weekly Artist Post

Giovann Collazo 

Shane Rocheleau

Digital Photography 101

https://www.artsy.net/artist/andreas-gursky

These photographs were taken by photographer Andreas Gursky. Gursky uses a 100 ASA in two large-format linhof cameras; one uses a slight wide angle lens while the other uses a standard lens. He took the picture of the cathedral from inside and used the natural daylight to illuminate all those intricate patterns you see on the windows. In the second photo, the one with the building that sports countless windows, Gursky was probably standing about 900 feet from his subject at the time. His distance away from the building gives the eye something to play with and the colors compliment each other really well. The final photo of the islands shows  just that-ISLANDS. Gursky photographed this island chain from a above, perhaps from the top of a cliff or a helicopter.

 In the photo of the cathedral Gursky tries to convey a sense of majesty and awe. He makes the picture feel divine and sacred in the way that it was lit. The photo of the building shows that Gursky was trying to give the audience a sense of chaos and confusion through his distance from the building. Gursky also attempted to make just a generic landscape picture from the island chain in the third picture but instead of the picture looking lively it actually looks desolate and lost; a feat Gursky achieved in the lighting.

The photo of the cathedral makes me feel as if like I'm in the presence of something epic or omnipotent. Its almost as if I am in a different time period as well. The second photo of the building makes my head spin and ache at the sight of all those windows, but I also see the beauty in the chaos and I feel like I would like to traverse this place to see what lies beyond every window. The last photo is very beautiful no doubt but, as I mentioned before, the Island chain looks very eerie and haunting to me. I believe that this is what Gursky was trying to accomplish for this shot.