William James Broadhurst
(Film, long exposure, night photographer)
His work consists largely of long exposure night time scenes and unusually beautiful landscapes. Most of Broadhurst's work uses the banal as its subject matter, photographing the everyday and making it interesting/beautiful. All of Broadhurst's work is produced on vintage, analog cameras such as medium format and 35mm cameras. He shoots a mamiya 7 with an 80mm lense, that is a 6x7 format This gives his images a extremely vast level of detail, in certain images they can be very grainy but others can be really sharp and clear.
The sharper images are usually the long exposures as they are taken on a low ISO with a long shutter speed allowing more detail to be captured.
Broadhurst's work is displayed on his tumblr page, he has an own photography page, a more detailed page called 'Tree Of Man' where he answers question and makes diary entries and a page full of found photographs called 'The Vivisection'.
He travels around with his work shooting in his home country of Australia and most recently California, America. 
I really admire how crisp some of the images are. These images would be amazing if they were digital but the fact they are analog puts them in another league. Each images has that unnaturally vibrant glow to them that I just love. A tripod is used in this long exposures as you can see in the image on the right. I am really interested in long exposures at the moment and they way in which they can totally change a setting, you can be taking an image of a dark area and come out with something that looks like day light, if you settings are correct and the light source works. You can see this transformation on the right. He says in his diary page 'Tree Of Man' 'I think i initially began taking photos because I found it hard to let go of things. I’d photograph my grandparents beautiful old house for example and feel immediately better about things because I had the proof just in case the house was demolished or whatever. Nowadays I’ve found my self shifting away from that. I’ve got a huge itch to explore as much as I can in Australia and I get a huge thrill from driving long distances into new towns and walking the streets shooting. You have a lot of time to yourself and It’s very relaxing.'
Broadhurst's work reminds me of similar long exposure artists Saner Meisner and Jordi Huisman but in a much freer environment. Broadhurst's work is produced in more quite, rural locations where as Meisner and Huisman's works is usually produced in busy built up cities. This not only effects the setting of the images but the lighting too. The city images have a much brighter, lighter aesthetic where as the rural images are slightly darker and will be more focused on one colour of lighting.
I really like Broadhurst's work. His work is really interesting and represents a lot of what I am interested in at the moment. I also like his approach to photography, the way in which he travels from place to place and gets excited at the prospect of photographing a totally new environment. I share very similar feelings toward photography.
Sander Meisners
(Long exposure, night photography)
Magazine style book
Magazine style book
Is a 36 year old photographer who lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherland. Meisner photographs 'The sleeping infrastructure of the urban environment'. He heads out as the city begins to sleep and sometimes wont finish until it is waking up, Wandering through the edges of our cities, looking for colourful beauty in the desolate corners of grey, man-made, structures. He travels to the outer reaches of cities to their more industrial/commercial areas as they stays relatively similar in most cities. Meisner says "hat's part of the reason why they interest me so much, everybody recognises them for what they are, yet nobody likes them."
Meisner works with many themes and ideas in his work dealing with public space and its discontents, abstraction, transformation, the passing of time, change, function, dysfunction and transition.
In his most recent project 'Botanica' Meisner has looked at the neglected green life in urban environments at night. Photographing abandoned woodlands behind petrol stations and long exposures of motorways with slender branches creeping in. This collection was produced into a leaflet/book by The Velvet Cell. The book was made of rigged paper card and was 16 pages long. Below there are 5 pages from the booklet. I like the layout of the book, one image per page and a small passage to go along with it. Although I like the layout I am not that keen on the passage per image, it works and for some people it may add to the work but personally I prefer a lengthy description at the start of the book and then small descriptions for each image or maybe no text at all. I am also unsure how I feel about the paper the book is printed on, I would have to see it and feel it in person but I couldn't imagine paper being batter than photo paper for image quality.
