In this month’s entry to the blog I talk about my new M42 Saitex MC Wide Angle 24mm Lens and the shoots I conducted with it which where inspired by the early Modernist photographer Paul Strand.
Before I can talk about the greatness and versatility of this lens I must talk about the gentleman whom these shoots inspired a closed composition, abstract, and heavy contrast photographs, Paul Strand.
I discovered the Avant-Guard Photographerduring my A-Levels and have been in awe of his work ever since. Strand was an American photographer, whom came from New York and is one of early 20th Century Photographers who rejected Pictorialism in favour for Modernist style of photography.
Strand is well known for two styles of work, abstract work which he lent towards early on his career before he emigrated from America to live in France after becoming disillusioned with the politics of the time alongside abstraction is well known for his ‘Social commentary’ pieces, mainly portraits and still life work of which undoubtedly was inspired by his teacher as well as highly regarded photographer Lewis Hine. Within this post I will be focusing on the 1st mentioned still life, architecture, and geometrically abstract focused pieces as they where the key influence for this months miniature project.
Strands roots in New York led him to be inspired by the ‘291 Studio’ owned by A. Stiglitz(a mentor and friend of strand)which was host a wide range of early Modernists work such as Picasso and Barque whom the later of which he would photograph as well have he work featured in the Studio.
This led him to take one of his most publicised piece that being his photo of Wallstreet in 1915. This iconic photograph is one of the earliest examples of abstract photography, the bold dark rectangles that dominant the picture further exaggerated by having people in front subject and being swamped by it. Alongside this peculiar angle gives the impression of a never ending street, this is exemplified by the pattern of the rectangles of which seem to continue off the frame, the combination of the dark looming rectangles, the angle of the shot and this stripped back and high contrast in the image makes for a classic example of abstraction.
After his time in New York, Strand would venture to Mexico, where he would take abstract compositions of architecture but instead of the and local culture at the invitation of Carlos Chaves ‘the director of the fine arts department at the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico’.
The first image titled “Gateway, Hidalgo” which was taken in 1932 in New Mexico during his invitation. What I enjoy about this image is how Strand has used again an obscure angle to capture the geometry of the architecture in coherence with contrast in textures and lighting. At the forefront of the picture the viewer sees a bold outlines of the wall that is covered in harsh shadow and light setting the mood of abstraction and contrast to further await within the image. When we inspect the image further we begin to notice other contrast in the objects and textures, first being the property that is encompassed into the opening of the wall which powerfully contrasts the darker tones of the forefront as well as geometrically taking on a cleaner cube like structure opposed to curves in the wall. As well we notice the clouds that riddle the sky with this bold pattern which further contrasts with the dark texture of rough stone in the wall and the smooth light concrete of the building in the background.
The second image of Church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico taken in 1931 embodies many of the same qualities of the prior image in a far more minimalist way. Much like the prior image we must talk about the contrast, again the sky plays a huge part in this the dark gloomy sky contrasts well with the bright white plaster on the building. I think the reason the contrast has such a profound effect is down to the closed composition , which further exemplifies these qualities and in turn creates bold abstract pieces.
Now understanding the influence behind this project I can begin to talk about my choice of equipment for this shoot. For the camera I used my EOS 700D with a EF – M42 adapter which leads me onto my newly acquired lens of choice, the wide angle 24mm f2.8 Saitex M42 Lens.
I picked this lens up for the reasonable price of £25 of Ebay and thought another unexplored area of my town would be the perfect location to try out this lens. This stubby prime wide angle lens was perfect for this months project as it has a macro focus of (insert macro focus length) as well being a wide angle meant you could focus in on a subject but generate some great looking depth of field in the background.
Using my EF 50mm prime & M42 Petri 50mm prime made it easy to get to grips with this lens as its fairly similar concept of use. H|however due to those primes being far a bigger focal length had create some degree of challenged me to focus on what the background and surrounding imagery was in relation to the subject.
For majority of the images I’ve used the sky to contrast the subject, I believe this to be most effective in the photos as the sky isnt strictly blank but features clouds of which was greatly inspired by Strands Mexico picture of the church.
In regards to be inspired by Strand, the shots of the pylon and metal bridge I see a clear inspiration. I really wanted to focus on the shapes of the metal giving this geometric abstract element to the photos which is so very prominent in some of Strands Work mainly seen in his close up shadow work like Wall Street and the Bowls.
However the lens shinned the greatest in my opinion was capturing firstly the building photo, the wide angle allowed me to capture the length of the building with all of its pattern. This created a vastness within the image something, again the dark metal contrasting well with the bright sky along with a few clouds littered in within the shot.
The Second and third photo’s where I believe the lens to highlight its potential was with the macros shots of the metal in the burnt out car and decaying tire. Much of the same reasons I was pleased with my pylon shots and building photo are the same for these. Getting a super close up composition helped create this abstractness within the images and put emphasis on the pattern and texture, again a direct influence from Strands work with regards to close up and architecture focused photographs.
Overall i’m pleased with how the lens performed and how the images came out. There seems to be little to no vignetting on the lens as well no dust nor scratches which is always a pleasant surprise when buying a second hand lens.
As always its great to shoot something new and diffrent alongside revisiting one of my favourite photographers work to seek new inspiration. I hope to make more posts in the future based around this style.
Refrences
Paul Strand Portrait / #1:
Paul Strand Photographs
Wall Street #2:
Mexico #3:
Mexico #4:
Ryan Fayers Photography 