Don't mean to be a dick...

Don't mean to be a dick, but just wanted to let everybody know that when you post your photos you do have the option of making it so that the image that shows up is not a thumbnail (which eliminates the need for clicking through). Just click the image in the editor and click x-large. 

That is all, thank you.

Hannah Hollatz - Task 1

Looking through Thomas Struth’s work I found that the landscapes and architectural photos inspired me the most. I noticed that in his work he doesn’t have much contrast in his photos which is something that I’ve never really tried. I’m hoping to reshoot this assignment because I’m not exactly thrilled with the results. I also really liked his museum photos and I’m planning on taking photos of people looking at things in the grocery store. 

Sarah Giroux - Task #1

Hey Everyone, 

So I decided to focus on Thomas Sthruth's cityscape photography. His cityscapes are evidently motionless and absent of high contrast lighting and shade. Consequently, when deciding what to do for my image I  simply decided to do the opposite. 

TASK #1 DIANA EDELMAN

Hey Guys!

Throughout researching Thomas Sturth's work I found his museum series to be the source of my inspiration for this assignment. It felt to me as though he took those photographs to capture the reactions or emotions people felt by looking at a piece of art within a museum. It seemed to be a common element that the people within his photographs had very unique and different facial expressions. It's almost as if he waited there for hours, having people pass him by the whole day until he would wait to catch the right expression or emotion from the spectators.

I too am very fascinated by people, and about capturing the right moment even if it takes hours to bring a certain emotion from my subject. These Portraits above are shot through a mirror. I wondered what people saw in themselves as they stared blankly into the mirror. I found there to be a very different mental state of mind for a subject when they are asked to just stare at themselves in the mirror. There is a closeness and vulnerability to a subject in this moment. It isn't about what they see in the mirror anymore, it's a reflection of their day or past. It's a reflection of how they feel once they are alone and how they don't even look at themselves anymore. They look at their life. I found this to be compelling, and an interesting spin on Thomas Struth's photography.

I'm also having trouble on which photograph to finalize. I'm even considering to reshoot and use 35 mm film for this because i find it gives a different quality to a photograph that i may be looking for. Let me know what you guys think!

-Diana Edelman

Alexander Walker: Task One

When looking into Struth's city landscapes I noticed that a lot of his photographs showed cities as alien, strange and inhuman. Many of his works also seemed to represent a level of the city's unconscious visually. Keeping this in mind when I went to New York, I tried to create an image here that makes the cityscape look as intimidating and strong as I could. The idea was to apply Struth's formula for cityscape to New York; to show the city as overwhelming, and to capture the idea of feeling "like an ant beneath giants".
Something I kept in mind was that Struth's city images almost never showed people. While mine contains cars I feel that it doesn't really change the concept. The cars are very secondary and while people are obviously associated with vehicles, there is a difference in tone when showing the two. Neither did I feel it entirely necessary to follow Struth's formula to the letter.
Alex Walker 

Amir Farokhpour - Task #1

I really enjoy Struth's family portraits so i decided to do a portrait for this task. In most of his family portrait shots, the people posing have a unique expression, i could barely find any shots with people smiling. Most of the models have a strong, deep facial expressions which i tried to achieve when doing this task. I will probably redo this task, I originally had a different idea but couldn't make it happen before the due date.

Pedro Hespanha - Task #1

Modelled after Thomas Struth's achitectural photographs, I have shot Toronto's very own Flat Iron Building, also known as the Gooderham Building, in an attempt to capture not only the building's unusual design but the streets that surround and seem to engulf it.

Re-Shoot for Task 1 - EVAN HUTCHINSON

This is an edited version of the one I uploaded earlier today:

38 Dundas

In examining Thomas Struth and his photographs, the series of barren streets and a focus on buildings and surroundings intrigued me the most. It was taking a scene that is typically full of life and humanity and striping it down. This brought my attention to the feelings of absence, lost, and unidentification. I approached this concept like Struth did in photographing buildings, however I wanted to convey a lack of presence and unfamiliarity. 

