As a young child Imogen Cunningham was fascinated with painting and drawing, later she would find interest in photography. She purchased her first camera in 1901, at age 18, by mail order and taught herself how to use a 4 x 5 inch camera.
However, she lost interest fairly quickly and sold the camera to a friend. Five years later, while at the University of Washington, in viewing works of Gertrude Käsebier, Imogen decided to revisit photography once more. Despite this fact, Imogen studied Chemistry under Dr. Horace Byers. She studied the chemistry aspect of photography, paying for her education through making slides for the botany department. Later, she would make prints of the North American Indians for Edward Curtis. A few years later, she would receive a grant that allowed her to study photographic chemistry in …show more content…
I found this image particularly interest because I felt there was a story here despite its simplicity. In fact, the photo’s simplicity accentuates the image’s complexity— similar to modernist novels/ short stories. Modernist literature is mundane in nature, yet peppered with complex implications. It turns out that this crisp and evocative image was the product of aesthetic intuition. Imogen states, “one morning I got up and that was the way my bed looked, and I threw my hairpins in it” (). Also, this image fascinates me aesthtically because of its horizontal balance. In the top half of the photo, the blanket is draped, so it is riddled with grey tones, but it is not overpowered by them. In the bottom half of the photo, the bed is fairly calm, dark hair pins resting just below the bundle of sheets, and the bend of the bed in shadow. The shadow coupled with the pins gives the lower half of the photo weight despite the bright and busy upper half of the
However, she lost interest fairly quickly and sold the camera to a friend. Five years later, while at the University of Washington, in viewing works of Gertrude Käsebier, Imogen decided to revisit photography once more. Despite this fact, Imogen studied Chemistry under Dr. Horace Byers. She studied the chemistry aspect of photography, paying for her education through making slides for the botany department. Later, she would make prints of the North American Indians for Edward Curtis. A few years later, she would receive a grant that allowed her to study photographic chemistry in …show more content…
I found this image particularly interest because I felt there was a story here despite its simplicity. In fact, the photo’s simplicity accentuates the image’s complexity— similar to modernist novels/ short stories. Modernist literature is mundane in nature, yet peppered with complex implications. It turns out that this crisp and evocative image was the product of aesthetic intuition. Imogen states, “one morning I got up and that was the way my bed looked, and I threw my hairpins in it” (). Also, this image fascinates me aesthtically because of its horizontal balance. In the top half of the photo, the blanket is draped, so it is riddled with grey tones, but it is not overpowered by them. In the bottom half of the photo, the bed is fairly calm, dark hair pins resting just below the bundle of sheets, and the bend of the bed in shadow. The shadow coupled with the pins gives the lower half of the photo weight despite the bright and busy upper half of the