Research; Arthur Leipzig

I came across this book in the library and found Arthur's outlook on the 'City' really interesting.

Instead of photographing the natural surroundings that have hidden meanings such as Mitch Epstein, these set of images from 'Next Stop New York' focuses on every day life in the City and the development and people of this City which makes it what it is today.

This image reveals a slight overview of New York. The main focus is of this huge bridge, which the people use every day and is a great part of their City. The City itself in the background can only partly be seen due to what can be presumed as fog. The way in which the bridge architecture angles down towards the City, almost gives the feel that if you were to swoop down and go to the end of the bridge, you will find and see the City in all its glory. Like a great discovery yet to be unveiled.

The image has a varied tonal range, but it's almost as if the tones are divided. The bridge, being the main focus point, has very contrasting tones with defined detail in the foreground, then as we glaze our eyes towards the background, there is a lot of grey mid-tones to the image, with strong highlights throughout.

The slightly blurred background, which gives the presumption of fog, makes the image feel quite cold. Personally when looking at this image, I felt that this image could have been taken in the winter season in New York, although this feel could just be made by the print. The strong highlights on the bridge in the foreground, for example, could be the glistening of ice.

This Photo is of the working class of the City. - The people who are a great part in making the City what it is.
This simple mid-shot, slightly angled upwards, revealing these workmen getting on with their day to day lives. The stance of the workmen in the shot makes their work seem as if it's not that strenuous. This gives the impression that they're used to it, it's what they do.
The image has a great tonal range. - There is use of a lot of mid-tones with contrasting highlights and shadows. The image is darkest on the left of the image, whereas on the right, the image is quite a light grey with a lot of highlights. This could be due to the sun coming in from this direction and also the colours of the buildings.

This contrasting image shows the grim side to the City. The rain pouring down, giving the image and pavement especially, a lot of texture. Most of the image is full of grey mid-tones. Then with the contrasting, bright highlight coming through the center of the image between the buildings. This could be the sun coming out and starting to brighten the City again, which would also explain the long, dark shadows. The dark, contrasting characters in the image, could be black due to them being unhappy being out in the rain.