Scott
Servante AS Photography
Josef Sudek
Josef Sudek was a Czech Photographer known for his work in Prague, and he is often referred to as 'The Poet of Prague' because of this. He was not born in Prague, but spent a significant part of his adult life there utilizing it's fascinating and diverse culture as the main subject for his work.
His studio in Prague had two windows with two completely different views; one looked over a dull line of buildings and the other looked over a rather eccentric courtyard that contained a twisted apple tree at it's center. Sudek utilized these two windows as a base for his work between the years 1940 and 1954 and photographed the views to create a series of photographs known as 'The Window In My Studio'. He included the pane of glass in the photographs (which would later develop into a photographic interest) as he captured different seasons, different times of day and different weather conditions etc.
As I mentioned, the windows in his studio lead to a fascination of how glass reflects light. This lead him to start creating photographs that were mainly prized around the subject of still life, but in each case contained some form of glass, whether it be a vase or jug etc. In addition to this, Sudek would fill the glass or jug up with water to distrt what could be seen through the glass.
The photograph to the left is a perfect example of how water can be used to manipulate light and objects to achieve a stunning piece of photography. Sudek cleverly uses a multi-plane glass to create an interesting composition that depicts the repetition of an egg in a glass filled with water. If a normal glass was used then the image would not be as powerful, as there would be no refraction of light and hence only one image of the egg would be seen in the glass. What also makes this image striking are the small bubbles floating in the water. They seem to add depth to the glass and the refractive images and help to complete the image.
Due to the time period, all of Sudek's photographs are in monochrome but I like this because you can really focus on the light and contrast rather, than the colour. In this example, natural light has been effectively used to create a very melancholic composition. Sudek has placed the objects so that light is shining through the glass but not over the eggs. By doing do so he creates rather stark contrast between the glass and the eggs. The dark shadow that is cast on the outside of the eggs helps to make the glass and it's contents stand out against the rest of the composition. Therefore drawing the viewer's attention to the main focal point of the composition, which is, of course, the glass.