Sanders Work consists of night photography, most commonly long exposures. Although the work is majoritively long exposure there are masses of variation in the images with some images having an unnatural lightness and vibrance to the florescent lights and a strange lightness to the sky(e.g. the image on the left); making the image seem like they were taken at a much lighter time of the day. Other images feature a much more naturalistic approach feel. 
One of the things I like about these type of images that even the more naturalistic images seem to be a hyper realistic, they have an extreme shimmer and shine to the lights and materials and the colours seem to be more vibrant than normal. Where as the longer exposures have a flatter light. A great example is the image on the right of the van.
I really like Meisners work, especilally his naturalistic work. His longer exposure work is interesting but overall I love his naturalistic work. It has a real bold,shiny effect, making its seem like hyper reality. I have seen this effect in some of my own work and I strive for it when ever I shoot at night.
Alex Webb
(Street, analog, digital and night photography)
Photo book
Photo book
Alex Webb is a 62 year old photographer from New York, America.
Since becoming a professional photojournalist in 1974 and then joining magnum in 1996 Webb has been a street photographer, documenting the world around him and its inhabitants. He started by shooting black and white while he documented the American South, Mexico and The Caribbean. In 78' he began his carrer in colour photography and has continued ever since.
He has published 7 books exploring countries such as Istanbul and Cuba.
Although his street photography is interesting and gives you a brilliant insight into different parts of the world I am most interested in his night street photography. I find it quite refreshing to see night photography in this style. I have been looking at night photography in quite a landscape, still life sense where as Webb's night photography has more humanity to the images. They combine the fast paced reality with the calculated calmness of night photography. Its unclear whether he has used a tripod or not but my guess would be that he has just used a high quality camera such as a mark III and stayed very still. I have used a similar technique before. 
The reason I have said it was probably a high quality camera is that I have shot from the hip with both a 500D and a 5D and the 5D was much better quality. The image was much less grainy, this is due to the fact that the 5D can process images at a higher rate and can use a higher ISO without disrupting the image e.g. you can use a high ISO without adding anywhere near as much grain to the image.
He may have leant the camera on a sturdy object or used a small hand held tripod as I don't quite understand how he managed to get the beautifully coloured sky with out a long exposure but in my eyes using a tripod as a street photographer goes against the whole point. This is why I have come to the conclusion either a small tripod was used or the camera was leant on a stable object. I have also used this technique and received the results with a small tripod.
I really love the colours Webb has achieved in some of his images, the beautiful magenta sky's works perfect against the florescent lights. My long exposure on the Nestle factory has similar quilities but in a hazier sense and that is an image I love.
I will be experimenting with this street/night photography style as I collate the work for my published book.
Below are pages from Webb's book 'Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds'.
I really like the cover image but I think it would look better with out the boarder, I prefer front cover when they fill the whole front of the book. Especially when the image wraps around to the back of the book.
I like how the front page has been laid out, the fully black page and the full white page with just the title. The pure juxtaposition of the colours and the minimalism of the title is classic and will always work.
The same style of boarder has been continued into the book. This bordering works well but in my personal opinion I prefer images that fill a page. I only like to show a portion of blank space if it is to maintain maintain the full size of an image.
David Alan Harvey
Based on a True Story. BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro
(Night,documentary photography)
Interactive book
David Alan Harvey is a 70 year old photographer from Virginia, America.
Harvey has been a member of magnum since 1997, has shot extensively for national geographic, in 1978 was named magazine photographer of the year by the national press organisation and in 2005 was named photographer of the year by PMDA.
I will be looking at Harvey's interactive book 'Based on a True Story' which explores the cultures, people and ways of life in the city of Rio de Janeiro. I am specifically looking at the beautiful night photography that is featured in this book such as vibrant street scenes and intense long exposures.
The collection was produced over two years and was supposed to represent the raw Brazil, 'Harvey’s photographs span the strata of society giving an insight into the lives of the rich, the glamorous, the poor, the humble and the everyday.'
