2. The Life and Photos of...
James Van Der Zee By Khyheem Finley
3. James Augustus Van Der Zee Born June 29th, 1886 &
Died May 15th, 1983 born in Lenox, Massachusetts
4. Van Der Zee & Career Path...
“James Van Der Zee started early in photography as he took pictures
for his high school. When he married Kate Brown in 1907 they moved
to Virginia, where he worked as a photographer at the Hampton
Institute. The couple moved back to New York in 1908 after their first
child, there he worked a couple of jobs. Later ,James went to New
Jersey was able to get a job as a darkroom assistant for department
store. In 1916 he opened his own Harlem studio and named it
Guarantee Photo. “He later went on to renamed his studio “GGG
Studio” which he named after his second wife, Gaynella Greenlee”.
6. Van Der Zee & Era...
The era James had the pleasure of working in was the roaring
20’s(1920) and the 30’s(1930). Any and everything was booming at
these time era music, clothing and yes even photography was a thriving
industry. His work consist of photos of the great poet Countee Cullen,
also the dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and black nationalist leader
Marcus Garvey. He also worked funerary photography between the
world wars 1 and 2, Those works soon after were collected by “The
Harlem Book of the Dead”.
8. Der Van Zee & Motavation...
What motivated the great photojournalist was when he obtained his first
camera at the age of fourteen because of a magazine promotion. The
interest turned into hundreds of photos of his family and the town of
Lenox, Massachusetts where he was born. Luckily he was one of the
first people in his town to own an actual camera so he was able to
make a unique and fairly new documentation of community life in his
small town in New England.
10. Van Der Zee & Technology...
In his time era there was not much of anything, It was after the
collodion processes and before color and advanced cameras. Van Der
Zee had to work with darkrooms and negatives, also one of the first
cameras to be made. The camera took photos but had to be
developed.
12. Van Der Zee & Ethics
Besides racism still alive and kicking which possibly made him
photograph only african american life and living situations, the great
depression was a great factor as well. Around 1932 his business
struggled through the Depression, the demand for professional
photographers. It made them have to moved to a less-expensive
studio. Personal cameras had to become more available and Van Der
Zee had to shoot passport pictures and do other odd photographic jobs.
14. Van Der Zee & Bias...
You could say James Van Der Zee was bias in his work because of the
fact that his work was mainly of African American culture in Harlem
around the 1920’s to the 1930’s and a little bit later. He did not
photograph white America.
16. Van Der Zee & Physical Style...
Texture is greatly used here
because you can see the fine
detailing in the fabric in the
casket also in the flag. Detailing
is seen in the flowers as well.
17. Physical Style...
Shadow casting is visible in this
portrait immensely, you can see
the light illuminating from the front
of the women in the photo and
casting a shadow in back of her.
18. Physical Style...
The rule of third is not used
properly in this photo because the
man is in the middle of the image,
nothing special it could be better
if he was off to one of the sides.
19. Physical Style...
Expression in this photo is
serious, the man is chained up
and looks like he is a slave and
very unhappy about it. It gives off
a bad vibe as if African
Americans are slaves in America
that is what it symbolizes to me.
20. The Impact...
After Van Der Zee died in 1983 at the age of 96, he left behind an
enormous legacy of photographs so enticing and compelling that it was
hard to see Harlem through any other eyes. "According to McGhee, a
photo researcher in the article, "you will not see the common images of
black Americans and downtrodden rural or urban citizens. Instead, you
will see a people of great pride and fascinating beauty".
21. Major comparison...
The aspect of showing the world something they have seen but in a
new light or expressing yourself and or culture to the public can
compare to my new media major. As a new media major I have uptain
many skills in the realms of photography, news broadcasting and media
in itself, I can, just light James Der Van Zee express and reveal to the
general public my work and knowledge that I have to enlighten them
and show them things they may not have seen before. My major and
Der Van Zee’s work both inform the viewers of our work, what is
happening, what emotion is being felt and so much more just by
viewing it.
22. Viewpoints...
I do not believe there was any mixed feelings or views on James
Der Van Zee’s work everyone pretty much had and still have the
same views on his photographs. His work around 1968 was
"discovered" by a photo researcher named Reginald McGhee
happened to stumble on to Der Van Zee’s collection of 75,000 photos
covering six decades of African American life. The New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art featured his work in an exhibit called
"Harlem On My Mind," and just like that James Van Der Zee became
nationally recognized. In the early 1980s, 60 years after the Harlem
Renaissance, celebrities such as Bill Cosby, Muhammad Ali, and Lou
Rawl wanted a portrait done by James.
