Alfred Stieglitz and "The Equivalents"
As I prepare
to complete DPP Assignment 3 which requires identification of scenes suitable
for images to be converted to black and white I thought I would perform some
research on photographers noted for their black and white images and perhaps
creating images that were unique or ground breaking / trend setting in some way.
Alfred
Steiglitz is said to be the first person to deliberately create and produce abstract
photographs. These abstract photographs that he produced were of clouds, and
rather oddly he called these the “Equivalents” but I'll explain why later. I note that his second wife was
Georgia O’Keefe who I recall to liken images of flowers petals such as roses to female
genitalia. Interesting in their extremes but also pioneering in their approaches.
Stieglitz
produced a set of around 220 images which he named Equivalents and the majority
of these featured only sky with no horizon. One series of “Equivalents” that he
produced though apparently did feature polar trees in the foreground.
His choice in
photographing clouds, Stieglitz is quoted as saying he meant to demonstrate how
"to hold a moment, how to record something so completely, that all who see
[the picture of it] will relive an equivalent of what has been expressed."
His initial
issues with producing images of the clouds were that due to the photographic
emulsions available prior to the 1920’s the emulsions were orthochromatic and
sensitive to the blue colour of the spectrum and that the sky would be produced
very light on his photographs and the details of the clouds lost against them.
An interesting
quote from Stieglitz was “I wanted to photograph clouds to find out what I had
learned in forty years about photography”. I feel that some of his choice of
subject is down to the fact that their commonness in our everyday lives can
mean that we don’t give them a second thought and can ignore their beauty and
most certainly their individuality.
A new
panchromatic photograph emulsion was developed and this allowed him to produce
images that captured the full range of colours and therefore be able to capture
clouds within his photographs that could be seen more clearly.
I have
enjoyed in the past producing scenes of landscape shot with the camera in portrait
mode with an Ultra Wide Angle lens. When converted to mono, and processed with
Nik’s silver efex pro cloud structure can be made more prominent and can help
create images with dramatic skies. I have also noticed that when I’ve taken
images that have contained the clouds and sky as the dominant feature using a
converted infrared camera how this can cut through haze and again demonstrate
the clouds in a dramatic fashion.
In doing some
research on Stieglitz are notice his work had much influence on many people in
and outside photography. Notable Ansel Adams is quoted as saying his first “intense
experience” in photography was seeing many of the “Equivalents”.
The following
link shows a set of Stieglitz’s “Equivalents”:
I notice that
the majority of Stieglitz’s images within the “equivalents” sets are quite dark
images.
I’ve
attempted to create my own set of “equivalents” to help understand the
challenges of capturing these images and then to process the black and white
conversion with the Silver Efex Pro. Following on in Stieglitz's footsteps I will attempt to create and hold an expression in a small set of images of clouds where the viewer can relive an equivalent feeling of what I captured and wanted to create.
I believe there is just one compound on the planet Earth that exists in 3 forms:
I believe there is just one compound on the planet Earth that exists in 3 forms:
- Solid
- Liquid
- Gas
That is of course water
Like Stieglitz I've used water in its gas form and my equivalent feeling that I would like to express is the wonder of how water in gas form can take on many shapes and patterns. Water in all its forms are created as a result of the heat, or lack of heat, from the item in my fourth image:
All images were processed in Silcver Efex Pro 2 (SEP2) and as Stieglitz are low key images, in some instances I've used SEP2 structure button to emphasise the cloud textures more. Prio to this each image was processed by the Photoshop RAW convertor and exposure amended in response to the highlight clipping that was confirmed plus some curves adjustments
I think Stieglitz would have enjoyed the digital world and using tools such as SEP2
I've exchanged some posts in the student portal with Clive W whom I hop he doesn't mind me saying is a font of wisdom, knowledge and experience from what I've read across a number of forums. I feel it would be good to share some of his thoughts around "equivalents" and "voice" as I think his words will resonate with other students as they have with me.
"A point about Equivalence; It's about when a photograph stops being a picture of things and becomes a metaphor for something else. It's an important conceptual transition for students to make as they progress, from making pictures of things to making images that represent ideas and/or emotions."
"I have in the past used Stieglitz and his ideas about Equivalents to hopefully dramatise to students the very important concept of the image as metaphor. Understanding and deploying this idea in image making can be what makes the difference between an average mark and an outstanding one."
I questioned my current ability and a desire of progressive to this state of thinking and again Clive kindly responded.
"One thing to try is to not think about it too much.
The general culture that surrounds photography is that some subjects are worthy of being photographed and others are not, often the decision is based on a common beauty or novelty or the challenge of producing work that's an equivalent of work that has proven mass appeal.
If one is already applying that filter then the chances of producing work that has a personal resonance, that property we call 'voice' for convenience, is considerably reduced.
It sounds like rather a Zen cliché but practice not thinking when you're shooting and then the results should naturally be imbued with authentic emotion because you're recognising without rationalising, that can come in post production."
