photographer 5 - Eliot Porter

Photographer - Eliot Porter

Eliot Porter taught himself how to take photographs throughout his teenage years. In the beginning of his photography career Porter was well known for his black and white photography, but in late 1938 his was gaining widespread attention for his landscapes. By 1950 his main focus was colour photography and constantly was teaching himself how to improve on the images he was producing.


















I like this picture above because i like the way the Porter has chosen to use black and white to change the way that the image would usually be seen. If this picture was in colour there would be a clear difference in the different parts of the picture, as well as a clear sign of depth being used. The use of tone in this image is effective because it shows the lines of all of the aspects of the photo. It also breaks up each element in a successful way that doesn't allow them to get lost.

I have chosen the picture above because I like how natural this picture is. I also like how Porter has not focused on one single aspect of the scene but allowed everything to appear into the view to make it seem more realistic. The use of colour in this image makes it more interesting, as the small amounts of colour within the green help to breakup the large amount  of one colour.

I have chosen this picture to show how simple Porters photography could often be. I like this picture because I like how you cant actually see what is behind the the different branches of the trees yet Porter has still left some space for something to be seen. Line is used in this image to show each tree individually. It gives each tree its own space so that they  are all noticed within the photo.

I have chosen this photo because I like how Porter has used autumn colours without ending the photo. I also like this picture because of how natural the setting is meaning that it could easily be replicated. The use of colour here again breaks up the use of one colour in a large area. This is effective because it allows a colour break and draw attention to that area.

I have found Porter's work to be influential as I have enjoyed looking at the way he styles his location shoots and how he includes the natural element in his pieces. I would like to include this in some of my photography, I think that to achieve this I need to think more about my composition and incorporate Porter's elements of nature into my images.

To summarise Porter's use of natural photography allows him to capture a true aspect of the scene in front of him. His use of composition allows him to give a creative aspect to his images as well us give them some originality. Porter's work is therefore able to include a variety of the formal elements, such as colour, depth, form etc. 

For me Porter has been an influence for me to try to keep my natural styled images as realistic as possible. i have used him as an influence to keep in the back of my mind so they i can base many of my images from my walk shoots. i have found porter to be a helpful influence as i have enjoyed keeping images as close to their true identity as possible.