Saturday, February 5, 2011

Charles Négre: Henry le Secq at Notre Dame cathedral, Paris 1851.

In this picture Négre captures his friend; artist and photographer Henry le Seq as he looks out over Paris. Although the photograph is most definitely staged, I feel it captures that moment of awe or the payoff having ascended up though the Cathedral.

Le seq is the focal point in terms of both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional composition and depth of the shot. The sharpness of the gothic detail plays against the "softness" of the forground and background and sets up an interesting relationship between man and Gargoyle.

Close No. 61, Saltmarket - Thomas Annan, Glasgow 1868-1877

Thomas Annan was a Scottish photographer (*1829, +1887).

This photograph is part of a commission from the City of Glasgow Improvements Trust and is called "The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow" and was created between 1868 and 1877.

The collection of images of the working class areas of old Glasgow helped document the impoverished living conditions of the working class at the time.

The vanishing point is the black wall break in the back.
Everything aligns in it and the viewer brings this "black hole" into focus.

At the first moment you are not oblivious to the fact that the alley is very narrow and high.