Aperature

Mark Lyon:

Title: Landscapes for the People

Artist info and background:

Mark was one of the 5 runner ups in the 2009 Aperture portfolio prize.

Image styles and subjects:

Most of his pictures are of landscapes in vivid color and disorienting thoughts. His photos look like images that would be in a calender about nature. They are of pictures you would see in a dentist office or an airport. For example, a picture behind family photos in someone's house, in an airport, in a doctor's /dentist's office, or in a cafe. He tries to show the "fake" nature in everyday livings. He takes pictures of murals that display images of waterfalls, tress, flowers, and etc.

What are the images about?

He wants to show the false promise of escape from the true reality that these pictures try to show. When you first see it you think it is a typical beautiful picture of nature, but in reality it is the total opposite. The scenery of nature is actually a mural that another artist painted trying to make the everyday situations a little more exciting.

What are the elements in the images?

Mark likes to use color and never works with black and white. He basically takes a picture of what he sees and not what you think he sees. He take straight forward pics of the murals. The pictures are bright and plays tricks with your eyes.

How are those elements arranged?

They arranged in a series of pictures of murals behind everyday things. In other words shows reality in from of the false. He uses light well and looks straight with his camera. He is nor about angles and obscure sides. His photos are very creative.

http://www.aperture.org/apertureprize/2009-6.php

Artist info and background:

Alexander Gronsky was the winner of the 2009 portfolio prize in 2009.

Image styles and subjects:

His photos are taken in the outskirts of Moscow. They are the areas far away from the city and displays the beauty of nature in the snowy winter. The people in the picture are never interacting, but not because they are ignoring each other but because they are individuals. They are within there own thoughts. He shows how it will never me possible for everyone to connect and that we all have one person, our self.

What are the images about?

The images are about people and how they are alone in nature and in the world. We all try to connect, but it will never happen between all of us. We are a whole in the population, but one in a million. It shows out disconnection from the inner world and how they can be in nature among each other, but independently.

What are the elements of these images:

They are bright and shows nature and the people in it. They are straight forward. They mostly have trees and either people of animals in a whole community or one by themselves. Shows the disconnection from each other. They almost look like acyclic paintings.

How are these elements arranged?

The elements are taken when Alex sees a person by themselves or a bunch of people, but no one is interacting. Most pictures are taken in the rural, but you see the city in the background. His pictures are very beautiful and inspiring.

http://www.aperture.org/apertureprize/2009-1.php