Keld Helmer-Petersen
These series of photos are from Keld's collection called: 'Black Noise'.
Keld Helmer-Peterson was a Danish photographer. He gained recognition in 1984 when he published '122 colour photographs' - it contained a collection of experiments with shapes.
It stated that he was inspired by Albert Renger-Patszch and the German Neue Sachlichkeit movement.
The '122 colour photographs' brought modernism to danish photography and due to this book he received a grant to study for a year under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind.
Keld Helmer-Peterson's book called 'Black Noise' features a collection of high contrast abstract images reminiscent of his work in the 1960's, negative scans of black and white negatives, ink drawings, old tape and misprinted supermarket receipts etc..
It stated that he was inspired by Albert Renger-Patszch and the German Neue Sachlichkeit movement.
The '122 colour photographs' brought modernism to danish photography and due to this book he received a grant to study for a year under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind.
Keld Helmer-Peterson's book called 'Black Noise' features a collection of high contrast abstract images reminiscent of his work in the 1960's, negative scans of black and white negatives, ink drawings, old tape and misprinted supermarket receipts etc..
Similarities and differences of his work and Albert Renger-patszch
The similarities of Keld Helmer-Peterson and Albert Renger-patszch work is that both their images are in black and white and they consider the composition within their photographs. However, Keld Helmer-peterson's photographs are very abstract and the lines within his images are define and clear, though some of his high contrast abstract images require some time to figure out the subject matter. His black and white images contain a high contrasting tone and does not appear very grainy whereas, Renger-patszch's photographs contain grey tones and have a lower contrast; his images are clear and precise which makes it easy to interpret subject matters.
The similarities of Keld Helmer-Peterson and Albert Renger-patszch work is that both their images are in black and white and they consider the composition within their photographs. However, Keld Helmer-peterson's photographs are very abstract and the lines within his images are define and clear, though some of his high contrast abstract images require some time to figure out the subject matter. His black and white images contain a high contrasting tone and does not appear very grainy whereas, Renger-patszch's photographs contain grey tones and have a lower contrast; his images are clear and precise which makes it easy to interpret subject matters.
Harry Callahan
Harry Callahan (1912-1999) was a self-taught american photographer who photographed in both colour and black and white; he was a hobbyist until 1941 when he was inspired by Ansel Adam's landscape photographs.
Callahan's main subjects in his photographs were landscapes, cityscapes, and portraits of his wife and daughter. He took dozens of photographs a day; from the source www.artnet.com he stated, 'I guess I've shot about 40,000 negatives and of these I have about 800 pictures I like', this shows he carefully picks out images from a selection and narrows it down. He also worked as a teacher at Chicago’s Institute of Design.
Callahan's main subjects in his photographs were landscapes, cityscapes, and portraits of his wife and daughter. He took dozens of photographs a day; from the source www.artnet.com he stated, 'I guess I've shot about 40,000 negatives and of these I have about 800 pictures I like', this shows he carefully picks out images from a selection and narrows it down. He also worked as a teacher at Chicago’s Institute of Design.
Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind (1903-1991) was an american photographer who was involved with the abstract expressionist movement. Interestingly he was first an english teacher for 25 years in the New York public school, his photographic journey commenced when he was gifted a camera as a wedding gift and began photographing on his honeymoon. Siskind started as a documentary photographer until the 1940s he took interest into abstraction, his photographic works are focused on the details of nature and architectures to capture the graphic patterns, shapes, and forms he observed around him.
MY RESPONSE:
For my response I photographed 9 images outdoors focusing on nature because I find that nature contains various texture and forms which appears very interesting when it is in black and white; I took close-up shots to focus and emphasise an area such as, tree barks, leaves and branches.
I imported the images into Adobe Photoshop to edit: image>adjustments>threshold, which allowed me to control the threshold levels and create a high contrasting black and white filter. The black contain a very dark tone which defines the textures in the image; it appears crisp and clear due to the high contrast however, some images appear grainy - I am not very fond of the grainy look I wish it had a clear high contrast.
I imported the images into Adobe Photoshop to edit: image>adjustments>threshold, which allowed me to control the threshold levels and create a high contrasting black and white filter. The black contain a very dark tone which defines the textures in the image; it appears crisp and clear due to the high contrast however, some images appear grainy - I am not very fond of the grainy look I wish it had a clear high contrast.