It is clear that Sameshima is focusing on the bottle in this image as his main subject point, but I can't help but notice the texture of the black curtain as the background. Although noticed, this didn't pull me away from focusing on how Sameshimas' use of positive and negative space between the subject and the background made me focus on the subtle and obvious textures of the bottle (subject).
In this image, compared to the first one, I feel it is more clear that Sameshima wants the viewer to completely focus on the subjects. Not only because this image is in colour, but because there i no detail in the background, it's just solid black. This makes it easier to notice the texture of each of the subjects and also his use of positive and negative space in such a raw form (black and white) creates this sense of isolation that also draws my eye to the subjects and their details.
About the Artist:
Auckland-based Sameshima was born in Japan, and moved to New Zealand in 1973 while in his teens. He has been exploring 'New Zealand' for many years, looking at the "incongruous set of cultural mores called 'this country'." His 1996 work The Shopping mall as a place of contemplation was a series of television images and shopping mall brandings that examined our everyday reality. His more recent series Eco-Tourism, some of which appear in Bold Centuries, isn't an investigation of ecotourism in the usual sense, but a study of the tourist industry and its relationship with the environment."
Courtesy: timeout bookstore: timeout.co.nz, review by Andy Palmer, eye contact June 2009
Karl Blossfeldt:
This photograph is a great example of combining texture with the use of positive and negative space to create a balanced and aesthetic image. I really like how the image also looks very simple yet still intricate thanks to this balance and contrast of visual techniques. I also like how it is portrayed through a very monotone colour scheme as it gives off an appropriate sense of purity, especially to the leaves.
I like how the clear focus of the image is the detail of the spikes on the subject. I like how the texture of the infrastructure of the subject is subtle yet grasps my attention at a closer look. To me, from these two examples, it is known that Blossfeldts true artistic purpose is to reveal the details of objects we might not notice, using a plain background so that the detail of the textures becomes more prominent. Overall, I like Blossfeldt's use of textured subjects and how he captures the detail of that in his photographs.
About the Artist:
June 13, 1865 – December 9, 1932. Blossfeldt was a German photographer, sculptor, teacher, and artist who worked in Berlin, Germany. He is best known for his close-up photographs of plants and living things, published in 1929 as, Urformen der Kunst. He was inspired, as was his father, by nature and the way in which plants grow. He believed that 'the plant must be valued as a totally artistic and architectural structure.' Blossfeldt made many of his photographs with a home-made camera that could magnify the subject up to thirty times its size, revealing details within a plant's natural structure. Appointed for a teaching post at the Institute of Royal Arts Museum in 1898 (where he remained until 1930), he established an archive for his photographs. Blossfeldt never received formal training in photography. Blossfeldt developed a series of home-made cameras that allowed him to photograph plant surfaces in unprecedented magnified detail. This reflected his enduring interest in the repetitive patterns found in nature's textures and forms.
Courtesy: wikipedia.org
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