The lecture given by Steve Rood this week was definitely interesting. As a beginner in photography, I appreciated him coming in to talk to us about his work and how he has travelled around the world with it. I liked that he had a minimalist approach to his photography, “Less is more” would be the best way to describe it. In saying this, he worked a lot with light and movement, making his photographs more captivating. His work with food really stood out to me as a great example of what he is capable of. He believed that contemporary food photography was too predictable so he would liven up his own photos by using these tactics. The out-of-focus B&W photos he took as a fashion photographer were simple but were just as effective and made you use your imagination. The still life photos he took on the west coast and the story behind this project was also inspiring, although he didn't benefit a great deal from his client/employer, he was still very dedicated to this project and he benefited in a way where he was able to explore different surroundings and connect with each photograph, pulling his viewer in with the beauty of the west coast and what it has to offer. He said himself that his photography was kind of feminine, but so what, he enjoys it - which I think is the right attitude to have.
He also gave us an insight into the future, how “digital photography is a blip in the history of storytelling.” The constant changes in technology and its latest features is something I'm aware of and I do change with the times myself, but I prefer not to get too caught up in it all, otherwise I feel like I could be cheating myself out of learning about methods that have been tried and tested by some of the best fine art photographers and painters from the past. He said that photography was around way before it was even discovered and proved this by showing us an example of an artist using a concave mirror to project an image of the subject (in this case, it was a building) and then tracing the reflected image onto their chosen surface. It just comes to show that photography has played a huge part in the history of art and should be appreciated more.
