Mitch Epstein

Mitch Epstein's The City is a book i've been looking at recently. It is a well structured book which documents visual instances throughout New York City. It is somewhat a poetic kind of photography, it doesn't necessarily have one topic it follows many within the city.

The book itself really inspires me and my work as a photographer. Some of the photographs are posed with others natural or observational. I will now look at a few examples of Mitch Epstein's work within the book.

This is one of Epsteins photographs from his book. When I picked up the book this is the first photograph I turned to. For me I feel it is well composed and very clever. The fog in the background looks quite sinister and along with the CCTV cameras showing the image sort of portrays the fact you are being watched and gets across a 'big brother' feel.

The photograph's light is obviously ambient and the addition of the shot being on film really adds to the impression of the image. The photograph really has three main components the camera, the city below and the sea. The coastal line in the photograph also really adds to the composition. Overall the image has a really sort of sinister and clean mood to it. I feel it is a well composed and constructed image.

This is another Mitch Epstein image, it is a fantastic capture due to the simplistic nature of the image the two main colour tones really go with each other and make the image what it is. The photograph looks to have a sort of slow shutter speed which has blurred the moving handrails along with the man on the escalator. The light cast on the far wall caused by three windows also really add to the photograph for me. The image for me definitely has a smooth well constructed feel. The different lines and curves make the image what it is even without the person within the photograph it would still be a great image.

This is a photograph taken just outside of New York city, for me this photograph works due to the fact the photographer has taken a picture of the un-obvious, instead of taking a picture of the busy city that we can see in the background he has chosen to photograph the less obvious side to the city. Whilst doing this he has also incorporated some of the city's skyline in the background which really adds to the image. The photograph also has an eery feel due to the fact the twin towers can be seen in the photograph, when the photographer took this he took the image thinking most people would look at the foreground but obviously due to the 9/11 attacks modernly people's attention would turn directly to the towers. This goes to show how a photograph isn't a permanent fixture and that its meaning can change over time.

This is the last of Epstein's images I will be looking at, it is a photograph of some stairs in New York, underneath we can see train tracks along with two trains in the image. The image looks very textured and its amazing how the photographer has taken this. The structured layout of the lines work really well in the photograph and without them it wouldn't be as good. The photographer has waited for the trains to come and he has composed them well. Overall this is a great image.

In conclusion I have really enjoyed looking at this book, I will continue to look for material like this and Mitch Epstein is a photograph I want to look deeper in to. The photography is exactly the sort I like as I am really interested in film documentary photography.