Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Sam Abell was born in 1945 in Sylvania, Ohio. Sam Abell’s love of photography began from the influence of his father who was a geography teacher who ran a photography club. Abell Graduated from the University of Kentucky in Lexington where he majored in English, minored in Journalism, and was the editor of the Kentuckian Yearbook.
He is known for his frequent publication of photographs in National Geographic. He first worked for National Geographic in 1970, and is one of the more overly artistic photographers among his magazine peers. His style of photography is documentary, and his best work is known for its transcendent qualities. He has photographed more than 20 articles on various cultural and wilderness subjects. His job has taken him around the world, including the Galapagos Islands, and the Australian Outback.
            Abell has lectured on photography, and exhibited his images to audiences throughout the world. In 2002, the university of Virginia Art Museum organized a traveling exhibition of his work called: The Photographic Life. Abell has observed that equipment is not the major factor in success or failure of a photographer. He has used Nikons, Leica, Olympus, and Canon.
            Abell doesn’t use zooms, and thinks that short focal length zooms were dangerous because it is easy to distort perspectives. His goal is to capture an image that is so powerful that it will have to be published. He characterized his style as a layered style, and looked for elements that worked together to provide depth to the photo. His approach is to to first identify the background; afterwards you wait for the light and subject to complete the photo. Abell doesn’t use a flash; he favors early morning and late afternoon or evening light. For the first fifteen years of his career, he worked in black and white.
In 2009, Abell received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Toledo. The books that he has published are deemed essential for any photographic book collector. I personally like Abell’s distinct style. His photographs capture the eye, they are artistic, bright, and dynamic.
Photo 1: This photo has two several layers of depth. First the two horses that are weighted to the lower left hand corner, the grass they are standing on, the fog, the hills, more fog, and the hills again. I think this photo is eye catching because of all the white plain fog, and the few colored objects. It horses definitely contrast, and the shadows on them make it seem eerie.
Photo 2: This is titled a Boab Tree. It has layers of depth, the grass, the tree, and the sky. Abell captures the contrasts well. The tree is the main subject, and yet the grass almost seems more forward. The coloring is rich, and the sky lighting adds to the overall composition. I think that Abell took this from a low angle, and it’s a good shot.
Photo 3: This is titled A Beautiful Pathway Lined with Trees and Azaleas. The road, the azaleas, and the trees all stand out. The lines of the road and trees are prominent, but the azaleas stand out in color. Altogether they trees create a discombobulated pattern. The depth of the end of the road is what the eye follows.

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