Influential Modern Art

Photography

Hugo Mills

Introduction

The first ever photograph was created in 1826 and since photography has become a vital part of our lives.  From media and advertising to the infamous family portrait; photography now gives people the ability to visit a country without leaving there home or research almost anything in seconds with a quick internet browse.
Now that people have the ability to take a quality photograph from a camera the size of a deck of cards  finding  ‘influential’  photography is harder than it sounds, taking in to consideration that there is a fine line between an influential photographer and a famous photographer.   So what would be the definition of influential photography,  photography that is aesthetically pleasing?  Photography that is well know?  Photography that has impact on the viewer? Or photography that leaves its audience with a head full of unanswered questions but an opportunity for there imagination to thrive.  I don’t believe that any of these answers are necessarily false.   By definition ‘Influence’ means “the capacity to have an effect on the character,  development or behaviour of someone or something” even if only minute.  So for a photograph to become famous or have a certain amount of impact it must have influenced someone at some point rendering all of the above to be some what true.
I have chosen these 10 images which and I believe are particularly inspirational and/or influential,  whether it be because of the impact that image alone or the photographer in general.  Some of the imagery shows very interesting compositions and tone  along with vast amounts of emotion and in some cases pain and suffering,  all depicting a point which isn’t instantly understood.


Lunch Time Atop a Skyscraper
Charles C. Ebbets



This photograph was taken in 1932 by Charles C. Ebbets it depicts 11 men having lunch hanging over the streets on New York during the construction of the RCA building.  Although the image shows little contrast and the background is rather overexposed it’s the history behind the photograph that says a lot.   In this instance I wonder whether it is the “photograph” or the “photographer” that is particularly influential.   Ebbets came from a very poor background,  he left school in 10th grade and moved out at the age of 16.  Despite this he had a very fulfilling early life travelling all over America fuelled by  his love of adventure and active lifestyle.  Ebbets’s charming personality landed him with roles in many early films before realising his future lay behind the lens.  He became known to the media as “the photographer who liked to get the pictures no one else could“,  and I believe this  is exactly the frame of mind every photographer should be in.
After having his work published in many renowned venues such as the ‘New York Times’  Ebbets was appointed photographic director for the construction of the Rockefeller centre in New York.  Thus ‘Lunch Atop a Skyscraper’  was born.  Although it is the most famous of all his photography,  Ebbets has a vast gallery of work each as stunning as the last.  I think it’s the enthusiasm within Ebbets himself that makes him a photographer to idolise.


Richard Avedon
Doviam With Elephants, - Evening Dress By Dior - Cirque D’hiver 



Richard Avedon was one of the most important and exceptional photographers of the later half of the 20th centaury.   He has even been described by photographers and fashion experts alike to be “the most important fashion photographer of all time”.
He photographed the likes of  Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe.  Avedon once said “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people i photograph” which leaves me wondering what he was like as a person after seeing his more disturbing portraits.  Despite this slightly deranged mind set I now have about Avedon I find this photograph ‘Dovima With Elephants’ somewhat mesmerizing.  Dovima was a model the 1950’s discovered in the streets of New York by an editor of Vogue,  Avedon described her as “the most remarkable and unconventional beauties of her time”.  The juxtaposition depicts undisputed elegance entwined with brute power which creates a almost enchanting contrast.
From a photographers point of view I find this image very influential,  it depicts a true photographers ability to push past the boundaries of a standard photograph to something unusual and exciting you wouldn’t normally see.

