Friday, March 4, 2011

Harry Callahan


Harry Callahan was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 22, 1912. Callahan attended Michigan State College in East Lansing and studied engineering but left school after three semesters to work as a shipping clerk with He left school in 1933 and obtained a job as a shipping clerk for Chrysler. On this same year, Callahan met his future wife, Eleanor Knapp, which he considered to be one of the two greatest events of his life, the other being the purchase of his first camera in 1928. Around 1933, Callahan began taking pictures as a hobby. Ansel Adams gave a workshop in 1941 at the Detroit Photo Guild where Callahan was a member. By 1944, Callahan was a processing assistant at the General Motors Photographic Laboratories in Detroit.Callahan realized that his urban background influenced the subjects he chose. Callahan met Alfred Stieglitz in 1942, but was reluctant to show the master photographer any of his own work. However, four years later, Steiglitz was stunned by Callahan’s work. After viewing Stieglitz photographs of his wife, Callahan began taking many intimate pictures of his own wife Eleanor, and of his daughter, Barbara. In 1961, Callahan was hired to teahc at the Institute of Design in Chicago.Callahan supported and taught the idea that an art form like photography was as much machine-made as it was man made. Critics have said, "his photographs can be viewed as a lifelong challenge to the camera's eye, a series of never ending questions on the nature of the medium itself.” In 1959, after a 15 month obscursion to France, Callahan returned to America but felt he had outgrown his hometown Chicago. That same year, Callahan accepted a position as director of the photography department at the Rhode Island School of Design. This change of scene gave him a new canvas to explore. During the 1970’s, Callahan produced his Cape Cod images of sea, sand, and beaches that were quite different from his earlier work. Towards the end of his career, Callahan experimenting with color photography. He worked with color film, taking pictures in Rhode Island as well as Morocco, Portugal, and Ireland.

a processing assistant at the General Motors Photographic Laboratories in Detroit.
Callahan realized that his urban background influenced the subjects he chose.

Jerry Uelsmann


Jerry N. Uelsmann, born on June 11, 1934, is an amazing surrealist photographer. While in high school, Uelsmann's interest in photography trully sparked. Uelsmann developed his love for photography because enjoyed to exist in a world outside by himself; a world captured by a lens.
He began teaching photography at the University of Florida in 1960. Uelsmann first solo exibit in 1967 trully oped the doors for his photography career. Uelsmann is a master printer producing composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. Uelsmann is a champion of the idea that the final image can be composed of multiple negatives. Uulsmann work is composed of allegorical surrealt imagers of quite unfathomable circumstance. Nowadays, photoshop allows people to easily create bizarre, surealist images in less then a day. However, at the time Uelsmann lived previous to all of the technological advancement and many considered his skill almost magical. Today, Uelsmann is retired in Florida and married to his third wife, another famous photographer, Maggie Tayor. Uelsmanns creates mouth-dropping, eye-shocking, incredible photographs.

Andy Warhol


Andy Warhol was born on August 6, 1928. At age 10, Warhol was diagnosed with chorea, a nervous system disease that causes involuntary movements of the extremities. At times when he was confined to bed, Warhol drew and developed and collectected a pictures of movie stars. While at the School of Fine Arts in Pitsburg, Warhol became drawing whimsical ink drawins of shoe advertisements. After witnessign Warhol's magnificent work, R.C.A records hired him to design promotional materials and albumn covers. In 1962, Warhol experienced his first solo-gallery exhibition where he debuted Pop Art. Warhol's Pop Art was praised by critics and he gradually began to develope fame and recognition in the artist world. A few years later, Warhol instigated production of his reknowned Coca Cola bottles and Campbell soup cans. Warhol also started creating paintings of famous celebrities like Marilyn Moroe and Elvis Presley. All of these works gave Warhol abundant recognition and around this time Warhol took his spot as one of the worlds most famous artists. Today, Warhol is considered one of the greatest pop artists of all time. One of Warhol's paintings were sold for more than $100,000; a feat only surpassed by Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Jackson Pollack.

Chapel Pictures