My On1 Photo Kit: Mastering Masking in On1 Photo RAW 2024 is now for sale on On1’s website!
The course consists of 14 how-to videos, all of the files I use in the videos, PDF outlines for each of the videos, and a brand new, unique set of 20 AI Adaptive Presets as well!
On1 currently has the course on sale for $39.99, which is regularly $84.99. Get it while it’s on sale!
The Photography of Harry Gruyaert
Over the past several months, I kept seeing advertisements for the photography documentary website The Darkroom Rumour. After weeks of being annoyed by their ads, I finally checked them out to see what they were all about. In their words:
The Darkroom Rumour is a groundbreaking video library aimed at inspiring and nurturing the photographic realm. It was conceived by enthusiasts who wanted to fill the glaring lack of films and documentaries about photography on our TV screens and streaming platforms.
Okay, I’m game; I paid $49.99 for a 12-month membership and checked out their documentaries. I’m a bit disappointed—I found they currently have 78 documentaries. They claim that they add more each month, so we’ll see. My main disappointment is that more than half and maybe as many as two-thirds of the documentaries are in French with English subtitles. It seems to me that the French value photographers and photography more than any English-speaking tribe. Okay, I know I’m coming off sounding a bit imperious. I can read the subtitles fine, and fifty dollars for a full year of access isn’t bad; with that said, I did enjoy several of the documentaries.
One documentary I particularly enjoyed was on the photographer Harry Gruyaert. I confess and am ashamed to say that I never heard of him. The documentary was good, and I will say that I am pretty enamored with his work, so much so that I read a lot about him and even purchased one of his books, Between Worlds.
Harry Gruyaert is a Belgian photographer who was born in 1941 in Antwerp. He is most renowned for his color photography. I think he is equal to two photographers many consider among the best working in color—Saul Leiter and Fred Herzog.
Gruyaert is also known for his keen eye and unique sense of composition, which enthused me most when I looked at his photographs. From the documentary, I learned that his photographs are meticulously composed, with every element carefully arranged within the frame. Whether it's the juxtaposition of light and shadow, the interplay of shapes and lines, or the placement of a solitary figure in a vast landscape, Gruyaert's compositions are visually arresting and imbued with a sense of narrative.
I learned that Gruyaert's early influences include painters such as Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, whose use of color and abstraction profoundly impacted his artistic vision. This influence is evident in his photographs, where color becomes the primary means of expression. Whether he is capturing the bustling streets of Tokyo:
The sun-drenched landscapes of Morocco:
Or the quiet moments of solitude in everyday life, Gruyaert's use of color is always purposeful and meaningful:
The Gruyaert book I bought, Between Worlds, has a unique concept. Each image in the book is a scene framed by something. The frame is often a glass window or door, but it isn’t limited to those things. The scene is often chaotic, but the framing of the scene for the image tends to bring order to bear.
All the images in the book are aesthetically pleasing and often sublime in their composition.
I hope you enjoyed seeing the work of Harry Gruyaert. Thank you for subscribing!
Delightful
Interesting art. Compelling and colourful scenes but not annoying like Andy Warhol's work was for me.
I bought a copy of the course too! 👍🏻