Compare and Contrast

Compositional Differences

Finn uses much more hazy lightening as he learned how to shoot in Wales where fog is quite abundant. When he shoots landscapes he likes very minimal distractions. He is also fond of shooting on more of a blue-scale with a lot of light grays, blues and even subtle greens. Finn also shoots primed lenses religiously, so he can get up and personal with the photograph. Almost all of his photos are very crisp and clear where Pia's are more dreamy.

Pia shoots almost exclusively film which is evident in photos which all have the grainy pastels of film. Her photos have very dreamy feels to them. She also likes bold blue skies and is actually sponsored by a polarizer company (I have one of the polarizers and they’re great). She likes a very romantic photography approach.

Subject Differences

Finn shoots for a multitude of clients and many of which are selling a physical thing (barbour-clothing, audi-cars, omega-watches, land rover-cars). So his commercial shoots have a tendency of capturing the essence of the physical thing he is trying to sell. However in his personal photography he is very fond of landscapes and capturing the natives of those landscapes whether it be a city or a mountain.

Pia’s clients tend to be more places or a feel that she is trying to sell. Such as the feel of luxury the Peruvian way for Luxury Collection Peru, Marriott. She captures a feeling more than a physical subject. She does this perfectly through film photography. Her photos also tend to be light and airy. With raw subjects expressing natural emotions.

Theme differences

Finn captures beautiful places in a lovely hazy kind of way establishing a third axis and sense of depth in his photos. He doesn’t really shoot people that much so he can’t necessarily interpret human emotions as well as Pia can.

Pia can express feelings and emotion better than finn can in my opinion and this is a real strength of hers. She captures real romanticism and passion for whatever location shes shooting. She can pull in raw emotion into her pictures so well.

Similarities

Compositional: Both seem to gravitate to a more kind of hazy images Finn’s are bluer and the haze is often fog and Pia’s are often oranger and the haze is more just the film. They are fond of using rule of thirds and play with a high or low horizon line depending on what they want to capture. Both are also often fond of more minimal landscapes.

Subject: They also both shoot locations more than actual subjects and the landscape is often the subject. Both want to capture emotion in their photography, so emotion is often a bigger subject than a person or animal, however both take seemingly spontaneous portraits in the field rather than in studios.

Theme: They have very similar themes and that's why I wanted to research and compare them. Their theme is dreamy minimal landscapes and an idea of wanderlust to a certain degree in almost all of their photos. They shoot not necessarily traditional techniques (or at least modern techniques) Finn-primed lens to get up close and personal, Pia-film, so they can tap into the emotion of the moment.

Critique

What do you like about this photographer's work? (think compositionally, subject matter etc…) Why?

Finn-I like how he uses fog and how he shoots landscapes. I also like how he uses a prime lens and this has inspired me to look into it for myself. I think his editing is also very good. I also like his almost over whitened images and I think he is one of few photographers to get away with it.

Pia-I love how her film photos convey a feeling and emotion. I think her portraits and photos of people are also really cool because once again she is able to capture raw emotion and doesn’t always capture smiles and good times, she captures human beings in the moment.

What do you not like? Is there anything that makes you uncomfortable? (think compositionally, subject matter etc…) Why?

Finn-I don’t like it when he shoots something that is too minimal such as socks on a floor, or when he shoots boring typical hotel rooms in a boring typical way. (I realize that it is very likely for commission). I’m also not the biggest fan of his forest images as they remind me of stock images and seem over edited.

Pia- I don’t like when she lets her film photos get too dark. the shadows and amount of depth to those photos kind of just annoy me. I also don’t like it when her subject isn’t in focus or is almost but not quite in subject.

Are there any connections that the photos bring up in your own life?

Finn-Yes, I also like a more hazy look and love to shoot landscape mostly when I haven’t been somewhere before. I love also his travel photography and fancy myself shooting similar to him in the future.

Pia-Sadly not that many except for her severely blue skies. I also really like a dark blue sky and we actually use the same filter, however I have been so inspired by her photos and I would like to shoot and incorporate some of her style so I started looking into film cameras in my price range.

My own shoots with their styles