Meyerowitz/Pfahl

Joel Meyerowitz:

Meyerowitz is a street photographer and was an early advocate of color photography. His book Cape Light, is seen as a classic book of color photography. Many people also know him for photographing the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks which were compiled into a book: Aftermath: World Trade Center Archive. It seems as if Meyerowitz can make a beautifully composed photo wherever he goes no matter what his subject is.  He follows the rule of thirds in a lot of his work, but he still knows how to break the rules. Some of his pictures he places his subject in the very middle of the photo or the horizon going directly through the middle of the photo, but it seems to work. In his landscape work he uses a very large f-stop so that you are able to see basically everything in the frame. Even in his photograph titled 'morning mist' you can still see incredibly far into the background. As I keep researching photographers for our blogs I keep noticing how many use color theory in their photos. Of course, Meyerowitz is among them. Before that though, he took high contrast black and white street photographs. I am challenging myself to go out and try to make successful street photographs. 




John Pfahl:

Pfahl is known as a nature photographer while also photographing how humans are effecting it. He is currently a professor and is working on 'reviving' color photography. My favorite collection of his work is Picture Windows. Pfahl adds a new perspective to landscape photography. I love how he finds a way to incorporate our lives into nature so beautifully and  creatively. I also love that he chose not to do something like HDR so that we can see inside the windows as well. I feel like his photographs really bring the beauty of nature closer to us. It makes you want to look out your window and see the beauty that lies past our closed blinds. I also love his technique of using a large f-stop. I love being able to see forever past the silhouetted window. Overall, I find Pfahl's work very inspiring both because of his conceptual ideas and how he technically can photograph a scene. 

Both Meyerowitz and Pfahl are masters of color photography and using tiny apertures to allow their audience to see everything in the frame.