Not only do the images intrigue the audience forcing them to think about what they are viewing but the book itself involves reader. I wouldn't even call it a book, its an interactive experienced which encourages the reader/viewer to engross them selves into the images, moving the pages around, changing the layout, seeing which images work best together and almost making the book there own.
I have never seen a photographic book produced in this way and I don't know why because it just works. It may look as if it has been just thrown together and tied up with a bit of string but it much much more than that, it has obvious been painstakingly produced with each image corresponding to at least 1 other image. It takes real skill to produce a book that has this much flow and finesse with out even having a solid layout. Truly inspired work.
See the book in use by following this link: http://www.burnmagazine.org/based-on-a-true-story/
Although the book is a brilliant and innovative idea it would be nothing if the images weren't worth while, so it's good that they are. They are more than worth while, much more, the images are exquisite. Harvey seem to form a real connection with his subjects, so much so that he has been accused of staging images and to be honest some of the images do leave you wondering how did he get that image or how did he get the shot with out being shot, such as the images of the armed men in the favelas.
His night photography follows in suits. He maintains the same atmosphere and style, allowing the subject to really feel the moment you can almost hear the commotion or the street party, the high notes of the saxophone, the smells from the food trucks, feel the heat radiating from revealers. Its all there. This is the best kind of photography in my eyes, its telling a story drawing you in. Everything image should do. These images combined with the interactive book, would be an experience in of its self.
Although he captures the action up close Harvey has the ability to step back and produce work such as the beautiful long exposures of the city. Although these images are from high up in the hills Harvey still manages to maintain the sense of commotion and liveliness that is so prominent in the street images. I really enjoy Harvey's work he is obviously extremely considered in his style and is constantly striving to convay the essence of a scene, helping the viewer feel how he was feeling at that very moment.
I strive to produce work of this caliber. I always feel I have succeed if I can give someone an insight into where the image was taken, if they can imagine the atmosphere of the moment my work is done. I constantly want to document new place, I strive to capture the essence and feeling of a location whether it be a new city or new country.
I will be considering both Harveys photographic and book making styles while producing my own book.
Jordi Huisman
Rear Window
(Extreme long exposure, night photography)
Jordi Huisman is a 33 year old photographer from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.I have looked at Jordi Huisman's series 'Rear Window' in this series Huisman has photographed the back of of building in various cities all over the world. These images were all taken at night using long exposures. The series looks at the rear of buildings in various capital cities. Its main purpose is to expose the viewer to the lives of the buildings, to show the differences between different place but also the uncanny similarities between others.
The collection is built up of mainly apartment style buildings, mainly high rise, plenty of windows, large ventilation units etc. The windows are one of the features of Huisman's work. Each window tells a story, gives you a tiny snippet into someones life. They also emit the most beautiful light, especially when using long exposure.
I really like Huisman's long exposures. I'm not entirely sure on the length of the exposures but they seem to be quite long but I cant be sure. There is a certain level of stillness in long exposure images, they almost seem like still lives instead of just images and Huisman's images are a brilliant example of this. The images seem to be totally lifeless, this is quite an interesting angle to take as the subject matter encases so much life. Huisman blends architectural photography and night photography perfectly. He manages to keep the images relatable yet unrealistic.
The beautifully colourful sky's, juxtapose the dull tones of the buildings. The windows are also an integral element of the images, although the sky adds colour the main pockets of colour pop from the windows. Shooting out different neon tones.
I really enjoy Huisman's work, I will be considering his approaches and style while shooting. I will experiment with longer exposures, more built up urban areas and man made light protruding from buildings and.Bellow there are a collection of pages from the book 'Rear Window'. I like the simplicity of the pages, there isn't any text and its not needed I much prefer books that only have the images on the main pages. I also like the boarders, in most night photography books I would recommend a dark boarder but as these images are so light the white boarder workes perfectly.
I love the minimalism of the book, it reflects the work perfectly.
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