Lewis Baltz
Lewis Baltz born in California 1945, is an american visual artist and photographer. Baltz graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from San Francisco Art Institute in 1969 and has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Claremont Graduate School. Lewis Baltz is best known as one of the icons of the 'New Topography' movement in photography of the late seventies when he became a more prominent name. The group of people within the 'New Topography' showed America in a light of which went against the 'American Dream' typical propaganda image. Many photos of suburban realities were captured and a lot of Baltz's images are of the human landscapes, parking lots and factories. They show a minimal simplicity in style, yet the use of black & white very much shows a strong connection to the theme of "contrast". His work is often displayed in a tidy and almost 'grid' format with straight and geometrical lines and fairly two-tone or simply black & white which added to the starkness of his work.
"The ideal photographic document would appear to be without author or art."
-Lewis Baltz
Although I feel that Baltz's work is very refined, precise and minimal, I personally feel that sometimes the meaning behind the pictures is often obscured and generally non-existent. His work is aesthetically pleasing and represents the suburban American life well, yet i find the industrial and mechanical images disruptive to the homely images. Having said this, I am very much inspired by his work and think the contrast of the absolute white tones next to the black works well and his minimal style can be affective even without attention to light. What makes Baltz's work of high quality and skilled, is his close attention to focus, line and space.
Lewis Baltz manages to capture each photo completely in focus, suggesting use of a deep depth of field, and could possibly shed meaning that every aspect of his photos is important and suburban life is just as meaningful as city life. The lines often dominate the photos, giving a sense of rigidness and precision which allows Baltz to experiment with a high contrast.
Unusually, the photographer has taken a forward approach and taken the photos directly face on. This gives a very simple outcome however adds to the effect of his minimal and simple style.
Lewis Baltz manages to capture each photo completely in focus, suggesting use of a deep depth of field, and could possibly shed meaning that every aspect of his photos is important and suburban life is just as meaningful as city life. The lines often dominate the photos, giving a sense of rigidness and precision which allows Baltz to experiment with a high contrast.
Unusually, the photographer has taken a forward approach and taken the photos directly face on. This gives a very simple outcome however adds to the effect of his minimal and simple style.
Inspired photos
After looking at Lewis Baltz's work I was then inspired to take some photos of architecture in the style of his work. I payed close attention to making sure the lines of the image were central focus and that the content of the pictures was minimal. I also used a deep depth of field so as to reflect stylistically his work.