Loom Magazien 2: In search of the famous

in the search of the famous | special issue

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Special

this issue is presented by students from University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland

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Editorial | Special

In the search of the famous

Dear viewer, This special issue of Loom is based on a workshop with students from Uiah, Helsinki. The images shown in this issue are a result of an intense one week project I held this April in Helsinki.

Special issues in Loom are thought to leave the local playground of Weimar. Loom as a platform for photography students should not only be bound to Weimar, or to student projects. Special issues should be used for any kind of projects which are related to photography and from our point contributing to the thought of «walking with the speed of light».

«In the search of the famous one».

The idea for this project was to follow the steps of famous photographers, to learn their language and by

learning it to find back to the own original way of visualzing images.

Almost all students thought in the first moment its not too difficult to copy the style of the chosen photographer. But very soon they realized that they got stuck on the surface. To come close to the original it really needs lots of work and skills.

Not all of the the chosen photographers are world famous but still its quite challanging to see or to know the originals, and to expierience now the transformation.

To be explicit once more, the goal was not to copy an artist. maybe its good from time to time to look in the neighbours garden to see the own flowers.

Walter Bergmoser

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Content | Special

03 | Editorial 05 | Arno Rafael Minkinnen | First step

32 | Ulla Jukisalo | Heini Turunen

61 | Juhana Lauroses | Karri Lehtonen

11 | Aino Kannisto | Salla Rautiainen

38 | Floria Sigismondi | Annika Lahti

64 | Elina Brotherus | Riikka Anttonen

19 | Martin Parr Riikka | Laurén

46 | Miklos Gaál | Joel Gräfnings

71 | Anton Corbijn | Matti Araksinen

27 | Vertti Teräsvuori | Elina Gyldén

54 | Robert Bianchi | Euginio Intini

76 | Imprint

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Minkinnen To get started the first task in the workshop was to photograph in the style of the famous finnish american photographer Arno Rafael Minkinnen. In two hours the students should find out about problems and fun in copying a certain style.

first steps | Minkinnen

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I saw Aino Kannistos photographs for the very first time in Germany where I was currently studying. It was not an exhibition but a book which first attracted my attention: The Helsinki School of Photography.

Few years ago I read an article about the finnish photographer Esko Männikkö and was already very curious, what kind of photography the book «The Helsinki School» would contain. While having a closer look at this book one specific photographer attracted my attention. The use of light and the fact that she stages the photographs like filmstills, catching one single moment, which is usually a little bit like a secret what will happen next, I liked a lot.

Salla Rautiainen | Aino Kannisto

Furthermore, in every photograph I have seen so far, the presense of nature is crucial for her work. In many cases she uses a forest or a lake as a stage where the story takes place.

Actually, this way of working was the startingpoint for my own photographs.

After deciding that I would stage them in my own natural surroundings like the rocks and the birches close to my home I started thinking about finnish photographers, finnish design and finnish clothingstyle. «Ajatuksia Suomalaisuudesta. Thoughts of Being Finnish» is a series in which I reflect my own thoughts about Finland after several years of absence.

Aino Kannisto

Salla Rautiainen

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«I chose Martin Parr, because I like his photographic projects and themes, but to copy his style wasn’t that easy.

I didn’t have any specified idea or Parr-like critical look at the modern society.

So I just run through the city hoping that I would see something Parr-like.

Close-ups of objects were fairly easy compared to people. I had hard time to get close to them.

My bus trip with the Russians wasn’t very successful, because I felt like an intruder in their holiday. I thought I should have some kind of respect for my subject not just urge to make them look somewhat ridiculous. So I decided to set up my own «holiday» and give up the documentary…»

Martin Parr

Laurén Susanna Riikka | Martin Parr

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Verrti Teräsvuori «Findians…»

Elina Gyldén | Vertti Teräsvuori

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I chose the finnish photographer Ulla Jokisalo, because I find her images very strong and interesting. Once you have seen a picture of her’s you definetely do not easily forget it. The way she constructes the image is somehow totally exceptional. She does not only take pictures but she makes these works of art where photos are combined with sewing, needles, scissors aso. Often she uses old images from her childhood or some pictures from old magazines. The keyword is mixing − mixing old and new, text and images etc. Her photos are telling a story of her childhood and of memory. Very often she deals with the relationship between her and her mother. There is something truly dramatic and mysterious in her images − a mystery to be solved!

I wanted to follow Jokisalo’s footsteps by making a glance over my own childhood and observing three

Heini Turunen | Ulla Jukisalo

generations; my grandmother, mother and me. Life has sewed us together permanently with the bandage of blood.

