Justin Kimball and Lynn Saville
December 13th, 2021
Justin Kimball & Lynn Saville
By: Connor Albaugh
The last and final blog for digital photography I. This class has taught me so much about the wonders of photography and the work I am able to create with a camera in hand. As the final for this class gets closer and closer, it is important to reflect on the work that I have done over the span of this semester. From learning the camera to focusing on our strong suits, I have become a better photography and I have been able to see the world in a different light then I did before. With this being said, lets switch our focus to the contents of this blog. For the last assignment in this class, our class was given the task to compile photos that would make up an essay. In this sense, all of the photos in this “photo essay” should all have some meaning, cohesiveness, and fluid direction as to what and why photos were taken. For my series, I struggled to find a good topic and direction to derive my photo series from. But, after careful research and help from Andreas, an idea was born and I became very passionate about the topic I happened to select. The topic I decided to conquer and invest all of my time in was “urban landscape.” My photo essay involves two very popular photographers, both of which are professionals in their respective photography on urban landscape. The two photographers I chose to use for this “photo essay” final assignment is Justin Kimball and Lynn Saville. Both have incredible backgrounds, experience, and vivid photographs that they have taken and I really liked the direction of this specific type of photography. First, we have world renowned Justin Kimball. He was born in “1961 in Princeton, New Jersey” (Article #1). Justin has quite the educational background. He earned a B.F.A and a M.F.A, the B.F.A comes “from the Rhode Island School of Design” and the M.F.A comes “from the Yale University School of Art” where he achieved this degree for photography (Article #1). Not only is Justin very educated, but he is a recipient for several fellowships which are “a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship” and “an Aaron Siskind Individual Photographers Fellowship” (Article #1). Additionally, he authored several monographs, four in total. However, the one monograph that Justin authored that is worth mentioning is the “Elegy Radius Book” which is the series I used to gain inspiration for urban landscape (Article #1). Justin’s work can be found all over the world, and there are “over 40 museum collections” which exist in places such as “the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, the National Gallery of Art, and the George Eastman Museum” (Article #1). Interestingly enough, Justin gives back to his respective field and continues to inspire many people to this day. He does this as “a Professor of Art at Amherst College” where he has mentored and taught photography “for more than 20 years” (Article #1). Justin’s representation falls under Carol and Sons, which happened to reside “in Boston, Massachusetts” (Article #1). On the other hand, we have Lynn Saville. Contrary to Justin Kimball, Lynn was born and raised “in Durham, North Carolina” (Article #4). On behalf of her education, she went to “Duke University and graduated with a BA as well as “went to Pratt Institute and graduated with a MFA” (Article #4). Lynn’s work is “widely exhibited in the US and abroad,” notably in “the Brooklyn Museum, New York, Mint Museum located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Tucson Museum of Art” (Article #4). Lynn’s work also shows up in several “public collections such as the National Portrait Gallery, London, the International Center of Photography, New York, and in the Brooklyn Museum, New York” (Article #4). Lynn happened to publish the same amount of monographs as Justin Kimball did which happens to be four. But, the monograph worth mentioning in regards to my inspiration for my photographic endeavors happens to be “Urban America at Night” which mostly features images from New York, with others coming from Ohio, Maine, France, California, Michigan, and Florida (Article #2, #4). As I conclude these two brief biographies of such decorated photographers in the respective field of “urban landscape,” their work is very appealing to the eye and has a lot of internal meaning that many normal people fail to admire and respect.