My approach was to photograph only one building and each shot being an extremely detailed close up. When looking at these photographs you know you are looking at a part of a building but you don’t know what building, where the building is, and what part of the building it is. I then collaged and blended the different textures and details unevenly together. This gives the viewer a sense of unidentification and detachment from the object.

Anthony Bui - Task #1

This image was taken at an abandoned wasteland. Inspired by Thomas Struth's symmetrical and deserted elements in his photographs to compose this image.

Thomas Struth also doesn't like much contrast in his images, so I bumped my contrast down. Which is the opposite of what I would usually do in my black and white images.

Nicole Ackerman - Task #1

Also inspired by Thomas Struth's family portraits, I planned on photographing my current "family" - my roommates. As a group of five very different people placed in an apartment at random, a portrait of this make-shift, misfit family would embody the awkwardness of the family portraits Struth photographed. Unfortunately I have yet been able to gather all of us together at once, so I plan to re-do this task.
For now, here are some buildings.

Alex DeMelo Task #1

Thomas Struth's family portraits focus on position and character. Struth tries to bring out the characteristics of each individual, without posing them in a way that would be an obvious statement of their personality. I've tried to capture his same spirit in this photograph of my uncle, grandmother, and her dog.
Personally, I didn't like Thomas Struth's work. There is a hostile atmosphere in many of his photographs that I tried to create within my own, but struggled. Many of his subjects hold a gaze that almost seems robotic and lifeless. I couldn't make my family replicate this gaze, because to put it simply, they do what they want. I think Struth's portraits lack life and and story. When I look at his family portraits, I don't see what they might have been doing before, nor can I picture what they are going to do after. It seems as though the family has been put into a background they are unfamiliar with, and the only familiarity they can find is behind the camera.
I think I will try this assignment again, with strangers. That way, it will be easier to obtain a feeling of hostility, because they won't know me, or my story.

EVAN HUTCHINSON - Task 1

38 Dundas

In examining Thomas Struth and his photographs, the series of barren streets and a focus on buildings and surroundings intrigued me the most. It was taking a scene that is typically full of life and humanity and stripping it down. This brought my attention to the feelings of absence, lost, and unidentification. I approached this concept by photographing buildings, however I wanted to convey a lack of presence and unfamiliarity. 

My approach was to photograph only one building and each shot being an extremely detailed close up. When looking at these photographs you know you are looking at a part of a building but you don’t know what building, where the building is, and what part of the building it is. I then collaged and blended the different textures and details unevenly together. This gives the viewer a sense of unidentification and detachment from the object.

-Evan Hutchinson

Thomson 218

I decided to venture into the AGO with fear of not being able to bring due to copy right infringement. Upon attempting to sneak my camera in, I was successful at capturing this picture of my friend Taylor. I admired Thomas Struth’s work of emptiness with buildings and crowdedness inside the museums. I was inspired to combine both concepts into one photograph. By doing so, I wanted only one person in the in the center of all the art. 

Michael Leighfield - Task #1 - Thomas Struth

I am working off of Thomas Struths family portraits as well. I don't have too much to say as of right now, however this is not my submission for the assignment. I just wanted to submit something so I wouldn't be penalized. Currently I am on a train home, going to a wedding tomorrow which I thought would be the best opportunity to shoot.

Assignment #1: Thomas Struth - Emily Hole

Hey everyone!
       After reviewing many piece's of Struth's work his museum and street shots stood out to me the most. So I decided to combine them. I used the candid side and raw emotion of the museum photographs and shot it on the street. Capturing strangers as they carry on they're normal day. As some notice me and some unaware there is a variety of emotion portrayed. As not one photo by itself here is
strong I decided a collection would portray the theme better. Would love to hear ideas you guy's have!

