Steve Gosling

 is a professional photographer who produces creative & contemporary landscape and nature images.

His photographs have been published internationally as posters & greetings cards and have appeared in books, magazines, newspapers & calendars across the world. Prints of Gosling's work have been exhibited in venues throughout the UK and have appeared on sets for both theatre and film productions.

Gosling has also won many awards in both national and international competitions. These include: Winner of the ‘Places’ category and runner up in the ‘Inkjet Printer of the Year’ category of the ‘Black & White Photographer of the Year’ competition, Award Winner in the Royal Horticultural Society’s International Photographic Competition - ‘Tree & Shrub’ category and Award Winner in the Royal Horticultural Society’s International Photographic Competition - ‘Flower & Plant’ category.

Artist Statement

I believe that a passion for the subject is an essential pre-requisite for a successful photograph. If the photographer feels ambivalent about whatever is seen through the viewfinder how can they hope to have any impact on those who see the final photograph? Communicating mood & emotion are my most important motivators for making images. I’ve never been overly concerned with technical perfection or producing an accurate pictorial record of a subject or a location. For me the heart of photography is to capture and communicate what I’m feeling, as much (if not more) than what I see at the time of releasing the shutter. If my photographs speak to the viewer on an emotional level then I have succeeded in my work.

Opinion

I hold the same opinion of Gosling that I do of Kim Weston in that if Gosling did not care about his subject the way Weston cares for his craft the image would be lost. Love for the subject allows the creator to feel for subject, they want to represent the subject right in the image. The artist spends more time focusing and more time making sure abstractions do not break into the image. In short, they attempt to make every thing perfect thereby revealing more of themself to the viewer.
Love allows the artist to be as abstract and thourough as possible rather than being shallow and just snapping random images.


Those that love make and create because they care about their subject and want the world to see it they way they do. Gosling infuses his images with his own feelings to charge the work and invites the viewer to think about how they feel when they see his works.

Warwick Saint

Warwick Saint was born in South Africa in 1972. With a Creative dad and a Model mom, it was not surprising Warwick Saint became a photographer. Warwick jokes:

“The moment I arrived in the world I knew that I could have done a better job with that harsh hospital lighting”

After graduating with BA in Art and Philosophy, Warwick Saint left South Africa for London.  There Warwick Saint worked as an apprentice for 5 years before launching his own career. 


Warwick Saint's talent was quickly recognized by Dutch magazine who published Warwick's first editorial in 1999, titled Dazed & Confused, Arena and Numero were quick to follow. He was soon invited to exhibit at the Festival d’Hyer in France.  Saint's early successes soon transpired into campaigns for Puma, Nike, Costume National and Diesel. This brought Warwick to New York where he still lives today. 

Warwick Saint's portraiture is in constant demand by famous celebrities including, Drew Barrymore, Cate Blanchett and Sharon Stone. Saint shoots for magazines such as Rolling Stone, Interview, Flaunt, Citizen K, Blackbook, London Sunday Times, Arena and S magazine. Warwick Saint has been published in numerous books including, Making Faces by Kevin Aucoin, Dolce And Gabbanna Music, Beauty by Iman and Fashion images de Mode. 

Warwick Saint currently works between London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles.


Opinion


I'm so being so biased by picking this artist. I chose to blog about Saint simple because he reminds me of the self-nudes I did for my Photo I class at university. The black, messy, in your face hair is almost exactly what I was trying to emulate though my inspiration was probably way off Saint's. 


The images have a very moody quality that I enjoy very much. The subjects eyes are penetrating and often very direct with the viewer. 


The cigarettes and tattoos are obviously way off the mark as I don't smoke or have any body art. I do wish at times that I were brave enough to get crazy piercings or tattoos but that's like thinking I'm guaranteed the job even though I went to the interview wearing pajama bottoms (which I've never done).

Chris Fortuna

There is a poor lack of information regarding Chris Fortuna and his life as a photographer. Much of what is know is copy and pasted by people from his website: Chris Fortuna [Fashion Photography]. Information from this site is posted below. Feel free to visit his site for more images.

