What is Contemporary Photography?
For those that don't know, we try to get a clearer understanding of contemporary photography.
To understand the meaning behind contemporary photography, you have to understand the definition. The word ‘contemporary’ means ‘belonging to the same period of time’ or ‘of about the same age’. The implication of the use of the word contemporary is that it is modern. Therefore, when applied to photography, a contemporary photographer will be defined as a current or modern photographer. In essence that really does not take us any further forward because most photographers are modern to a certain degree.
The question is then, what do we mean when we try to determine who is a contemporary photographer, probably someone who provides a modern service, has a modern style and uses modern photography equipment. I guess at this point, the reader is still unclear, most professional photographers will have updated their equipment in the last five years as technology has evolved and maintaining the latest cameras and lenses is just part of the process of providing a photography service. Therefore, to define a photographer as contemporary modern, based on their equipment, fails implicitly. Where do you go from here?
In the majority of clients minds, a contemporary photographer is defined by their style. That is the definition of the service that they provide and from where you can really define the type of photographer and the images that they provide. The style then would be modern, ascertaining what is modern then takes you, the client to a different level, probably because you have no idea of what modern photography styles incorporate! Actually, you almost certainly do as most people of do have an implicit subconscious concept of the modern style. Look at cars for example, you can easily determine the fact that the new Jaguar XJ is a contemporary designed luxury car (for the next 3 months anyway), a Ford Focus (although sleek and stylish) has been around for a few years now and the Toyota Land Cruiser, whilst fantastic at its job, could hardly be considered as contemporary modern. We all have an inbuilt guide to fashion within our subconscious intelligence, utilising this knowledge though is the key.
To find the contemporary photographer that you require for your service, whether it is commercial, portrait, fashion, food or wedding photography, then requires research. There are a great many photographers that claim to be modern, but it is only on closer examination, that you really see the difference. The image, the style of the image and the manner in which it was captured define contemporary modern. Where the minimalistic style that defined this area a few years ago has now evolved to something different, style has taken over the subject. The latest modern contemporary photography is not just minimalistic, it looks at the object as modern and captures the image in a manner that reflects the object. Take the image below, supplied by London Wedding Photographer Paul Johnson.
Today’s contemporary wedding photography is far advanced from the classic look of the 90’s which many brides turned away from that stilted posed look with no emotion. A skilled contemporary wedding photographer directs the subject and creates an image with mood and feeling and often will not have the subject looking at the camera, a bit like movies. The photographer almost being a voyeur. Couples often mistake a contemporary wedding photo for a reportage photo as the skilled photographer has created a picture that looks so natural that it can’t have been staged. The advantage of directing couples to create this type of image rather than reportage is that the photographer has full control over lighting, background , mood etc. where as reportage leaves everything to chance; in reportage if the couple don’t happen to be in good then so be it and he won’t get any decent shots as by definition photography means ‘light drawing’. It’s all about the light, no matter the subject, if a lovely quality of light is present the subject will look great. You will often be in awe by a beautiful sunset falling upon a familiar landscape but ordinarily you would ignore the familiar, the only difference is the quality of light as after all a sunset is just a change of light. Re creating beautiful light and finding it naturally takes a lot of skill and doesn’t happen by accident in a contemporary wedding photo.
This image is contemporary, the style is unique, there are very few other photographers with the skill set to capture the image in the first place and then have the capability to re-define the image. This is contemporary because this is the current style. It is not minimalistic, that has now passed by, the fashionable theme reflected here is modern classical. The subjects are modern but the feel is classical. So why is this an award winning image? Because it captures the meaning of contemporary! The current fashion is vintage with a modern twist, this image captures that trend with style, it has outstanding depth within the image, the emotions flow from the picture and it makes a clear statement. This is a contemporary photograph at the most current, taken by a highly skilled contemporary wedding photographer that is on top of the trend in the field.
Whilst the trend in many industries is currently modern vintage, this may not be the same in all fields. Commercial photographers will have to decipher the latest fashions in their own fields to stay on trend, to capture images in the style that dynamic clients require and this is no mean feat, especially within the fashion and modelling industry itself where trends are dynamic and change with the wind. So how does the client determine who is and who is not. Looking at the very latest industry specific magazines, blog posts and finding out the hottest contemporary photographers is the best way forward. Online moves in trend are even faster, keeping on top of the latest blog posts by industry watchers and the photographers themselves is a great way to judge the top guns. Subscribing to blog feeds is a must if you want to find the top contemporary photographer that is on trend.