To clarify our concepts of oddities, extremes and accents, we give a few examples based on some well know historical and modern photographs. In fact, many of the finest famous photographs can be attributed with these three concepts.
Jacques-Henri Lartigue - Grand Prix de l’A.C.F.
Made in 1912, at the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France, the young Jacques-Henri Lartigue took a photograph that displays the speed of the technological age. This photo has some very nice extremes, oddities, and accents.
Oddities:
- The wheel is not a normal round wheel, but an unusual elliptical form (this was a result of horizontal plane shutter of the camera).
- The figures in the background don’t look like normal persons, but rather strange shades.
Extremes:
- The photo wonderfully shows the high speed of the racing car.
Accents:
- While the two drivers are sharp, all the rest is blurred by the motion. This strengthens the feel of motion.
- While the wheels are bending forward, the public is bending backward.
André Kertész - Meudon
This photo taken in 1928 in a suburb of Paris by the Hungarian-born photographer André Kertész.
Oddities:- It is unusual to see a train from an angle from below, riding above a suburb.
- The man in front is pretty misterious.
Extremes:
- The photo shows the great height of the viaduct.
Accents:
- Two main objects in the photo, the dark train as well as the people in front, are emphasized by their darkness compared to the surroundings.
Horst P. Horst - Mainbocher Corset
In 1939 Horst P. Horst took this famous photograph of the Mainborcher Corset in the Paris Vogue studios.
Oddities:- A corset is not very comfortable, yet the woman sits elegantly and relaxed.
- With a corset always two are involved: the woman wearing it, and someone who laces it. So where is the second person?
Extremes:
- The corset is an extreme clothing accessory, forming a very small (wasp) waist.
Accents:
- The photographer uses highlights and deep shadows.
- The corset and the laces are the lightest parts of the photo and therefore emphasized.
Dennis Stock - James Dean on Times Square
Dennis Stock photographes James Dean in 1955, a few months before his tragic death in an automobile accident.
Oddities:
- Beneath James Dean a strange figure, his reflection, walks along with him.
- While he is was not particularly tall, he looks taller because of the low shooting angle and the shadow.
Extremes:
- The weather is extremely bad, with heavy rainfall and soaked streets.
- The subject itself is extreme: one of the greatest legends of the 20th century.
Accents:
- James Dean is forms a dark silhouette in a light environment, attracting all the attention.
Spencer Tunick - Aletsch Glacier
In 2007, Spencer Tunick made this installation with volunteers that took off their clothes on a glacier in the Swiss Alps to call for action against climate change.
Oddities:
- Standing nude in an icy environment can be called peculiar.
Extremes:
- The installation uses a big crowd of the 600 volunteers.
- The massiveness and the extreme cold of the glacier.
Accents:
- The humans with (warm) skin color stand out well in the white surroundings and the (cold) blue sky.
- The positioning of the volunteers emphasizes the structure of the glacier.
Loretta Lux - The drummer
German artist Loretta Lux uses a combination of photography, painting and digital manipulation to create her surreal portraits of young children. Also with The Drummer (2004) she transforms a child portrait into a new reality.
Oddities:- The head don’t seem to match the proportions of the body.
- There seems to be no room for the body between the drum and the wall.
- The picture raises the question to the viewer: is this real?
Extremes:
- The child looks very intense into the camera.
- The pose is extreme firm and static.
Accents:
- Loretta Lux has toned down the colors, that emphasize the red drum.