I choose to look at some of Thomas Struth pictures, I had never herd of him before so thought it would be a good opportunity to look at his work.
First Struth is a german photographer who focuses on city landscape. He worked in different countries all over the world, focusing on streets, he wanted to look into the everyday life of people in their "modern" environment. He was trained as a painter, which reflects on his choice of pictures.
The three pictures I choose have the same backbone to it. They are all taken on the same level, and they all show the same thing, an empty street and the buildings bordering it. All of them are in perfect focus all the way to the background. The first picture is in black and white, the third also has a hint of colour, whilst the second has a hint of colour in it, this gives the impression of everyday life, a scenery to which most people can identify themselves to, an affect not so striking in the first two images.
The first image is more, classical than the other two. It's in black and white, with a lot of contrast to really make it stand out. You can see in this picture Struth training as a painter, the picture has a foreground, a centre piece and a background. In the foreground we have this classic American car, sitting on it's own on what appears to be a smashed up road. The car is the first thing that catches the eye in this picture. In the center are two tall building which frame the picture, giving it a sense of closing, it feels like the picture is enclosed by those two building making it a bit eerie. In the background we have similar buildings fading away, slowly coming out of focus, this allows us to have a sense of perspective, rendering us able to see what the picture represents.
This picture is very much like the first. Again well centered with similar elements to it. It is harder to tell the foreground from the background in this one as they merge together. Like in the first picture it shows a street with old cars parked perfectly on the side and buildings fading in the background. However The first difference is that this picture is in colour, very fade and cold colours. The second being that in the background you now tell that there are buildings, almost barring the way, stoping the viewer from seeing what is beyond.
This last picture is the odd one out of the other two. It has the same setting as the other two, looking down an empty street. But the street is different, in the other two pictures the streets were cheap looking compared to this one. There is less sense of perspective, it is impossible to tell how big that building on the left is. But the biggest difference is in the background. Like in the second picture you can see the background, but in this one it looks like the street is turning right at the end, giving a sense on continuation, that something is beyond there.