Thomas Hoepker
View of Manhattan from Williamsburg


        This photograph taken by Thomas Hoepker on September 11 the day America was attacked.  A series of four suicide attacks in the United States caused mayhem to thousands while the world watched in anticipation.
Hoepker was born in 1936 in Munich and lived in New York from 1989.  He worked as a photojournalist and Film maker and previously worked for a German Magazine.
After hearing the news Hoepker turned on the television only to witness the second plane crash in to the World Trade Centre.  As a experienced photojournalist having travelled all over the world he is described to “have a instinctive feel for subjects and stories”. After helplessly watching on as the shock became a reality Hoepker said “It’s so horrific,  it’s not decent to photograph that” but over powered by his true photographers instinct he set off to document the events.  Unfortunately he became trapped on the other side of the East River,  Hoepker unwillingly became a distant observer of the events.   And so his picture above of the five people relaxing while Manhattan was in devastation was taken.  Hoepker hesitated for a long time whether or not to release the image and It wasn’t included in book ‘New York September 11’ by Magnum Photographers which Hoepker edited himself.  Despite this it became his best know photograph.
The contrast within the image itself depicted pure terror and devastation compared to a relaxed get together of friends.  The image portrays many different ideas,  for example,  my almost horrified first reaction was short lived because with more thought it portrays how useless people become when a major disaster occurs.
I think this image is particularly iconic and influential because everyone’s perception of it will be different creating many arguments and contradictions.


Ansel Adams
Tetons and the Snake River

This stunning photograph was taken by Ansel Adams in 1942.  Ansel Adams has always been a huge influence on my work.  His powerful landscape shots create really dramatic and breathtaking photographs.  I have a passion for creating high contrast imagery especially in landscape photography.
Born in San Francisco,  California,  he was the son of a business man and grandson to a timber baron,  Adams could not have been more different from his family,  as a photographer and environmentalist President James E. Carter claimed that Adams was  "At one with the power of the American landscape, and renowned for the patient skill and timeless beauty of his work”.  Despite this it seems they got on well taking in to considerations there extreme differences.  In 1907 the family suffered finical difficulties and the Adams fortune was gone forever.  For the rest of his days Ansel’s father spent his time trying to recoup the fortune.  Its seems that the person mainly affected by the family misfortune was Adam’s mother which rubbed of on Ansel himself,  fortunately despite there differences his Father influenced,  supported and encouraged his son.
Adam’s indifferent childhood involved him breaking his nose in a earthquake permanently marking him for life, contrived with shyness and a hint of genius made his school life hard going from school,  to home school to private school Adams found refuge within the sacred beauty that is nature which influenced his work more than anything.
I find this image particularly enchanting not only for the high contrast but the intense depth of field through the mountains and the interesting effect that is created through the river attracting the eye all over the landscape and not really having a definitive focal point.




Steve McCurry
Afghan Girl



This famous photograph was taken in 1984,  the subject was an orphan from Afghanistan who got moved to a refugee in Pakistan.  Her parents where killed in a Soviet helicopter attack on her village in the 1980’s,  this horrific event forced herself along with her sibling and grandmother to hike over mountains to Nasir Bagh Refugee camp in Pakistan.  She married in the 1980’s and had three children one of which died at infancy but Gula (Afgan Girl) was adamant that her daughters would achieve the education she was never able to complete.
In 1985 this image was on the front page of National Geographic.  Initially her being was unknown,  so a team from national geographic set off in 2002 to find her 17 years after the picture was taken.  The search began by showing this picture around the still standing refugee camp.  Eventually the information was retrieved that she had returned to Afghanistan and she now lived in the mountains near Tora Bora.  It took three long and traitorous days to arrive.  When McCurry saw her walk in the room he knew immediately it was her.
Sharbat Gula is a Pushtun,  part of the most war like tribe of Afghanistan.  McCurry recalls that her eyes still burnt with the same ferocity as they had done during there first encounter.  No one,  not even herself was sure of her age,  hardships and terror had erased her youth,  “she’s had a hard life“.
The powerful photograph taken by McCurry portrays a metaphor for the hardships for growing up in Afghanistan around the 1980’s.  Her vacant stare from a her deep green eyes depict a sense of emptiness.
In 2002 Gula featured once again in National Geographic and a documentary entitled “Search for the Afghan Girl” was aired.  In recognition of her National Geographic set up the “Afghan Girls Fund”,  a organisation created with the goal of education Afghan Girls and young women and later was broadened to include boys and the name was changed to “the Afghan Children’s Fund”.   This shows the ultimate power behind the medium of photography and the positive effect it has on the world.

