Photographer Research:Thomas Struth

Justin HacheyHirshhorn Museum & Sculpture

Garden

Ulsan 2, Lotte Hotel, Ulsan, 2010

Measuring, Helmholtz-Zentrum, Berlin, 2012

Blowout Preventer, Mountrail County, North Dakota, 2010

Hot Rolling Mill, ThyssenKrupp Steel, Duisburg, 2010

Figure, Charité , Berlin, 2012

Kovenskij Pereulok. St. Petersburg, 2005

Golems Playground, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, 2013

Crack, Anaheim, California, 2009

Canyon, Anaheim, California, 2013

Table 1, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, 2013

Pond, Anaheim California, 2013

Mountain, Anaheim, California, 2013

Ride, Anaheim, California, 2013

Cinema, Anaheim, California, 2013

You may ask, what’s the main idea?

The main idea behind Thomas Struth’s newest body of work is to reveal the imagination in today’s modern, industrialized world. This newest body of work aims to show how fabrications of one’s imagination can be brought to a state of materialization; our imagination can come to life.

How did Struth develop this idea?• Struth’s work shows a variety of different environments, and

different creations. His work starts with photographs of things as common as a building complex. It then progresses to show pieces of complex equipment and machines; these pieces took a lot of complex thinking and creativity to develop and come to be as they are today. He then goes on to show lab’s in which construction is in progress; these labs house brilliant minds full of creativity, intelligence, out of the box thinkers, and imagination. Finally, to top of his body of work, he took photographs of rides at Disneyland; a literal haven of imagination, as it was built from the imagination of a single man. These rides show imaginative thinking in a material form; showing that fragments of imagination can be created into a material object.

Struth’s Composition and Techniques

• Struth ignores many obvious and well known rules of composition found in today’s world of photography, such as the rule of thirds and leading lines. Instead he uses many rules of composition that are often overlooked, such as depth, simplicity, and framing. He makes his subjects very subtle in the photograph. He also uses a lot of natural light, and places light in places that will create an area of contrast in order to make his subject more prominent. Struth’s use of strategically placed artificial lights is not as prominent when comparted to many other photographers.

Photographer - Viewer Relationship

• Struth’s use of the rules of composition in his beginning photographs give a feeling of straight photography to the viewer; it presents a very objective feeling to the viewer. It seems as though there is no message, such as in photos 1-4. As his body of work progresses to show labs the viewer can still feel it is an objective piece of work, but elements in the photo let the viewer question why they are there, such as the dinosaur in photo 10. As you reach photographs 13 & 14 the viewer begins to feel mystified by the massive areas of emptiness, all while being entranced and pulled into the photo through the distinct areas of positive and negative space.