Edward Steichen, The Flatiron, New York', 1905
Alfred Stieglitz, The Flatiron', 1903
Alvin Langdon Coburn, 'The Flatiron Building', 1911
Walter Gropius, 'The Flatiron Building, New York', 1928
Walker Evans, 'Flatiron Building seen from Below, New York City', 1928
Berenice Abbott, 'The Flatiron Building', 1938
The use of trees in the first three images ( Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz and Alvin Langdon Coburn ) suggests that they are showing that the tall building is rising up out of the city and imposing on the natural surroundings, taking over nature. Trees live for many hundreds of years and grow to great heights yet these trees are dwarfed by the immense scale and size of the Flatiron Building.
These from what I have deconstructed have all been shot using only natural daylight, Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen appear to have shot their image at dusk when the park lights have been turned on so there is still some available day light left but would have needed a longer exposure time of a few seconds, having said that there are people who where walking to and away from the camera so that tells me that there must have been a faster shutter speed that I first thought as they are not blurred, not necessarily sharp but they are not blurred as in a motion blur.
It's quite a soft image From Alvin Langdon Coburn which would suggest that a high ISO would have possibly been used, this would then allow for a faster shutter speed, thus freezing an motion to stop the people blurring due to their movement whilst walking.
The one thing that is very obvious in all these images are that the artists have all chosen the same subject. The modernisation of New York and this being the icon of that modernisation, lead to various images of this iconic building by many an Artist.
Walter Gropius and Berenice Abbott's images are almost the same, they are or where shot from a similar camera angle, both looking up at the Building but the difference is that Walters image as been shot at an angle the only artist from the images above to do so, Berenice has shot this straight on as have many others documenting the building and including smaller buildings or objects alongside or even in front of to give the viewer a sense of scale.
all but the two artists i've just mentioned have shot the building from afar, they haven't shot from a close viewpoint but from a distance in some cases shooting from behind objects, such as trees or even through other buildings, Walker Evans image for example has been shot from under what looks like a overhang of a building.
The tonal range in each image varies greatly, the images have been shot over Forty Years and so technologies, techniques all change from when the first image was shot to the last image above shot in 1938.
Berenice Abbott's image has the greatest sharpness with the whole building in focus most likely shot on a large format camera, there is no distortion to the building as you would expect to see from such a tall building, the top going to a vanishing point.
Walter Gropius and Berenice Abbott's images are almost the same, they are or where shot from a similar camera angle, both looking up at the Building but the difference is that Walters image as been shot at an angle the only artist from the images above to do so, Berenice has shot this straight on as have many others documenting the building and including smaller buildings or objects alongside or even in front of to give the viewer a sense of scale.
all but the two artists i've just mentioned have shot the building from afar, they haven't shot from a close viewpoint but from a distance in some cases shooting from behind objects, such as trees or even through other buildings, Walker Evans image for example has been shot from under what looks like a overhang of a building.
The tonal range in each image varies greatly, the images have been shot over Forty Years and so technologies, techniques all change from when the first image was shot to the last image above shot in 1938.
Berenice Abbott's image has the greatest sharpness with the whole building in focus most likely shot on a large format camera, there is no distortion to the building as you would expect to see from such a tall building, the top going to a vanishing point.
The use of trees in the first three images ( Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz and Alvin Langdon Coburn ) suggests that they are showing that the tall building is rising up out of the city and imposing on the natural surroundings, taking over nature. Trees live for many hundreds of years and grow to great heights yet these trees are dwarfed by the immense scale and size of the Flatiron Building.
These from what I have deconstructed have all been shot using only natural daylight, Alvin Langdon Coburn and Edward Steichen appear to have shot their image at dusk when the park lights have been turned on so there is still some available day light left but would have needed a longer exposure time of a few seconds, having said that there are people who where walking to and away from the camera so that tells me that there must have been a faster shutter speed that I first thought as they are not blurred, not necessarily sharp but they are not blurred as in a motion blur.
It's quite a soft image From Alvin Langdon Coburn which would suggest that a high ISO would have possibly been used, this would then allow for a faster shutter speed, thus freezing an motion to stop the people blurring due to their movement whilst walking.
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