Alban Grosdidier
The detail and the definition of the water and the bubbles is what originally drew me in, and the curiosity as to why he photographed people underwater is what had me hooked. I believe his inspiration behind these photos has something to do with the feeling of submersion that you get from life events, such as living in a big city, and looking at the consequences and the way individuals deal with it. I think there’s been an artificial light used, the way he’s used it is interesting because he’s caught shimmers of the water, making it look shiny and unbreakable. The light also changes the texture of the water, making it look like glass, and making it look thicker. I really like these photos because between the monochrome tones and the things going on in the photo, there’s a huge amount of tension created. The black and white makes it far more dramatic so I think it was a good decision from Grosdidier because it wouldn’t cause such an impact if they were in full colour. Stefan Nitoslawski
The intense tonal range drew me to his photos and the way he uses photography to explore ideas of identity and perceive reality; the people in his photos are blurred, concealing their true identity and allowing the viewer to adapt the photos in more of a personal manner. He uses a slow shutter speed to capture the blurred and staggered trials of motion and therefore able to create interesting transformations.
Nitoslawski uses depth of field as a way of making the image three dimensional, the light he has used helps this by pin pointing certain stages of the movement, showing the shadows of a person and bringing it to life. I think the light he has used looks artificial because of the angle on which the photo is lit up, so it shows he has created these photos in a studio. When I see this photo I think of being on a stage with the main spotlight shun in my eyes, being the centre of attention and being blind to anything but the beam of light. The photographer uses very particular lighting, making the viewer see and concentrate on only the parts he wants them to concentrate on adding to concealing the identity. |
He has taken these photos from a birds eye view, the angle that he has used helps with the depth of field, it helps the view tell the difference between the few different focus points he's used, for example the water is in focus but the person is slightly out of focus, making the water the more important feature of the photo or maybe as a distraction. I like the way he has done this with the focal points as he’s transforming them from one person to another. He uses the shape of the people in his photos very wisely, he makes them look like they’re breaking out of their own body and shape shifting into other forms, for example in one of his photos, the direction the person is moving their hands and arms, makes her look like some sort of angel however because of the use of dusk colours in the background there’s a heavy contrast created, meaning for an automatic sense of tension and emotion.
If I were to do a similar photo I would use a long shutter speed, with my camera on a tripod to try and avoid camera shake and I would use artificial light in a studio to recreate the intense contrast however I don’t want to hide the identity, I just want to make it difficult to recognise. |