Researching Photographers

Theorist Bentley (1997) says ‘rearranging of the old to create the new’  To follow this theory, I researched the work of existing rock photographers in order to get a better understanding of the types of shots, make up and lighting expected to see in rock images, and convert these ideas in to work of my own.

To start with I looked at the very well known rock photographer Mick Rock to gain inspiration from his work.  http://www.mickrock.com/

Mick Rock was born in London, England in 1948. Rock is best known for his iconic shots of many rock and roll legends, such as David Bowie, The sex pistols, The Ramones and Queen. Mick Rock often gets referred to as "The Man Who Shot the Seventies", perhaps the most memorable images that Mick shot were the images of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, he also earned the role as Bowie's official photographer. 

What I like about the work of Mick Rock is that he uses a range of different camera angles, including long shots; close-ups and close medium shots. Mick Rock also uses a range of different colours to highlight the artist/ artists he is trying to take photographs of. He also uses black and white photos quite often, this gives the effect that the picture is older, this works well in the rock genre as rock is largely seen as something from the past. In all of his pictures he highlights the artist against the background so that they standout. In Mick Rock's photographs he makes the rock stars in his picture either pose as if they are looking off into the distance to look cool and as if they don't care. This suits the rock genre because the poses he asks them to pull connote that they don't really care and this is strongly linked with rock music. In the first picture I have the people in the photo are posing as if they are performing, and the lights from the stage light up the artists so they are highlighted. The second two pictures they subjects of the pictures are being made to pose unnaturally, but in a way that connotes rock music. I will consider trying to connote rock music in my photos, and I will do this by trying to use similar techniques to what Mick Rock has used. When I come to taking my own shots for my magazine I will look to use a fair amount of mid-shots as this seems to be what Mick Rock uses fairly often, so these obviously appeal to the target audience and will hopefully sell my magazine.