Imogen Wallis-Mayer Task #1

I was inspired by Thomas Struth's Family Portrait photographs. After reading about his process there was one thing that he said that captured my interest, "When you have a person they change all the time – with them there’s not one single second that’s the same as the next.". I choose to take this thought and explore the opposite, an inanimate object, in which every moment can be the same as the last. I choose to arrange my objects, headless barbies, to make them appear as if they were posing for a family portrait. 

** I have uploaded four images because I don't know what one I like the best, if you guys could comment on which one you like the best it would be very useful! (Also when looking at the colour differences look at the details in the bodies because it effects the details a lot!)

Pema Phurpatsang Task#1

Thomas Struth’s photography collection is something beyond outstanding. Through his photography he explored features such as landscape, interior, portraits or urban architecture. What stood out most about Thomas Struth's collection was his museum photographs.
Thomas Struth had a concept of photographing his subjects in museums where he would be able to capturing the raw emotion and body motion of the viewers without them knowing they are being photographed; I decided to follow in the same footsteps. I captured customers ordering their meals, looking at the menu or waiting in line to order at our local Tim Horton near Ryerson University.
By doing so I was able to show natural presence of people when they have no idea they are being photographed as well as their innocence in society. Human behavior seems to change when the mind knows it is being watched, therefore by secretly photographing the customers i was able to capture the raw emotions and body motion of people at the Tim Horton's, just like Thomas Struth did with his viewers at the Museum.
Any comment and feedback will be much appreciated. This task was a tad bit difficult due to the fact I had to keep the camera concealed otherwise I would not be able to capture the raw emotions of people in line. Also, the camera needed to be concealed because many of the fast food restaurants around the campus would not allow me to take pictures inside their establishments.

Carmen Truong Task #1

What inspired me to take this photograph was Thomas Struth's family portraits. I was interested in his theme of family dynamics and wanted to translate that theme onto my own family. I decided to focus on "family dinners." Family dinners usually (for me at least) evoke the cute scene of a family happily enjoying each others company and asking each other how their day was. In my family, once dinner is served, we all retreat (for the most part) into our own world, usually my parent's sitting in the kitchen with the occasional conversational bit put in, and me and my sister in the living room sitting in front of the TV. To try to portray this disconnect I shot a still life of what the table usually looks like after dinner is over. I wanted the scene to look nostalgic and almost sad so I converted my photo into black and white and made it somewhat flat. I didn't really know how to approach this task and if I achieved what I set out to do, but any helpful comments will be much appreciated.

Sarah Wong: Task #1

I was influenced by Thomas Struth’s attempt at objectivity while photographing street scenes.  I chose to focus on Chinatown due to the common connotations of it as being a sinful, dirty and unpleasant place.  An assumption which is present in Hollywood films and persists.  Like Struth, his street scenes were not particularly beautiful or striking, but to me their strength was in the concept.  To me, his concern was on engaging the viewer into questioning what the photographer thought, was implying or studying.  I did not adopt the central position he took of his early street photos, in preference of his later technique.  He realized that he could “see analytically without needing a single overarching structure of compositional device”.  I too, tried to capture the character or “sound” of the place at morning dusk.  I wanted to show Chinatown not in the typical hustle bustle which people are accustomed to seeing it, but when the streets were quiet.  For me, the streets and the people are just like any other.  By chance, I find the rain can perhaps wash away the dirt people are accustomed to feeling the streets are covered in, and seeing it for what it really is.  

I have two version of this photo- in colour and black and white.  Please let me know which one is more effective.  Suggestions and comments are appreciated. Thanks!

Nicole Haynes, Task #1

After looking at Thomas Struth's work I noticed all the old cityscapes that he photographed. I also read online on a bio website about him that he had said "how do you live with history? Then I began to ask: How is history embedded in the architecture of a city?" This question that he asked himself made me branch of to my idea that I wanted to show the old architecture design of some buildings in Toronto that we may not seem to notice right away, but have withstood the modern times of the city's development. I wasn't sure if I wanted just to show the single subject of the old building by itself, or with other modern buildings around it to show the difference. I uploaded 3 different yet similiar outlooks on the idea, let me know what you guys think works best! Thanks! 

