TD -PH1200 - Visualising Ideas Blog - Book review on Nadav Kander

I have chose to do my book review on Nadav Kander, this book shows different elements of his work but I have focused on his portraiture work because I connect more with this style of photography and have taken a great interest in his work. Throughout the portrait section of the book  we can see that there isn’t an obvious theme as he experiments with various compositions, lightings and techniques such as we can see he uses coloured gels quite a lot to add a mixture of lighting to the shoot. In the past when experimenting with different sides of photography I came across Kander and took a shine to his work that used coloured gels, by using this technique I was able to show a persons personality or emotion threw not just there expression but by the colours that I projected onto them. 

Normally I analyse  images from the internet as its a lot quicker and easier then getting a book, but in fact I have found it easier to understand an image as I have a closer connection with them, seeing his work on a larger scale is helpful as I can see up close the colours and detail that make the photo. Seeing a photographers work up close made me appreciate the art of photograph and how simple lighting and certain techniques can make such a beautiful image. 

One of my favourite photos in the book is of Mark Rylance this image is of a simple stance with his body facing forward and his head turned to his left but what I love about the image is how the light catches his eyes making them glossy, this is what stands out the most in the image and I feel without the light catching his eyes this photo would be nothing, by having it black and white it washes away  the mixture of colours making it very calm and innocent the expression on his face Is blank and I get a sense of sadness from it but I feel that I only get this because of it being black and white. 

My least favourite image from the book is Dream Girls where we can see a naked women in the background and a pot of flowers in the foreground, this type of portraiture photography does not appeal to me the photo is rather neutral and dull quite the opposite to the work I am inspired by and know Nadav Kander for, I love photography where the images are visually eye catching and are something special and where I can take time to look at it and build up thoughts. 

Nowadays everyone views images online but books are still important I found it a lot easier and beneficial analysing photos from a book, I have learnt that the internet isn't always the best option and I can get just as much insight into a photographers work by a book so in the future I will broaden my ways of researching.