Chris Fortuna was born in Boston, Massachusetts and began photographing in his early teens with a Yashica Mat camera. He studied fine art photography at New York University Tish School Of The Arts. After graduating he was awarded the Daniel Rosenberg Traveling Fellowship For Photography. 

His early photographic work was transformed by working under such old world masters as Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon And Paolo Roversi. After living and working in New York City for much of his career Chris has recently relocated and now calls Los Angeles home. 

When not working on either coast he can be found at the racetrack on his Ducati.

Clients include: Converse, Sony Music, Interview, Def Jam, Warner Bros, Joie, Sprint, Maxim.

Opinion

I enjoy Fortuna's B&W photography (pictured at top and right). The people seem real, like they are speaking to the audience about who they are and less about what they are wearing. I don't get the impression they are trying to sell me their shirt or their hair ribbon.

They seem bored or nervous.

The glassiness of the eyes bother me. Reflections are cool from an artistic stand point if you are trying to show less of the person and more of what they are looking at or display who is looking an them, otherwise it is simply distracting from their expression. Yes, one should see their eyes; yes, the eyes should be the main focus; but, one should always be able to rest their eyes elsewhere for a time.

Toni Frisell

Antoinette Frissell was born in 1907 in Manhattan, but took photos under the name Toni Frissell, even after her marriage to Manhattan socialite Francis M. Bacon. She worked with many famous photographers of the day, as an apprentice to Cecil Beaton, and with advice from Edward Steichen. Her initial job, as a fashion photographer for Vogue in 1931, was due to Condé Montrose Nast personally. She later took photographs for Harper's Bazaar. Her fashion photos, even of evening gowns and such, were often notable for their outdoor settings, emphasizing active women.

Though she is remembered today for her high-fashion photography for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, Frissell volunteered her photographic services to the American Red Cross, Women's Army Corps, and Eighth Army Air Force during WWII. On their behalf, she produced thousands of images of nurses, front-line soldiers, WACs, African-American airmen, and orphaned children.

Frissell's leap from fashion photography into war reportage echoed the desires of earlier generations of newswomen to move from "soft news" of fashion and society pages into the "hard news" of the front page. On volunteering for the American Red Cross in 1941, Frissell said:

"I became so frustrated with fashions that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do a real reporting job."

Using her connections with high-profile society matrons, Frissell aggressively pursued wartime assignments at home and abroad, often over her family's objections.

Frissell's work usually involved creating images to support the publicity objectives of her subjects. Her photographs of WACs in training and under review by President Franklin Roosevelt fit into a media campaign devised to counter negative public perception of women in uniform. Likewise, Frissell's images of the African American fighter pilots of the elite 332nd Fighter Group were intended to encourage positive public attitudes about the fitness of blacks to handle demanding military jobs.

In the 1950's, she took informal portraits of the famous and powerful in the United States and Europe, including Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, and John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy, and worked for Sports Illustrated and Life magazines. Continuing her interest in active women and sports, she was the first woman on the staff of Sports Illustrated in 1953, and continued to be one of very few female sport photographers for several decades.

In later work she concentrated on photographing women from all walks of life, often as a commentary on the human condition.


Opinion

Frisell is very much a pioneer for the women of today. If she had not insisted upon moving outside the realm of fashion there would probably be fewer female photographers.

Due to her unique experience in the fashion industry she had a different way of seeing the world. This veiwpoint allowed the artist to create images with meaning on more than one front. Images of nurses, front-line soldiers, WACs, and African-American airmen helped paint positive images of the people representing the United States while reinforcing minority rights. At the same time, images of orphaned children shared the cost of the war to the people farthest from the battle field painting a reason for the country to keep fighting (to make tomorrow better for the children and their children).

Paul Politis

is a self-taught photographer from Montreal, Quebec, (born in 1969). He has been making photographs since 1988, first in the traditional chemical darkroom, and since 2005, digitally.

In his photography, Politis attempt to capture moments in time that have a quiet emotion to them. He tends to avoid human presence, instead focusing on the objects that humans construct, maneuver and discard. Through patterns and shapes, as well as light and shadow, he hopes to kindle in the viewer an empathy for the objects being photographed.

