Photographer Research - Brassai

Brassai
Brassai was a Hungarian-French photographer whose fame rose with his work in France and Paris. Brassai created the book 'Paris de Nuit', translated to 'Paris by Night', that captured numerous photos of Paris at its most isolated times within the night. The strong streetlights reveal the empty pavements, sometimes accompanied by the homeless, prostitutes and thugs.

This photo presents a man dressed in a trench coat and small top hat staring at a poll covered in posters and illuminated by light. The location appears to be in a park, this is suggested by the vast amount of trees spread around and the path behind the man; there is even a possible reflection of light on water in the background far at the back. The light from the poll illuminates a circle around it and the tree to the right of it; the light even creates a shadow behind the man, making it appear almost as a charcoal smudge on the photo like a slight distortion. The man appears lost since he is alone in an empty isolated area. It further suggests this by him staring, in a still setting, at all the the clustered posters as if they will help him find meaning to something. The light highlights the man's shoulders slightly and his hat's ridges, this conveys the man as mysterious because he is only slightly revealed, the rest of him is hidden and concealed as if he has something to hide. The smudged shadow leaves an eerie presence to the man, as if he owns an evil essence that follows him around.

This photo presents a curved pavement and road with two trees in the background. The streetlight presents a harsh glow onto the concrete that created a deep contrast within the indents of the paving stones. The light created a solid black shadow from the tree trunk that travels all the way through the photo. The empty street appears wet from the way it shines in the streetlight, creating a cold and damp atmosphere that can leave a viewer feeling lonely and cold. Brassai captures the streets at their most isolated hours to convey a sense of secrecy to the streets of Paris. Even though there appears to be nothing happening in the streets, the context they are set in and the way the lights are set makes the viewer feel as though the streets are still hiding something from them. Though the photos are still, there is a sense of expected motion to happen, for instance someone walking past the trees, or an alley cat running across the street.

Here we see a woman standing alone in the streets with a light illuminating the right side of her back. She appears to be at a street of closed shops, like a small town area, but because it is late at night, the street is empty and bare, leaving only the woman in the light. The woman being concealed by the shadows on her leaves a lack of identity, this is because all we can know from this woman is her silhouette, which is lacking in curve and texture, so she is left almost flat as a character. The woman appears small due to all the negative space around her, this can symbolise vulnerability for the woman because she is alone surrounded by emptiness, that could easily be filled with something to endanger her. Brassai could be confusing and concerning viewers with this photo, this is because it is considered odd for such a petite woman to be alone so late at night in a usually social area, it makes the viewer question why she is there, and what she will be doing. She could be possibly waiting to meet someone, or just having a moment to herself to relax; which we, as a viewer, are now interrupting. We are informed that Brassai captured various prostitutes in his photos, this could suggest that this woman is one of them, however, from what we can see of her she doesn't appear to be a prostitute because of how she is dressed. When people consider a prostitute, there is a typical image of a woman being unkempt and poorly presented, but this woman appears well-dressed, as if she is wealthy, and tidy like she takes care of herself well, so it feels odd to say this woman is a prostitute. However, her location appears abandoned and not looked after due to the tattered walls and barred windows, suggesting she is in such a location due to secrecy, as if she is trying to isolate herself from locations where people would typically be so she is alone.

This photo presents a woman also alone in the streets, her identity concealed by the shadows. This time Brassai is capturing the front of the subject but still hiding their identity with the use of the streetlight creating a shadow on the woman. The streetlight is creating a long silhouette of the woman on the ground that appears almost like the woman's path to follow, as if she can only trust herself in these situations. The long coat conceals the woman's figure and shape, making her appear without curvatures and texture, as if lifeless. The harsh light and deep contrast creates sharp outlines of black and white on the concrete and painted walls behind the woman. Once again this woman could be suggested to be a prostitute waiting in the streets for a job to arise, viewers can find a sympathy in this; in the sense that she is alone in the cold on a possibly dangerous street waiting for the hopes of some money to be given to her for a 'dirty deed'. The barred entrance behind the woman could symbolise false security, in the sense that the night may appear dangerous and eerie, and because of this people will bar up areas for a feeling of security, when in actual sense, the bars are thin and still access to the eye which removes some security. 

Overall...

I feel Brassai's work creates a sense of expectancy for a viewer, this being created by the night being so empty that it is almost discomforting, so a viewer, to feel more comfortable, will create an expectancy of movement in such a still photo. He captures people in moments that portray them as corrupted and mysterious, making the viewer question why these people are out at such an isolated time of the world. For my personal work, I will be taking the aspect of shadows from Brassai's work, although his work doesn't seem to focus on this aspect, it is involved in all of his work heavily due to the streetlights. I will be creating my own shadows using silhouette

Author Unknown, "Brassai", [https://www.houkgallery.com/artists/brassai?view=slider#3], (accessed: 07/03/2020)

After Recreation...

After research into Brassai's work, I learnt that his use of shadows on people created a mystery to the subject as if the shadow represented their secrets and stories. I wanted to take this aspect but only focus the photo on the shadow, so there is even more mystery to the subject. The viewer can not see the subject in my photos, leaving more mystery to who they are and why their silhouette is composed in a certain way. Similar to Brassai's work, he creates a mystery to the subject by concealing their identity through shadows and clothing, making the viewer wonder who are these subjects and why they are out at such a time. My intentions from Brassai's work was to take the mysterious aspect from his work, and I feel I was successful in that.