E.O.Hoppe Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery,London

 Emil Otto Hoppe  (1878-1972) was the foremost portrait photographer of his generation, although almost forgotten now, in Edwardian London his was the studio that the great and good flocked to. It is amazing to think that by the 1920's he was simply the most famous photographer in the world, a truly "household name", Jay, B cited by Prodger,P 2011, but until this exhibition I had personally never heard of him.
  His work had three distinct phases, he was firstly a very fine society portrait photographer, secondly he was greatly interested in typology and thirdly he became adept at street photography.
  Firstly I will deal with his studio portrait work, Hoppe worked very hard to capture not just a likeness of his subject but also what they were really like and I think this is what makes some his studio work his most compelling. Because he photographed his subjects in such a sensitive way it means that we as viewers, in the present day, can still connect with them as people, we can form an opinion about them, even though they must all have died many years ago. I feel that this is one of photographies great strengths, to connect us to the past in a truly emotional sense and reminds me of the work of Susan Hiller (b.1940), that I discussed earlier on my blog, some of whose work is concerned with connecting us to the past.
  Hoppe felt that one of the keys to understanding the character of his sitters lay in their hands and although they were often cropped out for publication, Hoppe often included the hands by photographing either full figure or bust to include the hands.( Prodger,P 2011). If we consider his portrait of Jacob Epstein in front of his memorial for Oscar Wilde, 1912, we find that both hands are included, the left hand is clenched in a fist around his chisel, whilst his right almost caresses his mallet and is carefully lit to show the prominent veins on the back. These hands combined with the subjects direct gaze give a sense of tension to the image and a feeling of impatience from the subject, as if with him still in his work clothes we have interrupted him in the midst of carving, we feel as though we are intruding. Hoppe believed that although we control our faces when in the situation of having our portrait, made we forget to control our hands and give our true character away.
   Hoppe's portraits are very modern in their approach, gone are the sitters with eyes glued to the lens, quite often they are gazing out of the frame, downcast or their eyes are not visible at all and we see the back of their head. His portrait of Lillian Gish,1921 is one such image, here we have probably one of the most famous faces of the age, which Hoppe decides to ignore and confronts us with a very soft focus profile with Miss Gish almost completely turned away from the camera, he is showing us that there is a real woman behind the famous face.
   Hoppes' curious mind began to wonder if there was something you could see in a successful person, if there was a common link between them, whether all dancers had something in their appearance that predestined them to be dancers or writers, or whatever. This Typological Approach ( Badger, B. 2007) was very popular in Europe throughout the 1920's and 1930's and had been pioneered by photographers such as Karl Blossfeldt (1865- 1932)  whose  Art Forms in Nature (1928) cataloged natural forms against a plain background, which had an abstract quality that crossed the boundary between science and art.
   This catologing approach was then applied to human subjects by August Sander (1876-1964) who made thousands of images of German society ' types' , he believed that each level of society could be recognized by visual information and he published his book of types in his Face of Our time ( 1929).
   Hoppe produced two books of typological studies Taken from Life (1922) and London Types (1926) what strikes me about the portraits from these books is that, for someone who worked so hard to show the true character of his celebrity customers, they show no real empathy with their subjects. It is almost as if because they of a lower class, they were devoid of depth, which probably tells us a great deal about the time at which the portraits were made and the divides in society. He also at this time produced at this time The Book of Fair Women (1922) which made the daring assertion that beauty could come from anywhere in the world. This was very contentious at the time and the press coverage assured Hoppes' fame, the images themselves are fairly superficial as they are primarily concerned with physical beauty.
   As I said earlier hoppe had a third element to his work, that of what we now call street photography, a lot of these are what appear to be staged events, of what I think of as Picture Post type of photographs. But there are some images taken with a hidden camera, as Walker Evans (1903-1975) was doing at the same time on the New York Subway, and may have even pre-dated Evans very famous efforts.
   Pictures such as At the counter in a snack bar (1935) show truly unguarded moments in the street life of London, and as such are a valuable document in reconnecting us with the past.
   As you can see Hoppe had a very varied career and deserves to be remembered, at his very best he gets under the skin of his subject and shows us their strengths or weaknesses and helps to bring the past alive.

  Ref: Prodger,P & Pepper,T.2011, Hoppe Portraits Society, Studio and Street,National Portrait Gallery,London
         Badger,G.2007,The Genius of Photography,Quadrille,London.

