north hampton musicians

don't really know anything about these fellas, but they definitely caught my eye and ear.

Arnold Newman.

My photo teacher, Greg Heisler (kinda a big deal), assigned a project for us to shoot: take a picture inspired by the famous photographer Arnold Newman. Although I didn't know it at the time, Newman is one of the most influential portrait photographers. What he did when he began was completely unique for the time, hard to understand, abstract and captivating. Best known for his black and white pictures, Newman popularized environmental photography. Before he came on the scene, photographers in the 40's (and before) didn't focus on the background. However, Newman put serious thought into the set up. In a book, Newman said, "The surroundings had to add to the composition and the understanding of the person. No matter who the subject was, it had to be an interesting photograph. Just to simply do a portrait of a famous person doesn't mean a thing."

As an amature photographer I usually stress out about the way the model looks, but put little time into having the background compliment the subject or having it tie the everything together. I believe backgrounds can help tell the story. SO, with that said, I tried to put a little thought into my shot. I'm not completely stoked on the picture because the rain forced me to be inside..but, it was good practice and forced me to be creative. I was inspired by an Arnold Newman photo I saw of his subject sitting in a backwards chair. I took that idea and tried to make it my own. Because Newman likes shapes and composition I focused on that.

With the few things I have in my room I came up with this (mines on the right).