In reading these words a few times this means for me to develop one's own trust, creativeness and observations when deciding how and what to observe and create within the frame. If its something that has meaning to you the photographer, the capture of or an expression of an emotion or feeling. In this way the image created is then the captured emotion which Stieglitz then speaks about sharing this so that the equivalent feeling is felt by the viewer of the image. I know recognise what is meant by the words "developing a personal voice".
Clive has kindly offered some further advice in my forum exchanges with him:
"It's a way of progressing further than the formal appeal, 'lovely light', 'nice colours', 'great composition' to something that can stir a complexity of emotions and responses, depending on the readers experience.
Advertising imagery generally seeks to reduce complexity of meaning in order that everyone reads the same thing very quickly and easily, that's analogous to the one off genre photograph. In order for images to engage for an extended period and deliver more richly they need to challenge the viewer to understand, to create a narrative which explains the image to them. That may encompass the photographer's narrative wholly, or partially, or not at all. That's a very positive property, once an image is released into the wild it's beyond the command of its creator, it will create the reactions it will and one shouldn't expect it to resonate with the whole audience, it will find its niche.
Like seeing faces, animals and structures in clouds; some people see one thing, some another, sometimes the same thing and sometimes nothing."
Clive's final sentence around cloud structure is quite apt given my blog about Stieglitz's clouds
Peter Haveland also added some further reading which is very helpful:
"To get to grips with some of the theory and application of that theory, behind all this you should read (I am assuming that you haven't already done so and anyway other readers might find the info useful!) Roland Barthes' essay, The Rhetoric of the Image which appears in the collection of his essays Image, Music, Text; and it's not the most difficult read! The first essay in that book (The Photographic Message) is worth the read as well and after those you might do worse than to try Myth Today in another collection of his essays, Mythologies ( a Google search might well take you to pdfs of those essays)"
Thank you both very much, I believe I have taken one small step toward enlightenment within the art of photography
I've exchanged some posts in the student portal with Clive W whom I hop he doesn't mind me saying is a font of wisdom, knowledge and experience from what I've read across a number of forums. I feel it would be good to share some of his thoughts around "equivalents" and "voice" as I think his words will resonate with other students as they have with me.
"A point about Equivalence; It's about when a photograph stops being a picture of things and becomes a metaphor for something else. It's an important conceptual transition for students to make as they progress, from making pictures of things to making images that represent ideas and/or emotions."
"I have in the past used Stieglitz and his ideas about Equivalents to hopefully dramatise to students the very important concept of the image as metaphor. Understanding and deploying this idea in image making can be what makes the difference between an average mark and an outstanding one."
I questioned my current ability and a desire of progressive to this state of thinking and again Clive kindly responded.
"One thing to try is to not think about it too much.
The general culture that surrounds photography is that some subjects are worthy of being photographed and others are not, often the decision is based on a common beauty or novelty or the challenge of producing work that's an equivalent of work that has proven mass appeal.
If one is already applying that filter then the chances of producing work that has a personal resonance, that property we call 'voice' for convenience, is considerably reduced.
It sounds like rather a Zen cliché but practice not thinking when you're shooting and then the results should naturally be imbued with authentic emotion because you're recognising without rationalising, that can come in post production."
In reading these words a few times this means for me to develop one's own trust, creativeness and observations when deciding how and what to observe and create within the frame. If its something that has meaning to you the photographer, the capture of or an expression of an emotion or feeling. In this way the image created is then the captured emotion which Stieglitz then speaks about sharing this so that the equivalent feeling is felt by the viewer of the image. I know recognise what is meant by the words "developing a personal voice".
Clive has kindly offered some further advice in my forum exchanges with him:
"It's a way of progressing further than the formal appeal, 'lovely light', 'nice colours', 'great composition' to something that can stir a complexity of emotions and responses, depending on the readers experience.
Advertising imagery generally seeks to reduce complexity of meaning in order that everyone reads the same thing very quickly and easily, that's analogous to the one off genre photograph. In order for images to engage for an extended period and deliver more richly they need to challenge the viewer to understand, to create a narrative which explains the image to them. That may encompass the photographer's narrative wholly, or partially, or not at all. That's a very positive property, once an image is released into the wild it's beyond the command of its creator, it will create the reactions it will and one shouldn't expect it to resonate with the whole audience, it will find its niche.
Like seeing faces, animals and structures in clouds; some people see one thing, some another, sometimes the same thing and sometimes nothing."
Clive's final sentence around cloud structure is quite apt given my blog about Stieglitz's clouds
Peter Haveland also added some further reading which is very helpful:
"To get to grips with some of the theory and application of that theory, behind all this you should read (I am assuming that you haven't already done so and anyway other readers might find the info useful!) Roland Barthes' essay, The Rhetoric of the Image which appears in the collection of his essays Image, Music, Text; and it's not the most difficult read! The first essay in that book (The Photographic Message) is worth the read as well and after those you might do worse than to try Myth Today in another collection of his essays, Mythologies ( a Google search might well take you to pdfs of those essays)"
Thank you both very much, I believe I have taken one small step toward enlightenment within the art of photography
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