The Great Painters' Photography 1

Inspired by this original image from @robdoran (Thank you for letting us borrow it!) and my regular thoughts about how the vision of the Great Painters of the past compare to how we see the world today, I created this two-off photo challenge for my followers. This challenge will both inspire your creativity but also expand your knowledge of the history of art.

Please note that if you post your submission in the first 24 hours after I post this challenge I will not believe that you made a true effort. As with all of my challenges, the point of them is to challenge you, to build your creative strength, and to teach you.

(NB: I forgot to post this online here: the IG challenge is finished now, but its not a bad exercise for blog readers who still want to do it on their own.)

Step 1: Think of a great painter from before 1850 (before photography started to influence painting). Some ideas to get you started: Caravaggio, de La Tour, Rubens, Delarouche, David, Gros, Gris, Robusti, Leyster, Anguissola, Charpentier, Delacroix, Titian, Ingres, van Rijn, Poussin, Messina, Pissano, Constable, Turner, Liotard, Watteau, Holbein, Dürer, Alberti, van Eyck. But don’t just think of the European artists; think of the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, indigenous peoples, etc. Just stick with painters!

Step 2: Familiarize yourself with the artist, his/her works (there ARE female artists out there before 1850, four listed above), style, way of looking at light and colour. Wikipedia is a decent source for this challenge. But Google searches will give you more images and a broader view of the artist. Do not concern yourself too much with the subject of their paintings: remember that before photography painters had a very real job as recording history and the people who commissioned their paintings.

Step 3: Now imagine that either they or you were transported to the other’s time period and you were to hand them a digital camera (DSLR, P&S, or iPhone all work here). They somehow didn’t think you were a devil come to destroy them with your magical device that captures what they see, and agree to take part in your experiment. You teach them everything they need to know about using the digital photography equipment and editing tools you have available to yourself, and you set them free to create what they will. What are the images that they would create?

Step 4: Now, create those images. Use whatever tools you want to do so. Whatever subject matter, style, etc that you feel is appropriate to that painter’s vision of the world. Create as many as you like, but pick the ONE image that best represents that artist’s vision and tag it to this challenge.

Submission Details:

Only NEW images, of course.

Deadline: January 15^th, 2012 (Midnight CST).

Tag: #PaintersPhotography

Comments: Your comment under the submission should be as follows:

#PaintersPhotography

Painter’s Name (dates s/he lived)

2-3 Sentences about the artist, their style, life, work, whatever you feel is important.

2-3 Sentences about why you created the image that you did: how the painter saw light, colour, objects, people, etcetera, and why they would’ve edited the image the way they have.

1-3 Sentences about what you have learned from this challenge.

(Note: Type it on your computer first, send it to yourself as an email, copy and paste in the comments when you post it - save yourself from typing it all out on your iPhone if you can. Also, if you type it out, even in a note app, then copy and paste it into the comments AFTER the image has fully posted to IG, you will be able to keep your line-returns and spaces between each section. Makes reading these easier - not required but advised.)

Good Luck and Enjoy!!!

PS - There will be a sequel to this challenge for artists since 1850, slightly different rules, so don’t be disappointed. But don't wait either - do both and learn more as I will be asking you to compare your two submissions!