Working primarily in black and white, his recent work has focused on themes of personification within an urban landscape. He feels the concrete and asphalt of a city imparts a cold and lonely feeling that is further accentuated by the tonalities of a black and white photograph. The city is rife with still lifes and juxtapositions, waiting to be photographed.

He usually sells prints to collectors and black and white photography enthusiasts through his website, http://www.paulpolitis.com/, since 2001, and is currently represented by La Petite Mort Gallery in Ottawa.
His work has appeared in and been reviewed by several magazines internationally, including Shutterbug Magazine, Black & White Photography (UK), The American Muse, and more.

A series of his photographs of Ottawa Valley ghost towns also appeared online at Canadian Geographic in 2006.

Opinion

I feel that a large portion of Politis' works are abstract. He is semi-successful at capturing quiet moments as I always feel that someone or some thing is about to come up and disturb his works. Perhaps, a bird is going to land on the railing in his piece Wind Chime, take a dump, and leave.

His nude landscapes are far more successful at attempting peace and quiet as they are simple forms. The eye of the viewer can follow the shape of the figure up the back and down the arms in a circle while displaying tons of detail for the viewer's interest.

Kim Weston

is a third-generation member of one of the most creative families in photography. He learned his craft assisting his father, Cole Weston, in the darkroom making gallery prints from his grandfather's, Edward Weston, original negatives. Kim also worked for many years as an assistant to his uncle Brett, whose bold, abstract photographs rank as some of the finest examples of modern photographic art.

After spending countless hours and producing thousands of images in both his fathers' and Brett's darkrooms, Kim felt he needed to prove that the process of making a photo in the dark room was more rewarding and important compared to the image. Therfore, for ten years Kim made only one print of each image, and mounted the negative on the back.

"The great thing about this thing we call art is that it has no rules. I wouldn't have it any other way.”

For the past six years, Kim and his wife, Gina Weston, have been sharing their passion, artistry and unique photographic vision with a select group of participants at several workshops held at Wildcat Hill, Edward Weston's former home in the Carmel Highlands. Each workshop combines practical, hands-on instruction in camera and darkroom technique with informal lectures and field trips that immerse participants in the history of the Weston family's contributions to fine art photography.

The Weston Photographic Workshops are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to embrace one's own creative spirit. Each workshop is open to photographers at all levels of experience. The only requirement is a love for the beauty and expressive potential of the photographic image.

"What I've learned as an artist and photographer is we all take from our artistic endeavors what we as individuals need to make the process unique and fulfilling to ourselves," says Kim. "I'm always learning from my students, and hope they take away a renewed passion and interest in photography as an art and lifestyle."

Kim's Artist's Statement :

"I make pictures which are meant to be direct and truthful. I do not explain or rationalize this work or my passion for it. I leave it to the viewer to find the surprises. I hope the work generates feelings; otherwise I have failed".

Kim's view of his work:

"The photographic process is an internal part of my life. It is the process of camera, vision and execution. All steps to a statement either capturing in its whole a (vision) or an interpretation of a feeling hopefully interpreted by the viewer. But through the whole process the finished product must be an immaculate rendition of the vision, the surface is of paramount importance. Which is something I do well and have for 30 years plus. My painted photographs have given me a release from surface importance and visual certainty. I can take my image and tweak it to another dimension which if I think about it was my original direction and interpretation of the subject to begin with".

Kim has been a fine art photographer for 30 years specializing in large format photography. His main body of work consists of silver contact prints made from 8x10 negatives. In addition to the 8x10 format he prints in 11x14 and 16x20 sizes. Kim also photographs with a Mamiya 67 that he inherited from his father Cole Weston. He prints in Platinum and lately he has added paint to his photographs.



Opinion


One can always tell the level of commitment one has by how much they love. If Kim Weston did not love making photographs his works would be of low quality and worth. Just the shear love and pleasure in creating something raises the creater's expectations of themselves and changes the way others see them.

