograph of his color desert light painting work was published by Treville Press in 1990.

"Tree Agave at Night, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona", 32"x32", 2000

William Lesch

In addition to his split-exposure and night photography, Lesch is currently exploring aerial studies of the landscape. Lesch maintains an active schedule of shows and exhibits, and his work is represented in Arizona by Etherton Gallery in Tucson and Larsen Gallery in Scottsdale.

William Lesch

His desire to work with colour and textures, bringing out and controlling the audience through a single image is incredible.
How different and fresh the art is, using lighting and exposures to bring out this everlasting detail through his imagery. The use of strong colours gives off different emotions to each viewer, as i have found peace, beauty and recognition of the subjects.

Metaphors and Allegory.

Allegory is a device used to present an idea, principle or meaning, which can be presented in literary form, such as a poem or novel, or in visual form, such as in painting or drawing. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation. Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric; a rhetorical allegory is a demonstrative form of representation conveying meaning other than the words that are spoken.

As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor. As an artistic device, an allegory is a visual symbolic representation. An example of a simple visual allegory is the image of the grim reaper. Viewers understand that the image of the grim reaper is a symbolic representation of death.

Allegory is a story with a meaning other than a literal one.

Metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible object to represent a less tangible object or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figure of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance.

Metaphor is a figure of speech in which term is transferred to something it does not literally apply to.

Sarah Lucas

Sarah Lucas, Au Naturel 1994 Mattress

The mattress has been shown as a couple, this could been see as an old married couple, the bucket representing the woman, having children, all used up and tired, the male still standing tall, all he thinks about is his penis, hens the erect positioning.

There is also the other reason, the female representation could be a hooker, the melons on the mattress high up are perky, as if to be a boob job.

The first reason could well be a feminist view on a married couple, or it could well be the woman abusing her body over the years with sex, without the male with a sex drive, she would have no job.

Sarah Lucas

 Sarah Lucas, "Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs" 1996

The image is a metaphor.

The fired eggs maybe are there to show the masculinity, the abused parts of the female, breast's are a part that the male looks for.

The slouching in the chair may reflect on how a man is, the portrayal of a lazy man, also the floor boards, maybe being a checkers match, being the female playing against the male to achieve and control what needs to be done and what she has to do.

David Cotterrell at the John Hansard gallery.

An immersive experience here, as David Cotterrell swaps Sheffield Hallam University (where he is a Fine Art professor) for Southampton’s academic quarter, bringing with him a cinematic portrayal of his journeys to Afghanistan in a series of works galvanising complex technology.

David Cotterrell.

Review:

After two years of studying and resourcing the Afghanistan landscape, Cotterrell has created an exhibition on the reflection on war and the man destroyed horizons.

Its hard to beleive that this landscape has seen so much more than we choose to think or believe. The photography does it justice in the sense that it is peaceful and controlled, although the death and blood loss has been retrieved and extracted through the imagery.

David Cotterrell

David Cotterrell

David Cotterrell

Gallery one had a curvature set up, with a projected image of the Afghanistan horizon. There stood three men and one i the background. To me could only show the distance, loneliness and death of the soldiers who fought.

Cotterrell used small connect cameras around the room. The amount of people, impacted the second piece in gallery two.

The close up of the hand sculpted landscape has projected people walking around.
As the quantity in Gallery one increases, the increase of projected people on the chalk made landscape.

Gallery two had an offset, into a tiny gap hallway, either side sat two hand made dome's, projected with a live fed view from above of the nothingness that the desert now holds. 
A panoramic display creating an atmosphere to only be described as beauty.

Semiotics:

The importance of signs and signification has been recognized throughout much of the history of philosophy and in psychology as well.

The use of signs that are understood and viewed the same through people's cultures and experiences helps to evolve and understand symbols, signs and objects.

Artist's can also use semiotics to lure their audience into viewing the work, having a second look, try and work out and understand rather than a glance.

This advert of pasta. what is seen, what makes you feel comfortable and draws you in. would you buy the food ? yes. why ? because of the rich luscious colours.

The artist's have used factors that humans are familiar with, the red background has been used, as most people would see it as love and warmth. The pasta has been set in this string bag with other vegetables, which subliminally tells you that the pasta is fresh, tasteful and good for you.

The use of Semiotics can be very powerful if applied correctly.

'Semiotics has changed over time, since semioticians have sought the weaknesses in early semiotic approaches. Even with the most basic semiotic terms there are multiple definitions. Anyone attempting semiotic analysis would be wise to make clear which definitions are being applied and, if a particular semiotician's approach is being adopted, what its source is'

http://jawhiriaahmed.blogspot.com/2010/04/semiotics.html.