Nothing is more important than introducing these two incredibly talented photographers because it gives us an idea of where they came from and what they were able to accomplish. However, with both Justin Kimball and Lynn Saville in mind, it is important to dive into the style of photography that makes these two photographers truly special. To begin with, Justin Kimball’s photography is quite the emotional rollercoaster. The photographers that I chose to focus the most attention on happen to reside in the “Elegy Radius Book” which stars “tumbled down neighborhoods in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania” (Article #5). These photos reside from “Carroll and Sons” which show struggle, destruction, and decay within houses, stores, and businesses (Article #5). The backgrounds and individuals shown in each of these locations show how hard of life they have to live. Each area is broken down, abandoned, and most families in these circumstances go about life regardless of what they have. These unsanitary, poor, and location struggle they endure is something they deal with each and every day which shows just how loyal these people have and the heart they hold in such impoverished areas. Justin Kimball’s work is quite symbolic of several areas normal people can easily pass by on because we simply drive through them on the way to another location or simply traveling in your hometown. Justin’s photography brings light to a disregarded and often ignored society in the presence of daytime. Not everyone is blessed with a nice place to live, food on the table, or a job that can provide basic necessities. These people, depicted in the each of the photos in his series, most certainly work paycheck to paycheck and barely scrape past in some of the worst living conditions one could possible think of. Broken down houses, limited access to the outside world, and personal struggle within a community all make up the photography of Justin Kimball. Highlighting these types of communities in his case is done for a reason, and this reason happens to be on behalf of people and places ignored for who they are, how they live, and how unimportant these areas are portrayed to be. Justin brings attention to these and it is important that these places get as much coverage as a nice looking community which may be accompanied by the rich, for example. On behalf of his photographic style, Justin is very repetitive in his photos of “buildings and roads” which happen to be seen from an audience with “a shallow depth of field” (Article #5). Using a shallow depth of field in Justin’s case is important in the fact that it brings meaning and detail to “the forefront” of each of his images. This doesn’t mean that the background of these images isn’t important, but the detail and broken down parts of a community are seen at first sight while the backgrounds enforce and display a lot of the same details in the forefront. Another style of Justin’s photography happens to be what he includes in his images. The photographs and their compositions makes one feel trapped, like they cant get out or escape the way of life they have been accustomed to. In this sense, his images are “tight” in the sense that they include very specific elements which are of the most importance. There aren’t any distracting elements in Justin’s images, and this idea means that there are only so many things and places people can go in these broken down and impoverished areas because these people literally have nothing. Looking above, the first photo at the top of his blog happens to be one of the photos he shows in his “Elegy Radius Book”. This photo was taken on “Way Street”. There is no location designation, so I will continue with my analysis. In this photo, there are clear elements of Justin’s photography style. The shallow depth of field in this photo makes me feel as though this building or house is the ultimate destination. He didn't include anything but this building and the detail of this building because I think it is extremely important to just focus on the contents of this building. The lock on the front door means that this house is either abandoned or foreclosed on. This could be from the overall condition of the house or because the previous resident didn’t have the payment to continue living there. The chipped wood and different shades of wood on the wall of this building means that it was repaired a lot and that there was a breakdown of material which was made to finish the house. The colors of this house give me a feeling of stress and sadness because of how dark, beaten up, and disproportionate these different pieces of wood make up a wall. I feel as though I cannot escape from this picture because this is a reality for people in this situation. Having to deal with being homeless and being kicked out of the only place one may call home, this photo is indicative of a community and a building that has gone through hell and back. This photo is a true indication and accurate picture of these communities that Justin visited and attempted to bring light to being that they are regularly ignored and passed up. I really like the shallow depth of field here because it doesn’t allow the viewer to escape a reality which people may have had to suffer through in the place they lived. I also like the detail on the house or building you can see here which follows up on the details of something being damaged and visually decayed.