Dorohea Lange
Migrant Mother,  Nipomo, California
1936



‘The Great Depression’  caused catastrophe amongst almost every country in the world,  it originated when the stock markets crashed in the southern states of America,  the economic crisis and devastating drought put many families and individuals in to poverty.  It was known to the USA as ‘the bitter years’.
The photograph above by Dorothea Lang serves as a metaphor for human suffering; it depicts Florence Thompson, a 37 year old mother of seven, married with no permanent address.  She belonged to a large community of migrant workers seeking any kind of work.  The Pea harvest was poor resulting in no work and no income for the pickers. Florence Thompson made refuge in a camp for pea pickers.  Dorothea Lang stated that of the 2,500 people in the camp, most of them were destitute.
The image portrays much emotion; the vacant stare gives the impression of a lack of hope, looking in to a future of unhappiness.  The emotion shown through Florence’s face and figure depicts one of suffering and poverty also shown in other pictures within the series of her children, a life of unforfillment and torment.
This powerful image has touched many people’s lives and acts as a metaphor for endless suffering throughout the human race.

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Behind The Gare St Lazare 1932



Born on 22 August 1908 Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French Photographer.  He is considered to be ‘the father of photojournalism’ .  A master and adaptor of candid photography which is a term used for spontaneity within photography,  instead of spending hours planning and setting up it’s the ability to capture something as it happens which in many cases creates a different photograph normally capturing movement as shown in Crrtier-Bresson’s photography above.
Henri Cartier-Bresson once said  “For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously”.   I find this very thought provoking and influential for my own work.  It depicts the cameras ability to stop time, explaining a lot but leaving unanswered questions.
Cartier-Bresson lead a vast life full of change and fulfilment,  from a painter to a filmmaker,  from a traveller to being in the army during world war two,  his work was influenced by everything he did and everything he saw.  In turning from painting to photography Cartier-Bresson said "I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant." Which I believe is a important basis and frame of mind that every photographer should have.
I particularly like the photograph shown above,  it really captures what Cartier-Bresson stands for,  capturing a moment in time,   the split second decision b y the main subject in which to jump but leaving the viewer unaware of the outcome of the situation.  The composition of the reflection on the water creates a very interesting mirrored effect which combined with the intense contrast,  tone and candid nature of the photograph makes a unusual depiction of movement.

Don McCullin  
1935 London England



Don McCullin is a well known photojournalist,  he is most widely known for his war photography and of conflicts within urban communities.  Being one of the most important photographers of our time his name will for ever be respected,  his candid black and white photography has broadened our knowledge and understanding of modern conflict and its consequences.
He is a proud man with much respect for his subjects and there is a lot of his own work that he doesn’t even like unless he has a proper understanding of the subjects within a image.

“I was aware of the fact that my injuries were not serious, they were painful,  but I knew I wasn’t going to die,  I was suffering great shock and great relief,  but at the same time seeing my own blood was a lesson for me,  because how can you photograph other peoples pain when you don’t know the value of pain.”

This quote by the photographer himself really sums up everything I could try and convey through this essay,  his mind was only at ease when he truly understood the suffering that was commencing in front of his eyes.
Don McCullin’s work depicts much emotion,  a lot of thought provoking imagery that strongly conveys the horrors of war.  Between 1966 and 1984 he worked as a over seas correspondent for the ‘Sunday Times Magazine’ recording economic and manmade war zones such as Biafra and the Nigerian Civil war,  he also captures the victims of the African aids epidemic as 1968 along with the horrific Vietnam war and the northern Ireland conflict.
I find Don McCullin a true inspiration,  a hero with the nerve to risk life and limb to get across the image of war to people who haven’t seen it first hand and ultimately educate people about such conflicts.  Behind every photograph there is a story, a sometimes horrific and thought provoking story that really portrays the hardships of modern conflict.


