Virtual Essay-Brassai

The photographer I chose to emulate is Brassai. He was born on September 9, 1899 and died July 8 1984. Brassai, whose birth name was Halas Gyula, was born in Brassov, Hungary. The name Brassai originates from his place of birth.

He was not initially a fan of photography. However, now he is known for his use of high contrast black and white and lighting techniques. What lead Brassai to photography was his love of the city and his job. (Sayag,2000)His desire to capture the beauty of the streets and gardens during foggy and rainy weather inspired him to start taking photographs. His subject matter of choice were city streets, people, urban settings during inclement weather. (http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/Brassai.htm)In a way his photos made rain and fog look beautiful through using special high contrast lighting techniques.

An example of Brassai's work
(Photo Credts: http://www.foto-magazin.ro/despre-fotografie_open.php?art=ftm20/archives/2007/08/brassai_gyula_h.html)


Many of his photographs have dominant light sources that illuminate his photos even during unfavourable weather conditions. Brassai photographed mainly in black and white. It adds a more dramatic effect to rainy and foggy weather. His photographs are also well lit and sharply defined. He also focused on line and shapes when taking his photographs. In some of Brassai's photos (such as his famous gutter photo), the black and white style helped bring out the textures in his photographs.

Brassai's "gutter" photograph. (Photo Credits: http://www.masters-of-photography.com/B/brassai/brassai_gutter.html)

One of my favourite Brassai photographs (Photo Credits: http://unnaturaleye.blogspot.com/2010/07/gratuitous-brassai.html)


Brassai also favoured Paris for his work. He liked to photograph people who lived in the underground such as prostitutes, pimps, and the Paris nightlife. He also liked to photograph scenery. For this virtual essay, I have chosen to take photographs in the style of his scenery type pictures. I attempted to do so by taking my photographs on rainy and foggy days and taking my photographs of similar subject matter to Brassai's.

Brassai liked to integrate lamp posts as his source of light in his photos. In this photo, I photographed a person walking along a path lit by lamp posts. I increased the contrast and manipulated the lighting effects to make it look similar to Brassai's style. In many of Brassai's photos, his subjects are still or posing for the photograph. My photograph is different from Brassai's because the subject in my photo is actively walking. It is similar to Brassai's style in the photograph above it in terms of clarity and light source.

In this photograph I wanted to capture Brassai's most basic element: his use and exaggeration of light in hi photographs. I also wanted to reflect the fog element Brassai often incorporates in his photographs. I darkened the photo and adjusted the highlights in order to make the lights in the photo really stand out as a main focal point. It also gave the photo a more high contrast look similar to Brassai's. I enjoy this particular element because it results in a clean looking picture with clean lines and really makes the subject of focus pop out of the photograph.

This photo was inspired by Brassai's famous "gutter" photo. This photo has distinct contour lines and is rather dark so that the texture of the ground can be seen. I used a similar effect and darkened my photo more than the others. Brassai's gutter photograph is also one of his darker photos.

This photo was inspired by Brassai's "Le Pont Neuf" seen below. Both photos were taken with the intent to draw the observer's eye across the water and to a certain focal point. In Brassai's photo it is the bridge in the background. In my photgoraph,it is the bike initially, but then becomes the lights from the buildings and towers hidden by the fog. The lights in the both photos are reflected in the water as well. The fog is also visible in both photographs.

Le Pont Neuf by Brassai (Photo Credits: http://www.squidoo.com/brassai-photography)

This picture is similar to my previous one but the focal point is what is different. My goal was to have the observer's eye notice the bicycle first, then focus in on the couple walking by the lake. They are made the focal point by the light post they are walking by. It almost acts as a spot light to attract the eye to it.


Works Cited

Alain Sayag, ed., Brassai: The Monograph, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 2000.

Masters of Photography.Accessed 6 April 2011. http://www.masters-of-photography.com/index.html

Gratuitous Brassai. Accessed 5 April 2011. http://unnaturaleye.blogspot.com/2010/07/gratuitous-brassai.html.

http://www.squidoo.com/brassai-photography
About.com "Brassaï's father was Hungarian, a professor of French Literature at the University of Brassó, but his mother was of Armenian origin."Accessed 2 April 2011.

Brassai.Accessed 5 April 2011. http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/Brassai.htm
Brassai, Letters to My Parents, University of Chicago Press, 1995, p. 241. Accessed 6 April 2011