Ashley Warrington Task#1

Ashley Warrington Task #1 (Thomas Struth)

When Robyn first showed us this image that Thomas Struth shot, all I could think about was how it looked a lot like an older more foreign version of Dundas square! So what I decided to do was to make a more bright, colourful, modern version of it. Struths picture is very cold and dull where as with my shot I tried to absorb as much colour and warmth as I could. I am a person that loves to use bright colours when taking a coloured photograph. Also I shot this image at night to make the colour and the advertisement really pop out of the picture rather than just all blending in as white and grey. So this is basically my version of Thomas Struths photo but made how I would have done it!

Erin Whittier - Task #1

Title: Studio 406



I read a bunch of interviews with Struth, and what stuck out for me was his work ethic in shooting the "Family Portrait" series. A few things inspired me - his use of natural light only, placing them in the space they live in, and giving the freedom to pose however and wear whatever. I decided to use a wide angle lens the way he did - it captures both the person and their surroundings, which I think are equally important to the series.

I tried shooting this image a couple times, and finally I came up with these ones (although, I still can't decide - should I leave them as individual photos, or as a diptych?) I made it a bit different, by having one person within the space at a time - it brings out the differences between the two roommates but also the similarities, and how they inhabit the space in their own ways.

(One thing he also said was that there was a tangible energy when he would shoot portraits - the families would get rather excited preparing for the shoot, interacting with each other. I found it rather interesting, when I first attempted the portrait with my parents, they became lively and enthusiastic when sitting down for the portrait. The freedom I gave them opened up another dynamic of communication between themselves, as well as with me. Although this is just a side note, I thought it was pretty cool to feel the energy that Struth talked about when doing his family portraits.)

Heather Cummings Task #1: Thomas Struth

I took my idea from a comment Struth made about the people in his typological museum photos: "Why are the people there, what are they getting out of it, is any change occurring in their personal lives because of it, in their public lives, in their family, with their friends?" He also claimed that his photos "[act] as a mirror of our cultural behaviour." So I took those two comments and thought about what modern cultural behaviours I could examine and chose cell phone/Instagram picture taking. These are all photos of random people on the street who I noticed taking pictures. I asked them to pose for me so I could get a picture of them. So I pose the question: what do people get out of taking so many cell phone pictures or Instagramming? I thought making a typological series about it would better stress this question. Any thoughts?

Emily Pleasance Task #1

I found after looking at all of Thomas Struth's work, that for everyone of his photographs, and throughout his entire body of work, he photographed a relationship. A connection, between two things, whether it was between two people, people and art, architecture and its surroundings... I wanted to photograph a relationship that isn't so obvious to us as say another friend, rather to something we forget we have a connection to. The relationship I am suggesting is between us and our mechanical counter parts -Machines that we use on a day to day basis. -  And to photograph not the purpose of the connection, but the evidence of one.

Eric Watters Task 1

Dundonald St. Toronto

After much analysis of Thomas Struth's work, I decided to go in the direction of his beautiful architecture photos. The detail in his photos of city buildings inspired me to take photos of everyday buildings I would normally just walk by. After taking photos of commercial buildings, I found that this photo of the 3 houses was the most interesting.
Some issues were with the rain blob on my lens that I didn't notice until the editing process and my indecisiveness on if I like the tree or not.

A quote by Thomas Struth that I found really interesting because it also relates to me: "Oh yeah, I need to be in a picture mood. The objects I'm shooting have to attract me - they have to invite me to take more photos of them. If I'm not feeling it, I just stop. But to be honest, I'm also someone who likes to do nothing."

TASK #1: THOMAS STRUTH

GALLERY LINK
NEW YORKER LINK