This document discusses photography by Edward Weston and Nikolas Koenig. It provides biographies of each photographer, noting that Weston was an influential American photographer known for his still life, nude, portrait, and landscape photos. It then analyzes several of Weston's landscape photos, describing compositional elements like organic shapes, lines, patterns, contrasts, and spaciousness. It also analyzes a few of Koenig's landscape photos, noting contrasts between urban and natural elements and how his photos create geometric shapes while maintaining a calm, spacious feel.

1. Photography and Digital
Manipulation
Taynie Gage
1
Reading Photographs

2. Mind Map Place a copy of your mindmap here
www.bubbl.us or a scanned copy

3. 3

4. 4

5. Past Photographer
Biography
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was born
on the 24th of March 1886 in
Highland Park, Illinois. Weston
began photographing after
receiving a Bulls Eye #2 camera
from his father at the age of 16.
The popularity of his work has
shown as Weston has been called
[1] ‘one of the most innovative
and influential American
photography’ and ‘one of the
masters of 20th century
photography’
His work spanned from a wide
range of subjects from still life
nudes, portraits, natural forms
and landscapes.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Weston#cite_note-1

6. This is a landscape
photograph
captured by
photographer
Edward Weston.
The image includes
organic shapes as
the subject is a
natural
environment. The
organic shapes
portrayed by the
mountains make
the image
interesting to look
at.
The composition of the image shows the reflection of the scene within
the water. The way the scene is shown, the person viewing the image is
able to see more of the sky that shown at the top of the image which
wouldn’t be available to view if photograph was cropped or taken closer
to the subject.
There are contrasting colours within the image. As the image is taken in monochrome, the
black and white will naturally contrast however the natural lighting of the image shows
the lightness of the sky against the darkness of the mountains.
The other contrast within the photograph is the textures, the fluffiness of the clouds
against the jagged edges of the mountains.
The feel of the
photograph is
extremely
spacious. This
feeling is created
by the
composition and
the way
everything in the
image seems to
be well focused.

7. This landscape
photograph was taken by
Edward Weston in 1937.
The way the hay is
laid out creates a
leading lines effect
meaning the person
viewing the
photograph will be
drawn towards the
mountains at the
back of the image.
The repetitive
nature of the hay
lines makes the
image interesting as
this creates a
pattern.
The organic shape within the image comes from the mountains at the background of
the image as even though the hay is natural, it has clearly been placed like this so and
therefore cannot be classed as organic shapes.
Again, this
image feels
spacious as all
of the
photograph is
in focus.
The natural lighting of the image shows as all of the items
within the photograph are well lit due to the photo being
captured outdoors.
The image is
monochrome
and therefore
the colours
within the
scene cannot
be seen.

8. ‘Eel River Ranch’
by Edward Weston
1937.
This
monochrome
landscape
photograph
shows organic
shape as the
natural layout
and repetition of
the trees create
patterns within
the image.
As with a lot of Weston's landscape photography, the image
feels extremely spacious. The position from with the image
has been taken means nothing is placed close to the camera.
The content of
the busy
background and
the empty or
passive space
creates an
interesting
contrast.
The photographer, Edward Weston, has taken this image from a vantage point
however the photograph is taken at a straight angle to be in line with the trees.

9. Present Photographer
Biography
Nikolas Koenig
Nikolas Koenig is a
photographer who was
born in Frankfurt,
Germany and now lives in
New York.
Koenig has had a number
of well respected clients
from LG Electronics to GQ
Magazine and has worked
with companies from all
around the world.

10. This landscape photograph was taken by
renowned photographer Nikolas Koenig.
This image shows
a beautiful
example of urban
to natural
contrast. The trees
are towards the
foreground of the
image however, I
believe the main
focus within the
image are the
buildings creating
a skyline at the
back of the
photograph. There
is also a contrast
between the
colour of the sky
and the dull tones
of the trees.
The shape
within the
image comes
from the lines
of the road
which create
curves and
geometric
shapes.
As the photographer, Nikolas Koenig has taken this image from a
high vantage point, the image is incredibly spacious. I believe the
image does feel so spacious as the foreground is mostly empty
and the background is sky which can make an image feel like a
bigger space has been captured.

11. This image is extremely busy, the busyness of the photograph
contrasts with calm sky.
Koenig has
created an
image which
contains a lot of
geometric and
simplistic
shapes, this
come from the
buildings.
The image is
clear as all of
the layers are
mixed
together to
create a flat
image which is
visually
appeling.
There is
also no
specific
focal point
of the
image so
your eye
tends to
wander
and pick up
all of the
little details
of the
picture.
The image is easy to look at, this is due to all of
the different neutral tones.

12. This image by Nikolas Koenig is extremely spacious, the photograph show a large
amount of sky and sea and therefore means the photo looks like there is a huge
amount of empty or passive.
The entire
image has a
very
enchanting
feel to it with
its similar
colors and soft
glow from the
houses. The
reflections on
the water give
it a calming
feel.
The main focus of the image is in the very center
meaning the eye is naturally drawn to the middle
and has central focus.