Tony Ray-Jones (1941 - 1972)
Tony Ray-Jones' street photography is something that has highly influenced several contemporary photographers of our time. Ray-Jones' had a short lived career in photography, but this is a photographer whose work I have managed to see on display at the Science Museum, London, and it has come to be a photographer whose work I have grown very fond of.
Tony Ray-Jones was the youngest son of Raymond Ray-Jones, who was a well known painter and etcher. He began studying Graphic Design at the London College of printing , where he began experimenting with photography with his lecturer, Rolf Brandt, who introduced Ray-Jones to his brother, Bill Brandt who become a great influence. After completing his Graphic Design Course, Ray-Jones won a scholarship to Yale University, this is where his interest in photography grew and after he graduated he began to work as a freelance photographer. Ray-Jones returned to Britain in 1996 and began documenting English Traditions and customs, which Ray Jones saw and approached with a foreigners eye, which allowed the behaviour of the English to fascinate him.
I have decided to look at Tony Ray-Jones' style of printing, more than his approach to his subjects. I was fortunate enough to view some of Tony Ray-Jones' photographs a few weeks ago, and along with his images we were met with pages and pages of Ray-Jones' notes within his Journals that he kept over the years.
I noticed that Tony Ray-Jones was very critical of his own work and also spent a lot of time preparing himself for what he might photograph. He also took great care in printing his images, with endless annotations and objects he'd create to dodge and burn specific areas of an image. I would consider him a perfectionist in several ways!
Tony Ray-Jones' images were always printed to a very high standard, where blacks are blacks and whites are the most pristine of whites. His images are crisp and full of contrast. Overall I would say that Tony Ray-Jones had more of a dark approach to his images, a guarantee filter used every time. The crispness and contrast of his prints is something I would very much like to recreate in my images, when possible. I also viewed several of his Contact Sheets, which were full of Ray-Jones' thought processes etc.
Bibliography
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/how-to/icons-of-photography/534741/tony-ray-jones-iconic-photographer
I have decided to look at Tony Ray-Jones' style of printing, more than his approach to his subjects. I was fortunate enough to view some of Tony Ray-Jones' photographs a few weeks ago, and along with his images we were met with pages and pages of Ray-Jones' notes within his Journals that he kept over the years.
I noticed that Tony Ray-Jones was very critical of his own work and also spent a lot of time preparing himself for what he might photograph. He also took great care in printing his images, with endless annotations and objects he'd create to dodge and burn specific areas of an image. I would consider him a perfectionist in several ways!
Tony Ray-Jones' images were always printed to a very high standard, where blacks are blacks and whites are the most pristine of whites. His images are crisp and full of contrast. Overall I would say that Tony Ray-Jones had more of a dark approach to his images, a guarantee filter used every time. The crispness and contrast of his prints is something I would very much like to recreate in my images, when possible. I also viewed several of his Contact Sheets, which were full of Ray-Jones' thought processes etc.
Bibliography
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/how-to/icons-of-photography/534741/tony-ray-jones-iconic-photographer
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