Cole Thompson

Bee presented in class on 10/05/13

• Black and White Photographer
• Movement photographer …..emotional
• Captures feelings beneath the surface
• Strong evoking landscapes, portraits etc
• “capture moments”
• Great images come from anything ordinary
• Long exposure techniques
• Heightens amount of light
• Water
• Doesn’t like to edit + modify his image
• No way you can capture everything perfectly
• “he should create images + manipulate the way he captures it”
• Harbinger Collection
• Cloud, menacing object or a good omen
• Barren landscapes with good omen
• Minimalist
• Captures high contrast
• Crisp pristine finish
• He focusses on physical + spiritual meaning of the landscape
• Old things Folio
• Don’t need great locations to shoot great images
• High contrast + textures
• Industrial feeling
• “see things differently, do things differently”
• The Ghosts of Auschmitz Birkenau Collection
• Lingering spirits
• Walking in the footsteps of those who experienced it
• Celebration of the people’s lives rather than it’s just a depressing disgusting place
• Deeper emotional feeling
• Focus on texture rather than colour + brightness
• “photograph must contain humanity”, demands you to show down + look + emphasise

Website: http://www.colethompsonphotography.com/

I am inspired by his exceptional use of long exposure and slow shutter speed: 

 GJOSTS OF AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

Auschwitz 5 - Poland - 2008

I really like this image, it’s emotional and photographically clever. The blurred people representing the ghosts are so well integrated into the design that the photograph works so well. I think the artist has done a fantastic job in portraying the ghosts of the concentration camp. The black and white creates a certain mood, which evokes an emotional response from the viewer. It forces you to connect with the ghosts and the textures and feel what they felt. Obviously no one will ever understand but them, however the artist has used slow shutter speed to capture real people as the ghosts and overall I think it works quite well.

Auschwitz 11 - Poland - 2008

Again, this image is an amazing use of a tripod and slow shutter speed to capture and image that is truly captivating. The way the figures float and move around like ghosts, in the cold, derelict place is depressing but evokes a sense of time and reality. The use of the gate and signage in front of the textured and old buildings in the background, with the dirt path leading through creates a great setting for this photograph. Again the black and white works well to emphasise the sad and cold feeling evoked from the image.

HARBINGER COLLECTION

Harbinger No. 11 - Wyoming - 2009

This was another series Bee talked about in her presentation. I also really like the collection and in particular this image. It’s so simple but the image is crisp and focused. The cloud floats there in the perfect sky, over the windmill sitting in the middle of a vas landscape. The way the light comes in from the horizon is another feature which intrigues me about this image; it’s like a glow around the windmill.

Harbinger No. 14 - Des Moines - 2010

Again from the same collection, but I really like angle in this image. The way the photograph is composed is interesting. Without the cloud the image would be boring , because but having the cloud floating in the corner gives a sense of mystery and offers the viewer a story to unravel,… what comes next, will it disturb the peace of the tall sky scraper.

Harbinger No. 10 - White Sands, NM - 2009

I find this image quirky and cool, the caravan sitting in the middle of vast landscape is clever and the cloud hanging straight over the top of it. The two other images I have looked at had the cloud to the right hand side of the object but this lone has a vertical connection between the cloud and the subject. The vast desert landscape contrasts the dark sky. I don’t know what it is about it; I just really like the simplicity of the composition and tones.