Context
Hélène Binet was born in 1959 in Sorengo and is of both Swiss and French background.She studied photography at the Instituto Europeo di Design in Rome, where she grew up, and soon developed an interest in architetural photography.Over a period of twenty-five years Hélène Binet has photographed both contemporary and historical architecture. While following the work of contemporary architects – often from construction through completion – Hélène Binet has also photographed the works of past architects. More recently, Hélène Binet has started to direct her attention to landscape photography, wherein she transposes key concerns of her architectural photography. Hélène Binet’s work has been published in a wide range of books, and is shown in both national and international exhibitions. Hélène Binet is an advocate of analogue photography and therefore she exclusively works with film.
Images
In this image we can see a building which has been taken from an unusual angle which gives the image an abstract effect. Binet takes all her images from a low angle which wouldn't have been interpreted in this image because we are looking at a black sky which could've been made in Photoshop or because she has shot using filters. Her work also links to Ansel Adams because of her use of black and white photography, she uses both darker and lighter tones in her work to establish the different areas, lighter tones are used in the building and darker tones are used elsewhere. This also relates to land use because she shows how modern buildings use land.
In this image we can see the roof of a building, a roof is interpreted because of the texture of the structures. As well as focusing on the abstractness of her photography the texture within her work can also be interpreted because she shows the texture of the roof and the clouds. She also shows the different tones in this image, there are both lighter and darker tones, the lighter tones are displayed in the sky and the darker tones are presented in the building which differs from her previous image I looked at. This image is also related to land use because of her ability to show how the modern buildings are using up the land.
This image was taken in the early 2000's of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. At first glance you wouldn't initially assume that this is the memorial unless you have visited the place. In the image we can see tall black stands opposite each other creating a pathway to the light, the floor is checkered. Similar to the work of John Davies, Binet also documents here images in black and white. This image includes mainly darker tones which can relate to the location of the image, the tones create a depressing effect which is linked with the atmosphere of a memorial. This image relates to the positive effects of land use because it shows how land is used for memorials and grave yards to commemorate people that have died, it helps keep the memories of people alive. Although it is a positive use of land it still comes with depressing effects because of the circumstances of the Holocaust. Binet documents her images in an abstract way as she documents buildings from angles which we wouldn't normally see them, presenting abstractness within her images. All of her images are taken from a low angle which is visible within this image, I can take this idea and use it within my work when documenting modern and old buildings.
This image is similar to the first image I looked at within her work, it shows a building taken from an abstract angle so we can only see a section of the building. The main focus of this building is the glass windows in the centre of the image. There is also an element of framing in this image because of the shape of the building we are looking through to look at the glass window. Also, another element that she has carried out throughout all of her images is the different tones she has used in the images, in this image darker tones and lighter tones have been used in all areas of the image giving it neither a negative or positive tone. This image is also taken from a low angle.
Influence and Summary
The main idea I am taking from this photographer is her conceptual ideas, the idea of using darker tones and lighter tones in the images which can also be taken from Ansel Adams. I can also take ideas from her technical approach because of the angle she takes her images at to create an abstract effect on the images. I don't necessarily want to create an abstract effect on my images but the different angles that she takes her images at can be used in my work. In my image I have used her influence because I have taken an abstract image of a building and used different tones within the image. The darker tones are present in the building and the lighter tones are present in the sky.
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