Transcript
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David MuenchLandscape Photographer

Gabriel Stephanus Surija – 13106ANN3A

Lecturer: C. S. Ling

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David Muench is most known for portraying the American western landscape. He is the primary photographer for more than 50 books and his work appears in many magazines, posters, and private collections.

In 1975, David Muench was commissioned to photograph 33 large murals on the Lewis and Clark Expedition for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, including 350 smaller photographs to accompany the murals.

Recognition

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The subject matter of David Muench’s Photographs hasn’t changed over the course of his career. He has been photographing nature with high composition techniques. Whether landscapes, objects, or textures as the main focus, nature has always been his subject.

Sty

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Muench’s work has often been compared to that of Ansel Adams with one main difference, his work is done in color. He utilizes light in such a way that it paints a picture with the natural landscape. Much of the beauty of his work is based on the fact that he pays close attention to detail, highlighting even small elements such as the texture of stones.

Comparison of David Muench (left) and Ansel Adams (right)

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His predecessors, Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter, did their work in black and white which lasted much longer. To help avoid this problem Muench began to scan his images into his computer and restoring some of the images that have faded over time. He is careful not to manipulate the results beyond the original color and quality of the images he recorded. Muench has stated, “It is important not to have the images disappear faster than the landscape does.”

Style

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David Muench was very influential to landscape photography today;The now-cliche’d use of prominent foreground elements leading the eye through the frame to the background in the distance was a style that Muench became known for back in the 50’s and 60’s.

Influ

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For living, David Muench publishes books, prints, and posters. He also opens workshops. All of these are accessible through his website: http://www.muenchphotography.com/

Livin

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Muench accomplished most of his photos utilizing color slide film, but has found over the years that slides often fade and the images do not remain consistent over time. To help avoid this problem Muench began to scan his images into his computer and restoring some of the images that have faded over time. He is careful not to manipulate the results beyond the original color and quality of the images he recorded

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David Muench mostly uses the sun (natural lighting) as the main lighting source. He rarely takes night time pictures. His pictures focus on the forms that are defined by the strong light hitting the surfaces of the objects; rocks, cliffs, trees or anything in the landscape, producing detailed highlights in the picture.

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Distin

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The uniqueness in David Muench pictures are in its Value and Color Compositions.The great contrast in values (dark to light) gives the viewer a high definition of forms in the picture, while the composition of complimentary colors (orange-blue, purple-yellow) or harmonious colors (warm red-orange-yellow, cool green-turquoise-blue) gives the viewer a pleasant pictorial quality. The high definition gives the similar feeling to modern ‘computer graphics’ landscapes, which sometimes looks too real to be real.

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The reason I chose David Muench was because I am really inspired by the pictures with high contrast in the lighting, values, or colors, resulting images with high pictorial quality.

The photographs he took have the similar compositional and aesthetic values to modern day abstract paintings and many conceptual digital paintings.

Even in this picture, I don’t need to know what the picture is about, but it still has the aesthetics applied; rule of thirds, complimentary colors, light and values.

It looks good from afar. And when you look closer, the details make it even better.

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Rule of Thirds:Horizon is on the first third.The water covers the second third.The rocks beneath the water covers the last third.

Color Composition:Harmonious – CoolBlue skyTurquoise waterGreen rocks

Value Composition:About one third of the picture has dark value, while the rest is quite light.

The focus of this picture are the horizon and the big rock.

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Rule of Thirds:Horizon is on the second third.The crevice starts on the two third grids.

Color Composition:Harmonious – WarmOrange rocksYellow highlights

Value Composition:About one third of the picture has light value, while the rest is dark.

The focus of this picture is the crevice illuminated by sunlight.

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Rule of Thirds:Horizon is on the first third.The trees are on the second third.

Using complementary colors: Purple and Yellow.Value Composition: One third has light value,The rest has dark value.

The focus are on the bright sky and dark tree silhouettes.

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Rule of Thirds:Skies fill the first third.Lighted Areas on the second third. Dark Areas on the last third.

Using complementary colors: Orange and BlueOne third of the picture have a light value. The rest have a dark value.

The focus of this picture is the mountain range.

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Rule of Thirds:Skies fill the first third.Highlighted mountain peaks on the first third line.

Using complementary colors: Orange and BlueOne third of the picture have a light value. The rest have a dark value.

The focus of this picture are the highlighted mountain peaks and their reflections.

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All the images used in this presentation are taken by David Muench. Source: http://www.muenchphotography.com/davids-gallery/

This is the end of presentation.

Thank you!


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