Emulated Images
Both depict a building rising vertically. They are monochrome, the sky is textured. The majority of the building is surrounded by sky, but part is covered by city.
The texture is the main difference. Bourke-White photographed an actual building against an actual sky with an actual city in the background; mine has none of those elements.
The texture is the main difference. Bourke-White photographed an actual building against an actual sky with an actual city in the background; mine has none of those elements.
Both feature a row of smokestacks moving away from the viewer. Everything is monochrome, and the featured elements in both are extremely dark.
The roof on the right is higher in mine. The fog and ground are much different. The tops of the stacks are different, too, with mine being much more rounded than Bourke-White's.
The roof on the right is higher in mine. The fog and ground are much different. The tops of the stacks are different, too, with mine being much more rounded than Bourke-White's.
Both have white fluffy things on a black curved background. It’s in monochrome and high contrast.
Bourke-White’s has a visible sky; mine has none. My ‘clouds’ are of a different texture.
Bourke-White’s has a visible sky; mine has none. My ‘clouds’ are of a different texture.
My images are all very specifically trying to emulate specific photos. They required heavy editing, and often only passingly similar objects could be found, which I then edited into what you see now. All three images use different styles of editing. My emulation of Fog enveloping Mountains was pretty straightforward, with me creating the mountains via felt and cotton, then photographing that. As such, it doesn’t look as similar, but it looks less edited. Chrysler Building involved me photographing a few different things: a replica Chrysler Building and a vent. I then heavily edited the background, trying to get it to match the sky, and miniaturized + duplicated the vent texture for the ‘city’. Smokestacks involved a lot of editing, but only of one image. I took a picture of a single smokestack, did a ridiculous amount of burning, mask using, duplication, resizing, etc., and eventually got something that actually looks reasonably close to the source material.
About Margaret Bourke-White
Name of Artist: Margaret Bourke-White
Dates of Artist’s Life: June 14, 1904 to August 27, 1971
Personal Background:
Margaret Bourke-White went to the University of Colombia before transferring to Michigan. She developed her passion for photography then, with her first set of images (of her college campus) being received with great approval. She moved to Cleveland, photographing industry there and drawing Fortune’s attention. She was contracted to photograph the Chrysler building throughout the construction process. In 1930, she was allowed unlimited access to the Soviet Union, the first foreign photographer, where she photographed industrialization and her attention was drawn towards people.
Life magazine called Bourke-White to join them, which she did, and she was assigned to photograph the Public Works Administration dam in Montana, creating the first true photo essay. In 1941, she returned to the Soviet Union, and was the only photographer in Moscow during the German raid on the Kremlin. She photographed many things during WW2, including English B-12s and concentration camp survivors.
She travelled to India, photographing Gandhi as well as the social structure and people. After that, she travelled to Korea, but noticed symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease by 1957 and was unable to continue photography.
Style:
Social realism is Bourke-White’s style. She created photo essays, and was a pioneer of photojournalism. Industrial photography is also a mainstay of hers, though she is by no means restricted to it. Her photographs are monochromatic and show her era. Bourke-White uses the rule of thirds to great effect, as well as depth, and key elements are masterfully focused on.
Philosophy:
“[F]or the rest of my life, I would undertake only those photographic assignments which I felt could be done in a creative and constructive way”. Bourke-White was inspired, during her Soviet Union trip, to photograph people in emotionally moving ways. She captured the reality of situations and was meticulous in her work. This shows in areas she decided to photograph: Soviet Industrial regions, India, WW2 and Korea. In all of them, important elements are conveyed meaningfully: the scale of Soviet Factories, the impact of wars.
Influences:
Bourke-White was enormously influential over photojournalism and photo essays, as well as industrial photography. She was an early pioneer and influenced the industry. More directly related to me is the body of techniques she uses. For instance: the weight she conveys in all her images. I seek to capture that same weight myself.
Sources:
https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/margaret-bourke-white?all/all/all/all/0
https://thewire.in/culture/the-trailblazing-lens-of-photojournalist-margaret-bourke-white
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/bourke-white-margaret/
https://iphf.org/inductees/margaret-bourke/
Dates of Artist’s Life: June 14, 1904 to August 27, 1971
Personal Background:
Margaret Bourke-White went to the University of Colombia before transferring to Michigan. She developed her passion for photography then, with her first set of images (of her college campus) being received with great approval. She moved to Cleveland, photographing industry there and drawing Fortune’s attention. She was contracted to photograph the Chrysler building throughout the construction process. In 1930, she was allowed unlimited access to the Soviet Union, the first foreign photographer, where she photographed industrialization and her attention was drawn towards people.
Life magazine called Bourke-White to join them, which she did, and she was assigned to photograph the Public Works Administration dam in Montana, creating the first true photo essay. In 1941, she returned to the Soviet Union, and was the only photographer in Moscow during the German raid on the Kremlin. She photographed many things during WW2, including English B-12s and concentration camp survivors.
She travelled to India, photographing Gandhi as well as the social structure and people. After that, she travelled to Korea, but noticed symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease by 1957 and was unable to continue photography.
Style:
Social realism is Bourke-White’s style. She created photo essays, and was a pioneer of photojournalism. Industrial photography is also a mainstay of hers, though she is by no means restricted to it. Her photographs are monochromatic and show her era. Bourke-White uses the rule of thirds to great effect, as well as depth, and key elements are masterfully focused on.
Philosophy:
“[F]or the rest of my life, I would undertake only those photographic assignments which I felt could be done in a creative and constructive way”. Bourke-White was inspired, during her Soviet Union trip, to photograph people in emotionally moving ways. She captured the reality of situations and was meticulous in her work. This shows in areas she decided to photograph: Soviet Industrial regions, India, WW2 and Korea. In all of them, important elements are conveyed meaningfully: the scale of Soviet Factories, the impact of wars.
Influences:
Bourke-White was enormously influential over photojournalism and photo essays, as well as industrial photography. She was an early pioneer and influenced the industry. More directly related to me is the body of techniques she uses. For instance: the weight she conveys in all her images. I seek to capture that same weight myself.
Sources:
https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/margaret-bourke-white?all/all/all/all/0
https://thewire.in/culture/the-trailblazing-lens-of-photojournalist-margaret-bourke-white
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/bourke-white-margaret/
https://iphf.org/inductees/margaret-bourke/