Gursky’s predilection for photographing industry continues in his modern work. In 2016 he began a series of images photographing Amazon warehouses across the world in an attempt to contextualize the scale of the operation.
Taken over the course of the year, these images drew criticism from Amazon themselves saying they removed the human element from the warehouses. Gursky has declined to comment.
Gursky continues to live and teach in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Gursky’s images have always been created with large format view cameras, which he continues to use. He was however, a pioneer in the usage of digital manipulation - a technological advancement which allowed him to create images with unrealistic patterns, and viewpoints.
The most famous example of this is his photograph Rhine II which was taken on a 10x8 camera and digitally manipulated, removing extraneous power cables and telephone poles. Whats left is a photograph of a landscape turned abstract and surreal.
This image holds the record for most valuable photograph to this day.
Today on back to school, we’re looking at fine art photographer and professor Andreas Gursky. Born in Leipzig, East Germany he attended University in Essen where he studied under Bernd and Hilla Becher and John Davies.
From the start of his career Gursky’s work has taken a similar approach - high vantage points, wider lenses and a focus on the chaos and scale of industry.
The photo above is from one of his most lauded series’ of images - a look at stock trading floors and the financial industry. Gursky aimed to capture the chaos and energy of these locations. This edition - Chicago Board Of Trade III was sold to the Tate modern in 1999.
From 2016 to 2020 Luchford was again signed to an exclusive contract - this time for Italian fashion house Gucci. Coinciding with a new creative director, Luchford’s photos marked a change in tone for the brand. Influenced by 60’s B-Movies and retro futurism, the images have quickly become influential and famous in their own right.
Luchford also works as a film maker, and has to date directed countless tv spots as well as a feature length film - 2001’s Here to Where.
He lives and works in Venice, California with his family.
From 1996 to 1998 Luchford signed an exclusive contract with Prada to shoot their campaigns. The 3 seasons worth of photographs have become some of the most famous fashion images ever.
The photo above was taken for the 1997 campaign and features supermodel Amber Valetta.
Shot on the river Tiber in Rome, the frame was a long exposure lit by a small continuous light. In order to get the atmosphere correct, the crew soaked bales of hay in kerosine, lit them on fire, and floated them down the river. The smoke provided the ambience they wanted.
Today on back to school, we’re looking at acclaimed fashion photographer and filmmaker Glen Luchford!
Born in Brighton, Luchford left school at 15, moving to London to work in a hair salon. After picking up a camera and beginning to photograph, he soon fixated on working for The Face and was eventually shooting for the magazine by age 20.
His first shoot was a cover story for the magazine, featuring the then newly signed, and relatively unknown Stone Roses. Luchford had agreed to do the shoot mistakenly believing he was to be photographing Guns N’ Roses.
The shoot was shot on 10x8 black and white film, and was an early showing of his penchant for dramatic lighting, mixed with spontaneous moments from his subjects.
The Pro-11 is also Profoto’s first pack to interface with their class leading bluetooth based app. ��The app does it all - allows remote control of the pack, firmware updates and direct viewing of the manual.
It also gives you access to the Profoto Camera app - Profoto’s proprietary interface connecting iPhone’s to the new lineup of flash.
The future is here - shooting with a flash pack from your phone!
Profoto have always focused on the user experience and the Pro-11 is no exception. With an improved button layout, and clearer brighter screen, this pack is a breeze to use, even under direct sunlight or in a bright studio.
NEW KIT AT GAS: The latest (and greatest) 2400w/s pack from Profoto - the Pro-11. ��Improving on their industry standard Pro-10, Profoto’s newest pack features a number of improvements to both the interface and internals. ��
This beast is ready for you to hire from GAS right now!
As Day’s illness progressed and her health worsened, she was determined to continue working and pushed herself and her team to shoot more and more work.
In 2008 - her last year of working, she published 8 large-scale editorials - including this one for British Vogue.
Day’s health continued to deteriorate despite a series of operations and treatments and she passed in 2011.
After a period of controversy and continuous negative press coverage Day retreated from both public life and commercial photography. She instead began focusing on a number of personal projects, including a documentary on rock band Pusherman.
In 2001 day was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After a surgery and diagnosis which left her with limited time left Day began working again. Over the course of the next few years she did shoots for various editions of Vogue, as well as a number of other magazines.
This shoot for British Vogue became one of her most famous and marked a stylistic shift from her earlier work in the 90’s.
Today on back to school we’re looking at influential fashion and documentary Corinne Day.
Day was born in London in 1962. After leaving school at 16, day worked as a bank teller, and mail courier before a friend encouraged her to model. After a short career, Day’s boyfriend - later husband - taught her how to use a camera and work in the darkroom. After a short period of testing, Day began shooting for various London based magazines.
One of her first editorials was for The Face where she shot her friend, the then unknown Kate Moss at Camber Sands. The shoot turned both Day and Moss into important figures in the fashion and photography worlds overnight. Her rough, documentary style was revolutionary and magazines and commercial clients alike began to hire her and her distinctive eye instantly.
The filter set and filter holder set are availible as a set for easy ordering! ��
5 Filters (1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, and 2) and a full set of adapter rings, and a filter holder all packed up in a peli case!
These filters don’t just sit on your lens by themselves - they need a holder! �
�GAS now stocks the Tiffen Pro Filter holder. This holder can hold 2 4x4 4mm filters on lenses 55-82mm
NEW KIT AT GAS: Tiffen Black Pro-Mist! ��
You’ve asked (and asked, and asked) and we’ve listened! ��
This 5 filter set of Tiffen Black Pro-Mist filters is available now. ��These filters soften edges but have an added coating that causes less loss of contrast!��
This picture was taken using a #2 filter - the strongest of all 5.