On the other hand, the photographic style of Lynn Saville is another important topic to make sense of and discuss. Contrary to Justin Kimball’s photography, Lynn Saville takes all of her photos during the nighttime on behalf of an “urban landscape” while Justin Kimball took the majority of his photos during the day. In particular, “Lynn Saville specialized in photographing cities between twilight and dawn” (Article #4). A lot of Lynn’s images and the way she obtains them is not always clear in the sense that she travels without a set destination. Lynn’s night excursions “lead her to capture sites and neighborhoods that are often deserted or overlooked” (Article #4). These include thing such as old buildings, construction sites, alley ways, and old buildings from prior functioning businesses. Additionally, her series is heavy in the respect that it contains city life such as long exposures of cars in the city, lighted areas in areas around the city, certain aspects of buildings, bridges, billboards, and houses just outside of the city. A lot of Lynn’s photos are a makeup of different parts of the city and what exists in each part rather than a depiction of urban living (Article #4). With her photos showing the city life and the often forgotten areas of different places, she spends the majority of her time capturing “photographs of New York City”. Her photographs in New York City often show a transition of one thing from another, this could be day to night or night to early day (Article #4). Using this as leverage, a transition to night makes of the majority of her photographic series “Urban America at Night.” In the daytime, there is a lot of energy and life with people going to work, cars bussing in the city, as well as industries and businesses being in full swing or on the clock. However, at night, buildings in the city are overcome with light, sidewalks and the streets are absent of people, and buildings as well as houses outside of the city are seen and shadowed by artificial light from surrounding light sources. A complete transformation has occurred amongst contents of a city and this helps to lead way to “undiscovered or unseen industry areas” and residential areas such as houses and neighborhoods where people close up and live the night away (Article #4). The contents of Lynn’s photography is quite interesting, but her style and how she incorporates certain details and messages within her photos is very important. All of Lynn Saville photographs, especially in this series, have very good lighting. Whether it be long exposure shots of cars in New York City, the presence of artificial light highlighting a building in rural backgrounds, or the absence of people in the streets with light from external sources, the photograph is always very well done. These photos are always very well lit and there is not too much over or under exposure. Additionally, a good number of Lynn’s photos use a shallow depth of field and a great depth of field. This diversity of compositions allow the viewer to see more or less elements in an image. For example, Lynn takes a photo of a truck by a garage lit by artificial light above the garage. It also shows the light in the sky. With a great depth of field, one can truly admire the color, lighting, and composition of the image without a worry of missing certain elements to convey a certain message. On the other hand, Lynn uses a shallow depth of field to capture a sliding door that isn’t in use in a building. This helps the viewer to see the impact of night time as well as the light which happens to highlight the door and its absence of people. Not only does this photograph drown out distracting elements, but it is taken in a “shallow manner” to highlight the night life and how it may affect life in that area of the city of New York City. Also, Lynn captures several areas outside of New York which happen to show abandoned buildings, lighted areas where no people exist at that moment, and places that are desolate or forgotten. For example, Lynn takes a photo of a ”market hotel” that happens to be rotting, decaying, and abandoned in Bushwick, New York which happens to be lathered with graffiti. The hotel is dead in the sense that it was most likely run down and the hotel failed so it became a place of art in New York. This is often forgotten because of how unimportant it may seem. On the contrary, Lynn takes a photo of a bright buss stop bay where no people are sitting or waiting to get onto a bus. This shows that people have gone home and that the bus service may not be as luscious at night as it is in the day time. Lastly, Lynn took a photo at Mulberry Street in New York City which shows a beautiful autumn tree behind a wall. This place, being as dark as it is, may draw crime and be a stereotype for criminals to meet which may cause a place like this to not be heavily used at night or at all. With Lynn’s emphasize on city life as well as capturing places that may seem ignored or unimportant, it gives New York as well as the other places she photographed a new meaning and a different look on that area then what may have been perceived before. One of Lynn’s best photos happen to be seen above, which is the second photo from the top. This is a photo of Columbus Circle in New York, New York (Article #2). With this being said, there are many important elements to discuss in this image. This is a long exposure photo, and this setting on the camera allows for elements moving or not to be captured in the best possible fashion. The color from the car lights, especially taxis, going around in a circle and going to their destination are beautiful. Additionally, the lighting in the buildings and surrounding light sources really blend city elements together well. Nothing is too bright or too dark, but car lights, building lights, and traffic lights as well as lights from light poles are perfect in the sense that they don't pose any distraction to the meaning of the image. Also, the way in which this photo was taken and where is was taken is very important. A great depth of field of this part of New York in this case gives a good representation of city life at night. A shallow depth of field would fail here because it would leave out important elements that make this part of the city unique and different from the others. With the camera angle as it is, the composition is very well done and roads going off in different directions means that everyone has a different destination and that the city is diverse in its locations. This photo is a really good depiction of “city life” and just how much color and light can be seen in an area of a city. It also doesn't limit the viewer to one aspect of the photo, but encourages one instead to see everything for just how wide and vivid in detail that each and every aspect of the image is. One thing I really enjoy is the car lights. There is so much that can be done with that and the execution of this part of the image is done extremely well. Additionally, I really like the location of this image because the part of New York that Lynn decided to photograph is symbolic in a way special to her and this location overall is very cool in its design.