Rhythm

    Adding rhythm to an image is useful because it helps to draw the viewers eye across the frame, normally from left to right because that is the way we are used to reading. We add rhythm to an image by the use of repetition as found on the facades of buildings or rows of trees and the like. We are trying to add a beat for the eye to follow similar to that found in music. Generally this rhythm will continue across the frame and beyond its boundaries allowing the mind to continue it onward via the Gestalt Law of Good Continuation. ( Freeman, M.2007 )
   

Rhythm in Suburbia

    As you can see from my first example it does not continue out of the frame and the elements of the image are not exactly the same, but I do feel that it has a sense of building rhythm across the houses. This rhythm disappeared with even a slight change of shooting position.
   This image is reminiscent of the work of  Takashi Homma in the 1990's, his photographs of new Japanese suburban housing developments made with a total lack of a humanizing element were part of a movement first started in the 1970's against the use of land for housing and industrial purposes. ( Cotton,C. 2009 )

Rhythmic Forks

  The still life image above has been arranged to give multiple, quite sinuous rhythms. The first rhythm leads the eye up and down between the forks, which is unusual as the rhythm normally bounces across the frame. The secondary rhythms are made by the tines of the forks which help to draw the eye across the image. This image also extends beyond the frame allowing the rhythm to continue.

  Ref : Freeman,M.2007,The Photographers Eye,ILEX,Lewes.
          Cotton,C.2009, The Photograph as Contemporary Art,Thames & Hudson,London

Pattern

I originally thought that I would collect some items together and make some patterns of my own to photograph, but everything I tried appeared contrived. Therefore I decided to venture out and see what patterns I could find in my local area. The first thing I came across was a cast iron drain cover, I was drawn to it because unlike most drain covers the pattern is not regular.

Drain Cover

    I have converted the image to black and white to simplify it and draw attention to the pattern. Because the pattern is irregular it reminds me of a view through a microscope, as the pattern goes beyond the limits of the frame there are no terms of reference as to size. Also because of the irregularity the image is less static than some patterns because it has less rhythm.

Soup Cans

  The image above was found in my local co-op, I had to rearrange some of the cans, which raised some eyebrows in the shop. I was drawn to the obvious Warholesque association of the cans and it also has a certain deadpan feel. The pattern has much more of a rhythm than the drain cover picture, I tried cropping the shelves out but the cans became too large and became subjects rather than a pattern.

Triangles

In photography triangles are the most widely use shapes, whether implied or actual. They are easy to form, because obviously only need three points, and they are also formed by the effects of perspective which occur quite readily in photography especially when using wider lenses.
   Triangles are unusual because combine dynanism with their diagonals but also can be stable if one side is grounded by a level base ( Freeman,M. 2007)

Gates

    The above image has a subject containing triangles, a lot of built structures like this contain triangles because they contain great strength. The picture also includes several implied triangles formed by the shooting angle. It may not be the most picturesque image, but as Robert Frank said " you can photograph anything now ". ( Sontag, S.1977 )

Perspective triangle pointing up

     This picture shows how easily triangles can be formed by the action of aiming your camera up with a wide angle lens attached. I like the overall clean blue tone of this image and the panel lines enforce the triangular effect and add to quite a dynamic image.
     More difficult is to form a perspective triangle facing down, obviously if you could get high enough you could look down on a building.

Hard at work

   The book in the image above is a downward facing triangle, there is also a triangle formed by the feet and an upward facing triangle formed by the arms and head.
   When making still life images you can decide where you want the apex of the triangle to form which can help you to compose the elements of your still life.

Triangular still life with apex at top

    I have tried to make the above still life as triangular as possible and it has the tightly composed feel of the early photographers such as Hippolyte Bayard (1801-1887) and Roger Fenton (1819-1869) who were influenced by the painting tradition prevalent at the time. ( Martineau, P. 2010 )

Still life with apex at bottom

    The apples and plums above have a downward facing apex and is a deceptively simple composition, but it takes considerable effort to get the feeling of balance within the image.

   Ref: Freeman, M. 2007,The Photographers Eye,ILEX,Lewes
          Sontag,S,1977,On Photography,Penguin Books,London.
          Martineau,P,2010,Still Life in Photography,Getty Publications,Los Angeles.

Implied & Sight Lines

 Implied lines are a powerful tool to help direct the viewers gaze to the intended subject in an image. The eye will  tend to complete any unfinished lines and this tendency is used in the picture below.

