William Wegman (1943-)
1. William Wegman is an American artist who was born in Massachusetts in 1943. While he was still a kid, he received a Polaroid camera for his birthday, and he became fascinated with photography. But, he was originally a painter before he started doing photography, and he got a bachelor’s degree in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and a master’s degree of painting from the University of Illinois. While teaching in California, he got a dog, a weimaraner named Man Ray, and began to take pictures of him. He also took videos of Man Ray, dabbling in videography.
2. Originally, Wegman started out with paintings. He also photographed people occasionally. But, when Man Ray came into his life, he began to mainly take pictures of his weimaraners that he has had during his life. He takes portraits of these weimaraners. Sometimes he will use props and place them in things like human clothing, but sometimes it will just be the dog.
3. Wegman wanted to capture the attitude and emotion of his dogs. He said that photographing someone you love is like creating a map of them, and you are able to see them in a whole new way. He was able to connect with his dogs through photography. He wanted to show how he felt about his dogs with his work. His work is very personal, but I feel it is very relatable to all dog owners.
4. Wegman mainly photographs dogs, and I love dogs, so that led me to take pictures of my dog Angel in the style of his work. I liked the emotion he captured in his photos. This may have been of a joyful group of dogs or one sorrowful dog. I wanted to capture these same feelings. He also influenced my setup of the photos, as he chose to use a lot of human clothing/props and I did the same.
5.
2. Originally, Wegman started out with paintings. He also photographed people occasionally. But, when Man Ray came into his life, he began to mainly take pictures of his weimaraners that he has had during his life. He takes portraits of these weimaraners. Sometimes he will use props and place them in things like human clothing, but sometimes it will just be the dog.
3. Wegman wanted to capture the attitude and emotion of his dogs. He said that photographing someone you love is like creating a map of them, and you are able to see them in a whole new way. He was able to connect with his dogs through photography. He wanted to show how he felt about his dogs with his work. His work is very personal, but I feel it is very relatable to all dog owners.
4. Wegman mainly photographs dogs, and I love dogs, so that led me to take pictures of my dog Angel in the style of his work. I liked the emotion he captured in his photos. This may have been of a joyful group of dogs or one sorrowful dog. I wanted to capture these same feelings. He also influenced my setup of the photos, as he chose to use a lot of human clothing/props and I did the same.
5.
Untitled (Dog in Shoes) - https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/mocatv-william-wegman-his-weimaraner-dogs
Untitled (Dog with Human Eye) - http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/image/7414749247567488354/
Chest of Drawers - http://www.artnet.com/artists/william-wegman/chest-of-drawers-a-W2HlPGCjy50CexHRGj2rLA2
6. Untitled (Dog in Shoes) - Between this picture and Wegman’s, I think the main difference was the lighting. There is a lot more light on Wegman’s dog than on my dog. Also, the best picture I could get of my dog was with her one of her legs coming out of the shoe. Another difference is the background, which is a wall and carpet, while his was a studio. Some similarities were that I used similar shoes and faced them the same way, and that the image was black and white.
Untitled (Dog with Human Eye) - I don’t think the lighting was too big of an issue on this one. There is some shadow on my dog’s face, but not that much. One big difference was the background. He used an red/orange background which accentuated the human eye. All that I could do was use a white background.
Chest of Drawers - I think these two are very similar, except for, once again, the background. He used a black background which focuses all the attention on the dog’s chest. My background did not accomplish that. The subject is completely alike. The lighting on mine is slightly different.
7. My pictures are of my dog, Angel. She is a 13 year old American Bulldog/Setter mix. It was difficult setting up all of the pictures because she wasn’t very cooperative, but I was very pleased with how the pictures turned out. I really liked the Chest of Drawers one because in dogs’ chest it is like there are a bunch of different little patterns and curls that all tell their story, and I thought I captured this well with Angel. I think the rule of thirds was used effectively in my first picture, because her face is on one of the grid points. None of my backgrounds were distracting because there was little noise. My lighting wasn’t too great, but I don’t think it reduced the quality of the images.
Untitled (Dog with Human Eye) - I don’t think the lighting was too big of an issue on this one. There is some shadow on my dog’s face, but not that much. One big difference was the background. He used an red/orange background which accentuated the human eye. All that I could do was use a white background.
Chest of Drawers - I think these two are very similar, except for, once again, the background. He used a black background which focuses all the attention on the dog’s chest. My background did not accomplish that. The subject is completely alike. The lighting on mine is slightly different.
7. My pictures are of my dog, Angel. She is a 13 year old American Bulldog/Setter mix. It was difficult setting up all of the pictures because she wasn’t very cooperative, but I was very pleased with how the pictures turned out. I really liked the Chest of Drawers one because in dogs’ chest it is like there are a bunch of different little patterns and curls that all tell their story, and I thought I captured this well with Angel. I think the rule of thirds was used effectively in my first picture, because her face is on one of the grid points. None of my backgrounds were distracting because there was little noise. My lighting wasn’t too great, but I don’t think it reduced the quality of the images.