At the conclusion of this blog, I would like to take a moment to appreciate both Justin Kimball and Lynn Saville for the incredible photography and diligence in their work. Justin Kimball’s way of portraying a lifestyle manny cannot escape while exploring rundown and impoverished communities is indicative of one of many urban landscapes that exist worldwide. His shallow depth of field, focus, and detail in each of his photos are all very important in the respect that they tell a story about each area he visited as well as the emotion and struggle associated with them. On the other hand, Lynn Saville’s ability to capture different aspects of city life prominently in New York City while also being able to capture ignored or desolate areas shows how special and unique popular vs. nonpopular areas can be. Her expert use of color, perfect lighting, and interesting compositions really improve and expand details in her images as well as depict certain areas in their most beautiful moments. Both Lynn and Justin have had an impact on the field of photography because of their hard work and diligence in their respective area of “urban landscape”. Each of their monographs depict a different story, but do it so well so their viewers can see their meaning and reasoning for their certain series.
I really appreciated their dedication and how detailed each of their series’s were. Therefore, Justin Kimball and Lynn Saville were my inspiration for my photo essay series that I will present for my final project. First off, I chose these two specific photographers because of their goal of the series. The topic for Justin and Lynn’s specific series that I had inspiration from happened to be on urban landscape. Once I heard these two words, I knew that I had to spend time on this topic for my project. Taking Justin and Lynn’s photography style in question here, I could relate to their series’s and their mission which I translated into my work. I took photos in my city of Williamsport. Williamsport, believe it or not, happens to have a perfect area for urban landscape. The city life, the variety of infrastructural, and number of neighborhoods or areas that happen to be run down or may not get as much of attention is high in number. Williamsport is a really old city in Pennsylvania and happened to be perfect for my series because I live here and know the area pretty well. I was able to capture a lot of long exposure images on behalf of city life, rundown houses in troubled areas, and areas in williamsport that don't get as much attention such as certain buildings and places. Like Justin and Lynn, my images were full of color. My lighting in each of my photos is done really well and helps to give a good idea of different parts of Williamsport. The color in this case helped to brings out the beauty of different parts of the city whether they are close to the city or outside of the city. This includes Christmas lights on houses, an alleyway close to the city, and a long exposure of cars on a bridge in the city. Compositionally, a lot of detail exists in each of my images and I mainly used a shallow depth of field. Elements of each of the photos I had taken which I decided to eliminate using this photographic technique force the viewer to focus on certain details of each photo. Being too wide or having a great depth of field would have allowed distracting elements in these photos which would ruin the meaning of the photo and shy away from my topic of choice. My photos are organized according to certain details in each image which allows them to flow in a cohesive manner and helps for a story of my series to evolve. Looking at these images, I am really proud how they turned out and owe all of my success to Justin and Lynn. Their masterful use of certain aspects of photography really inspired me to take some of the images in my series and helped to improve my photograph strengths and weaknesses. Their use of color, camera distance, and their overall series meaning forced me to think outside of the box and allowed for me to create a series that I am very proud of. My series is all at night which happens to encompass elements of Lynn Saville and Justin Kimball although all of his photos were during the day time. The night aspect of my photos adds such a dramatic element to each of the things I took pictures of which is why I decided to keep with it. I was thinking about doing a compilation of night and day in my series, but the way my photographs were taken and the detail they had at night encouraged me to stick with nighttime as a theme. Nighttime happens to brings out different details than daytime does, but also means that some elements of the photo wont be seen because the absence of light. However, this isn’t the case because the light in each of my images is expertly emphasized to show certain details that may have not have been seen if there wasn't good lighting. As I wrap up my thoughts, the message behind each Lynn and Justin’s photo series’s really relaxed to me on a personal level and emotional level. My series, thanks to Lynn Saville and Justin Kimball, tells a story about Williamsport which can be seen on a physical and emotional level based upon the variety of shots I was able to obtain during the process of shooting and eventual editing. With places of attention mixed with places absent of life, I think my series is a great representation of a city with a variety of areas people may or may not see in the time they live and grow in such a small place in the world.
Sources:
Article #2: https://www.lynnsaville.com/urban-landscape/
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