All the #1's in the world got where they are by sacrificeing time and effort to create perfection in something they love. If they did not love their actions would be flawed (usually in the name of a good pay check) and their end results would be rubbish.

When one becomes famous and/or are admired for something they love it never really seems like fame. It allows people to be humble and self respecting rather than egotistical and demeaning to others. Those that love make and create because they care about what they are doing. Often times it matters little if others enjoy or appreciate what is being created so long as the creater finds worth in it (whether it be self-worth or simple satifaction with the end result).

In this way, an image can be absolutely devoid of meaning yet still present itself as an artistic challenge in the form of craftsmanship. Superior craft usually trumps works with great content but are made without love.

Alice Neel

was born in 1900, to Alice Concross Hartley, a descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington Neel, an accountant in the per diem department of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Her father’s family is variously described as owners of a steamship company and as a family of opera singers. Neel was the fourth of five children.


In 1918, she graduated from Darby High School, afterwards taking a business course including typing and stenography. Upon completing the course, she took the civil service exam. She held a secretarial job with the Army Air Corps, working for Lieutenant Theodore Sizer, who later became an art historian at Yale University. She took evening art classes at the School of Industrial Art and later turned down a secritarial job at Swarthmore College.


Shortly after finishing her studies Neel married a Cuban painter named Carlos Enríquez, the son of wealthy parents. They were wed in 1925 and moved to Havana the following year to live with Enríquez’s family. In 1926 she became pregnant with her first child. Following the birth of her daughter, Santillana, Alice returned to her parents’ home in Colwyn. Carlos followed soon after, and the family moved to New York City. Just before Santillana’s first birthday, she died of diphtheria. The trauma caused by Santillana’s death infused the content of Neel’s paintings, setting a precedent for the themes of motherhood, loss, and anxiety that permeated her work for the duration of her career.

Immediately following Santillana’s death, Neel became pregnant with her second child, Isabetta. Isabetta’s birth in 1928 inspired the creation of "Well Baby Clinic", a bleak portrait of mothers and babies in a maternity clinic more reminiscent of an insane asylum than a nursery and, in the spring of 1930, Carlos returned to Cuba, taking Isabetta with him.

Mourning the loss of her husband and daughter, Neel suffered a massive nervous breakdown. After a brief period of hospitalization, she attempted suicide. She was placed in the suicide ward of the Philadelphia General Hospital. Deemed stable almost a year later, Neel was released from the sanitorium in 1931 and returned to her parents’ home. Following an extended visit with her close friend and frequent subject, Nadya Olyanova, Neel returned to New York.

Toward the end of the 1960s, interest in Neel’s work intensified. The momentum of the Women’s Movement led to increased attention, and Neel became an icon for Feminists. In 1970 Neel was commissioned to paint Feminist activist Kate Millett for the cover of Time magazine. In 1974, Neel's work was given a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and posthumously, in the summer of 2000, also at the Whitney.

By the mid-1970s, Neel had gained celebrity and stature as an important American artist. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter presented her with a National Women’s Caucus for Art award for outstanding achievement. Neel’s reputation was at its height at the time of her death in 1984. Neel's life and works are featured in the documentary "Alice Neel," which premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival and was directed by her grandson, Andrew Neel. The film was given a New York theatrical release in April of that year.

Alice Neel was also the subject of the retrospective "Alice Neel: Painted Truths" organized by The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, and on view March 21-June 15, 2010.


Opinion


Alice Neel's works always remind me of a paint by numbers book even though they are obviously more. She quotes:

I do not pose my sitters. I do not deliberate and then concoct... Before painting, when I talk to the person, they unconsciously assume their most characteristic pose, which in a way involves all their character and social standing – what the world has done to them and their retaliation.

This is an interesting concept. It hints that she is painting a person Esse Quam Vidiri (a latin phrase meaning: to be rather than to seem) hinting they feel, act, and see life as a result of everyting that has happened to them. Neel's attitude is very mental as these ideals stem from the basics of psycology. One is a result of there culture, their mind, and their lives experiences, either good or bad.