blog 5

Ralph Gibson is an American Photographer who is best known for his photographic books. Gibson is also highly known for his images in still photography where he emphasizes and contrasts the grain in his photos. He tends to explore undertones with his work as it creates beautiful, eerie images. Where did it all begin? Gibson began his study for art while being in the Navy and then transferred to the Art Institute in San Francisco. He likes to capture images that are in everyday life such as a human arm or
two walls that meet together.

One of his pieces that I find so appealing is the image of a woman covered in a towel like object over half of her face. The shadow work in this piece is just beautiful. The way the shadow completes the contrast of the white towel fits perfectly in this image. This picture is also highly defined as we can see the hair on the women's arm perfectly. I believe Gibson's understanding of grain with photography and developing an image creates the perfect exposure.

Another one of Gibson's photos that I adore is
this photo presented to the right. It is a very normal photo,
but the simplicity of the photo is what really caught my eye. Gibson was able to capture a photo with perfect natural light. The light coming from a window exposed a beautiful picture that almost creates an optical illusion. In this photo one could believe that the blinds from a window are creating the striped shadows on this photo, while another person could believe the ball and chair seen are striped but the window is casting a shadow on the man and the objects. I think this photo is very interesting because Gibson was able to take a simple photo and expose it to natural light to create a beautiful photograph.

-Bronwen Lewis