Man Ray & Adam Woolfitt

Man Ray
Portrait of Marquise Casati
1922

Man Ray, originally named Emmanuel Radnitzky. (Born 1890) He is considered the pioneer of Surrealist photography and took many photos that fell into the Avant-Garde category of artwork. Man Ray was also interested in painting and film making, which shows he has a very creative mind that hardly runs out of ideas. The portrait of Markiza Casati makes me feel intimidated due to the intensity of the stare from the model, the use of a slow shutter speed emphasises the focal point, which I think is the eyes since that’s usually what you first see when looking at a face. The framing of the photo also places the eyes in the centre of the photo and revels the upper torso of the model, which seems to be dirty suggesting that the woman could be poor. The lighting in this photo seems artificial and is hitting the Model face-on, however there is a shadow created on her left cheek which makes me feel confused and think about how little is revealed in the image, this could relate to how Man Ray also doesn’t like to reveal much about himself, especially his early life such as him originally being called Emmanuel Radnitzky, this makes me think how his family moved from Russia to Brooklyn in 1897 and they might have needed to do this to fit in. this relates to the photo and my project because Man Ray has turned something common into something that doesn’t fit in and how the poor might feel neglected.

Adam Woolfitt 
Whale hunting 
Faroe Islands 
1966

The photo by Adam Woolfitt surprised me due to the sheer magnitude of whale blood in the photo and how the people in the photo seem to be acting casually. The framing of the photo does a good job at showing the size of the operation and the beauty of the Faroe islands, which is easily undone by the massacre in the foreground, this relates to my project because Woolfitt has shown how a relaxing landscape can be turned into a photo used by anti-whaling campaigners. The light in the photo is artificial since it was taken at night, this creates a tense atmosphere which makes me think of how people do this at night to keep it hidden but Woolfitt has revealed process of how people make money on the Faroe islands.