Alec Soth
Alec Soth is an American documentary photographer, who focuses on long term projects which involves creating meaningful, story-like scenes to the viewer. Soth focuses his work on individuals and what can make them interesting to the viewer; for instance, most of his portraits focus on the identity of the subject and how their surrounding space can add to the story which the photograph is telling. Soth will also sometimes use probs when necessary to add a further dynamic within his frame. In the case of his portrait of the ice skater, the viewer first notices the girl in the lower centre of the frame, wearing white ice skates with neon prink blade covers, contrasting with the earthy tones which surround the skater’s blades. Looking upwards, her rolled up sleeves alludes to her being accustomed to the cold weather, while her pose seems to be obviously unnatural, with her torso leaning towards the right of the frame and her head leaning to the left. This could be a result of the skater waiting for Soth to set up his tedious 10×8 large format camera or it could be an intentional pose which mimics the same stance as the trees in the background. The location within the frame also gives the viewer an insight into the skater’s life. The quantity of snow implies she lives in a cold climate or could suggest that maybe she ice skates on frozen roads such as the one in the foreground.
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was an American portrait photographer whose main style of portraits focused on close-ups of celebrities and everyday American people with a clean, white background, similar to the likes of David Bailey and Platon. Avedon’s use of background results in the subject being the centre of attention and the viewer is instantly pulled into the way in white the subject is presenting themselves. Avedon’s portrait of president Gerald Ford is a strong example of Avedon’s ability to use a stripped back background but still give the viewer some context of who they are looking at. In Ford’s portrait, the background only includes a hint of an American flag placed on the left of Ford, which could be reflective of the president’s reputation of being a left-wing politician during his time in office. Ford’s pose seems stiff, possibly giving the impression of importance, power or seriousness, while his expression implies that he could be cunning. Usually presidential portraits include the Oval Office so to take Ford away from his desk and place him in front of a backdrop could be Avedon’s means of stripping away his president role and capturing his true personality.
Joe Haines 