Sketching

   The pencils, scribbling, sharpener and sharpening all point to the drawn eye, which becomes the subject of the image, even though it covers a very small part of the image.
   Another type of implied line is a sight line, this occurs when there is one or more subject with eyes in an image. The viewer will tend to follow where those eyes are looking, therefore if they are gazing out of the frame we will wonder what they are looking at, or if they are gazing within the frame we will follow the sight lines to that object. Implied and sight lines are examples of the Gestalt Law of Good Continuation which states that the mind will continue lines beyond there end.( Freeman,M. 2007 )

Reading

   There are three sight lines in the above image, one from the girl on the left to the woman, one from the woman down to the magazine and one out of the the picture from the face on the front of the magazine. The final eyeline is the strongest, as we are most attracted to a direct gaze.

  Ref: Freeman,M.2007.The Photographers Eye.ILEX.Lewes.

Curves

Curves in photographs help to give a sense of movement within the image and can help to lead the viewers eye around the scene in the way you intend it to be read. The most obvious example of this I could find is in my first picture of the Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg. The curving, sinuous planting of the flowers leads your eye up through the image to the gate and towers in the background.

Mirabell Gardens

    The above use of a curve is fairly obvious, but most curves have to be looked for and can be made of loosely linked sets of points which imply a curve.

Alpine Chalet

   The above image is comprised of several curves, there are two curves leading in from the bottom left hand corner which draw your eye to the chalet and then one behind the house formed by the treeline and shadow rolling down the hill. This gives the effect of nestling the chalet in a kind of bowl of curves drawing your eye around the image and back to the chalet.

Festung Hohensalzburg

     The above picture is a curve made up of straight fronted buildings, but it gives the effect of curve all the same.

Water Carrier

    The above picture is all about the curves, the curves in this picture is what curves are all about, sensuality. The statue is made of bronze but its sinuousness brings it to life.

Diagonal lines

In the two previous exercises we have looked at horizontal and vertical lines which pictorially add a sense of stability to the image, this because they are the lines we associate with the forces of gravity.( Freeman, M. 2007) Diagonal lines are freed from the constraints of having to be correctly aligned within the frame and thereby give the photographer greater freedom to experiment with the angle of line and the effect it has. This effect is to add tension to the image and a sense of movement, the tension is directly linked to the previously mentioned stability in horizontal and vertical lines, in that the sense of gravity is overcome.

Salzburg Cathedral

    In this first image you can see I have created a diagonal by tilting the camera, this makes for a more dynamic picture of a static object because you have the feeling that the building is falling, although you obviously know that it is not. (Freeman, M. 2007)
    There are very few naturally occurring diagonal lines, most are created by the choice of viewpoint and type of lens used. Probably the most common type of diagonal line is that caused by the effects of perspective.

Hellbrunn Palace

   The above image was taken of a very long drive with a wide angle lens to accentuate the sense of depth that  the strong diagonals give.

St Peters Cemetery, Salzburg

    The above image is further example of perspective diagonals, which sense of depth is enhanced by the receding arches. I have also purposely not corrected the verticals as I feel that this felling of canting over adds a slight uneasy feeling to the picture and increases the tension, although you might not agree, I know that some people feel that all buildings should be straight.
    I have also included a lone figure in the distance to give a sense of scale and finishing point to your view up through  the picture. This lone figure has been used by photographers for many years but has become synonymous with the work of Andre Kertesz ( 1894-1985 ) who was a Hungarian emigre working New York for much of the last century. After a promising start to his career in Hungary and Paris he found it difficult to settle in America and never achieved the acclaim he deserved until he was an old man, he was always the outsider, never even managing to learn the language.
    So we could see his lone figures stalking the streets of Paris and New York as surrogates for  Kertesz alone in the big city ( Dyer,G. 2005 )
   Therefore maybe we can see ourselves as the woman in the above image having just walked through these archways, what is she here for, is she a tourist like me or has she come to visit a grave.

Bus Stop

  The above picture has very diagonals produced by using a fisheye lens and then correcting the distortion in Lightroom. Once again this is showing the effects of perspective diagonals which as I said earlier are the most common diagonal lines.
   Diagonals can also be used to add a sense of speed to an image, this can be of a stationary object ie, of a car for use in an advert, to make it appear faster and more dynamic or to accentuate the speed of a moving object, as in the image below of my daughter karting.( Prakel,D 2006 )

Karting

  Diagonals are a very useful tool to add tension and movement to an image, but also to give a sense of depth and three dimensionality.

   Ref: Freeman,M.2007,The Photographers Eye,ILEX,Lewes.
          Dyer,G.2005,The Ongoing Moment,Abacus,London.
          Prakel,D.2006,Composition,Ava,Lausanne.