{"id":83,"date":"2008-12-08T23:19:24","date_gmt":"2008-12-09T06:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/?p=83"},"modified":"2008-12-08T23:49:19","modified_gmt":"2008-12-09T06:49:19","slug":"photographers-of-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/08\/photographers-of-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographers of Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title= \"Tweet: Photographers of Influence\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href= \"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=Photographers%20of%20Influence&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthomasbachand.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2F08%2Fphotographers-of-influence%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\"><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"LikePhotographers of Influence\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthomasbachand.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2F08%2Fphotographers-of-influence%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href= \"https:\/\/linkedin.com\/sharing\/share-offsite\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthomasbachand.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2F08%2Fphotographers-of-influence%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: Photographers of Influence\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href= \"https:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/08\/photographers-of-influence\/&media=https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/rtsocial\/images\/default-pinterest.png&description=Photographers of Influence\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: Photographers of Influence\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/08\/photographers-of-influence\/\" title=\"Photographers of Influence\"><\/a><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"rts_id\" class=\"rts_id\" value=\"83\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"rts_media_nonce\" name=\"rts_media_nonce\" value=\"2f3eac5e67\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wp_http_referer\" value=\"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\" \/><\/div><div id=\"attachment_84\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-84\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-84; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;\" title=\"Parking Lot.  Vikingsholm.  Emerald Bay State Park.  Lake Tahoe.  California.\" src=\"http:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/calt4215trb-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/calt4215trb-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/calt4215trb.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-84\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parking Lot.  Vikingsholm.  Emerald Bay State Park.  Lake Tahoe.  Calif<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It is a common fiction that the photograph is a neutral witness.\u00a0 Yet, every author has a bias which will find its way into the work.\u00a0 As such, my book of contemporary landscape photography, <em>Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty<\/em>, is my story.\u00a0 Often discounted is the photographer\u2019s palette, composed of such tools as lighting, camera position, camera format, lens selection, film type, and exposure, not to mention the many variables controlled after capture, during image processing and printing.\u00a0 Less tangible is the photographer\u2019s worldview, psychology, and culture.\u00a0 More useful to the viewer than an explanation of how I take a photograph, may be a consideration of those artists to whom I have found inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>In general, I find my work influenced by the historical and I see my photography as a small step in a larger continuum.\u00a0 More specifically, <em>Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty<\/em> builds upon a number of artists.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eug%C3%A8ne_Atget\" target=\"_blank\">Eugene Atget<\/a>, an early French photographer, made \u201cdocuments for artists,\u201d or, rather, reference photographs primarily for painters.\u00a0 His approach to photography was that of a utilitarian.\u00a0 I find a fresh, unencumbered naivet\u00e9 in his work, an artist practiced with a new technology.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carleton_Watkins\" target=\"_blank\">Carleton Watkins<\/a> is another historical photographer whose work I admire.\u00a0 As part of the United States westward migration, his work has an element of reportage, where he describes the West to eastern audiences.\u00a0 When I first picked up a camera, like many, I was inspired by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ansel_Adams\" target=\"_blank\">Ansel Adams<\/a>.\u00a0 Adams\u2019 approach was a conscious departure from those before.\u00a0 Through his mastery of photographic technique, he was able to stretch the medium &#8211; manipulating film, exposure, and development to precisely achieve a desired result.\u00a0 I also frequently find inspiration in artists outside of photography.\u00a0 One such example is painter Mark Rothko, whose use of the color field draws my eye.\u00a0 Richard Misrach\u2019s open skies carry this style into photography.\u00a0 Finally, I would like to acknowledge Larry Sultan, whom I consider a cultural anthropologist.\u00a0 Sultan can take a widely familiar subject, such as that of parents, and through the images of his parents we come to better understand our own parents, families, and our aging culture.<\/p>\n<p>Outwardly, I worked with a large-format camera and middle-distance lenses to approximate the historical perspective of Atget and Watkins.\u00a0 On a subtle level this makes a visual connection between past and present.\u00a0 Inwardly, I approach every subject as if it is posing for both a present and future audience.\u00a0 What is the story behind this small slice of the landscape?\u00a0 What am I choosing to include and what do I discard?\u00a0 What is this present moment?\u00a0 Can I be the unbiased, empty witness?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\">\n<div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\">\n<div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title= \"Tweet: Photographers of Influence\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href= \"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=Photographers%20of%20Influence&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fthomasbachand.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2F08%2Fphotographers-of-influence%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\">\n<div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"LikePhotographers of Influence\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthomasbachand.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2F08%2Fphotographers-of-influence%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\">\n<div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href= \"https:\/\/linkedin.com\/sharing\/share-offsite\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthomasbachand.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F12%2F08%2Fphotographers-of-influence%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: Photographers of Influence\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\">\n<div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href= \"https:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/08\/photographers-of-influence\/&#038;media=https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/rtsocial\/images\/default-pinterest.png&#038;description=Photographers of Influence\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: Photographers of Influence\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/08\/photographers-of-influence\/\" title=\"Photographers of Influence\"><\/a><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"rts_id\" class=\"rts_id\" value=\"83\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"rts_media_nonce\" name=\"rts_media_nonce\" value=\"2f3eac5e67\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_wp_http_referer\" value=\"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\" \/><\/div>\n<p>It is a common fiction that the photograph is a neutral witness.\u00a0 Yet, every author has a bias which will find its way into the work.\u00a0 As such, my book of contemporary landscape photography, Lake Tahoe: A Fragile Beauty, is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/08\/photographers-of-influence\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[29,17,26,27,28,30],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lake_tahoe","category-photography","tag-httpenwikipediaorgwikiansel_adams","tag-httpenwikipediaorgwikicarleton_watkins","tag-httpenwikipediaorgwikieugne_atget","tag-httphearstmuseumberkeleyeduexhibitionsphotowatkinshtml","tag-httpwwwalumniberkeleyeducalmag200605bearingsasp","tag-httpwwwanseladamscom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Nljk-1l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasbachand.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}