Gavin Gough
“A novice Buddhist monk studying ancient texts at Wangdichholing Dzong, Jakar, Bhutan”



Gavin Gough works as a travel photographer based in  Bangkok,  Thailand.  He works worldwide and has a vast gallery of work.  His preferred photography includes street photography,  local life,  festivals and rituals.  I believe its this that draws me to his work,  he portrays scenes as they are without being tampered with, photographing things from religion to people walking down the street, they all work combining culture and there realities.
Gough has visited many countries including Cambodia,  Nepal,  Morocco,  India,  Vietnam and many more.  His work has a almost inspirational feel,  capturing the lives of people through a single photograph.   I chose this photograph above all the rest because I think it sums up his style,  there is a essence of grace and elegance combined with power and strength.  The intense contrast and composition tells a story to go with the character.   Although  not all his work shows such intense contrast it fits in to his gallery of work well,  telling a lot within the image but also leaving a lot to the viewers imagination.
I find Gavin Gough very influential,  partly because he has a great influence on my work and my ambitions for the future,  but also because he doesn’t go out of his way to create vast incredible imagery but it seems to just fall naturally within his work due to his subjects.  There is a huge contrast within his photography through bright uplifting imagery to ones which depict times of hardship,  but I think it is this contrast that makes his work so inspirational.

Nick Ut
Kim Phúc - Napalm Against Civilians
1972



This picture shows Kim Phúc running down a disaster ridden road a metaphor for the whole Vietnamese war.  This image was rapidly broadcasted by the media and enhanced doubts about the conflicts that where the Vietnam war.  Some say it was Kim Phuc and her role in contemporary history that ended the war,  whether or not this is true this image got the point across about the war and its damage to the civilian population.
The Vietnam war caused great devastation amongst the occupants on which was already ranked among the poorest countries in the world,  it injured and killed many causing much tragedy amongst hundreds of families.  It was the longest war of the 20th centaury lasting 30 horrific years.
The photograph above shows Kim Phúc,  crying,  naked,  injured, fleeing from a napalm attack with a number of other children.  It shows an abundance of emotion,  the though provoking composition depict a metaphor for all the civilians whose lives where ruined by the war.  The Napalm was dropped by a low flying American aircraft just outside the village of Trang Bang.  Kim Phúc had to rip of her burning clothes after the attack and unseen by the camera are the burns that covered her back.  To put a slightly happy ending on this horrific story Nick Ut the photographer,  took her to the nearest hospital strait after the photograph was taken where she was treated and survived.
This photograph is so important because it gave the Vietnam War a face and a name, educating many in the US who ultimately withdrew from the war.

Conclusion

I believe as a collection of images they are all very influential in one way or another.  In just researching them all in depth I have understood the thought provoking story behind each and every one,  some have the ability to stir many emotions and are ultimately quite disturbing, but maybe that is what is needed to get a point across.  They all have a lot to offer in the way of peoples prospective on everything especially the world we live in,  which I believe portrays how much of a necessity photography is through conveying a point whether good or bad.
The image presented above that I would conclude to have had the most influence on my own work would be Ansel Adams’s ‘Tetons and the Snake River’.  The powerful contrast absorbs the viewer getting lost in the vast depth of field and the un tampered landscape.  Despite this in terms of influencing a number of people through the power of a single photograph would be either Dorohea Lange’s  ‘Migrant Mother‘ a thought provoking image that drew attention to the struggles commencing in the southern states of America broadcasting the horrific nature of the ‘bitter years‘,  or  Nick Ut’s ‘Napalm Against Civilians’ which became one of the most iconic photographs of the Vietnam war informing depicting the image of the pain and suffering towards civilians during that time.
Despite the fact that initially finding just one truly influential photograph was more of a challenge than I let on,  I believe that I have found ten influential images that have had an effect on mine and others opinions,  whether it be on the subject of photography and fashion or more sinister subjects such as war and suffering.







www.vogue.co.uk
Avedon Fashion - Book
Ansel Adams.com
50 Photo Icons - Book
BBC News
http://gavingough.photoshelter.com/gallery-list
The Photo Book -  Book
20th Centuary Photography - book
http://www.stevemccurry.com/
http://digitaljournalist.org/
http://www.gavingough.com/
National Geographic - Magazine
http://www.anseladams.com/
http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/911-thomas-hoepker/