A part of us is the same − a part we cannot affect. For me sewing is something that binds two things together. Scissors on the contrary are an object ment for cutting and keeping things separate. Every relationship demands both cutting and sewing, especially a mother-daughter relationship. Scissors and stitches are very strong symbols and they have both negative and positive aspects, which makes them even more interesting. I wanted to try the different styles of Jokisalo’s work. Important was to use only black and white colors with some red highlights − a color combination often seen in Jokisalo’s work. Taking photos based on Jokisalo’s style was not an easy task to do but in the end it was very rewarding.

Ulla Jukisalo

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«In 1999 Floria Sigismondi told that she becomes most creative by putting herself through sleep deprivation.

She said she works all night thinking. An hour before bed, when the subconscious takes over and reality bends and she is able to think of things that are much more fantastical and surreal, when rules don’t apply. That’s time when she comes up with all of her best ideas.»

«It seems like when people go to sleep Floria gets in there and starts recording their dreams. It makes for something that is a bit more surreal,the composer Barry Adamson says.»

Floria Sigismondi

Annika Lahti | Floria Sigismondi

The quotes are from the magazines:Art in America& Creative rewiew

For my point of view some of her images are somehow too dark. Maybe because they give me the feeling that they are too personal. They show something from dreams, subconscious mind that maybe I don’t want to see or to know. I find interesting the light, shadows and color. And most of all when something is beautiful it really is. In my pictures I tried to get the right feeling by working alone and taking photographs by myself.

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The photographer whose work I’ve tried to imitate is Miklos Gaál. His work, or the pictures I’m imitaiting consists of photographic landscapes or urban views which usually are taken from distant and elevated points. The thing, though, that makes his work interesting is the conceptual approach. It’s characterized by an illogical distribution of blurred and sharp zones within the picture. This mixture gives the photographs an unreal quality, and presents the real world as if it would be one consisting of plastic toys or miniatures. To achieve this effect Gaál has been using a large format camera witch grants him the opportunity of manipulaiting the film plate itself.

For this workshop I didn’t have the opportunity to imitate Gaáls methods in detail because of the demanding technics he uses. Instead of using film I’ve done everything digitally. I’ve thence concentrated on trying to find out the essentials of his concept. I’ve mainly concentrated on the motives, angles and distances of Gaáls work, as well as how the areas of focus usually follow some straight lines or just go in some specific direction. I think that one important aspect in the landscapes are that you never see the horizon.

This is something that seems essential.

Through this Gaál vaccomplishes the surreal feeling of a miniature world.

Miklos Gaál

Joel Gräfnings | Miklos Gaál

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Robert Bianchi

Euginio Intini | Robert Bianchi

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Juhana Lauroses

Karri Lehtonen | Juhana Lauroses

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Elina Brotherus

Riikka Anttonen | Elina Brotherus

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Anton Corbijn

Matti Airaksinen | Anton Corbijn

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Imprint

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Imprint

in the search of the famous

Loom

walking with the speed of light Special Issue: »In the search of the famous« July 2007

Publisher Bauhaus University Weimar c/o Alexander Lembke and Walter Bergmoser, Bauhausstraße 7b D – 99423 Weimar phone: 038855/ 58 37 39 alexander.lembke@medien.uni-weimar.de walter.bergmoser@archit.uni-weimar.de Editor in Chief Walter Bergmoser Layout and Graphic Design Sandy Gessner: visualsurf.com Jacqueline Schröder Fränzi Walther Coverphoto Salla Rautiainen Website Christian Lukaschik

Contributing Artitsts Page 6 – 12 group work Page 13 – 21 Salla Rautiainen Page 22 – 29 Riikka Laurén Page 30 – 34 Elina Gyldén Page 35 – 40 Heini Turunen Page 41 – 48 Annika Lahti Page 49 – 56 Joel Gräfnings Page 57 – 63 Euginio Intini Page 64 – 66 Karri Lehtonen Page 67 – 73 Riikka Antonen

All Contents © 2007 by Bauhaus University Weimar.

All rights reserved. Reproduction without Permisson is prohibited Contact info@loom-mag.com

Loom thanks Bauhaus University Weimar www.uni-weimar.de The editor in chief thanks The students of Uiah, Tarja Trygg, Alexander Lembke, Fränzi Walther Loom is a project of the Faculty of Media and the Faculty of Architecture of the Bauhaus University Weimar.

Preview Loom Issue 3 »Places of crime« January 2008

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