Anthony Luvera
Antony Luvera is an Australian artist based in London (1). His work has been displayed in the National Portrait Gallery London, the London Underground, Australian Centre for Photography, British Museum and the Goa International Photography Festival.
I am most interested in Luvera's work in terms of his choice of lighting; he often uses a flashgun such as a metz to brighten his images. Because of this, the saturation of the images also increase while only the subject is lit which makes his subjects really stand out from the background.
This image is called 'Ruben Torosyan', after the name of his subject. On the artist's website he states how Torosyan was an immigrant without a passport who fled Georgia to escape the soviet ruling. He pleaded for political asylum for five years across 15 European countries, before smuggling himself on a container ship to New York. He found himself in worse conditions in New York than he did in Georgia, so took the ship back two years later to England.
To take this image, he used a flashgun, tripod, medium format camera and a long cable release.
I really like the way that the subject has a bit more pigment to his face because of the use of the metz, while also showing more texture than daylight or softboxes would use as it creates more harsh shadows. Because of this, the man seems rather unflattering yet most definitely interesting. His face is the lightest part of the image, which is further brightened by the choice of lighting which results in drawing an audience into the part of the image where his face is where facial expressions will be analysed.
The background has far less texture due to the light not being as close as it is to the subject, complimented by a reasonably low aperture which causes it to be out of focus. However, through the blurred letters we can identify a street sign as the light reflects off it and back into the camera. This helps us position the man and gives a little more context to the image.
The tones of the blues and reds are consistent throughout the image and so while not perhaps complimentary colours, the image definitely comes together and feels whole because of this.
The photograph above was for Luvera's project 'Residency', which was an 'assisted self-portrait' project in which he taught his subjects how to use the camera and lighting, in order to blue the distinction between photographer and subject.
This image is fairly similar in terms of composition. The lighting used makes the subject stand out from the background, and makes the colours more saturated / have more contrast. Like the image above, the subject looks into the camera and makes direct eye contact with the viewer. The textures in this image aren't as prominent, perhaps due to the material of the clothes or how the distance is slightly further back.
The facial expressions in the first image seem rather sheepish and unsure, whereas the pose in this image (hand in pocket) and her slight smile makes the woman seem confident with herself and relaxed at the idea of the photo being taken.
What I wish to take from my research of the works by Anthony Luvera is mostly the way he lights the photographs. I will definitely experiment with Metz lighting, as I feel the way it is very 'in your face' makes the subject even more interesting, as it draws more attention to them. It also isn't made to be flattering and so the images feel very raw and real.
I am most interested in Luvera's work in terms of his choice of lighting; he often uses a flashgun such as a metz to brighten his images. Because of this, the saturation of the images also increase while only the subject is lit which makes his subjects really stand out from the background.
This image is called 'Ruben Torosyan', after the name of his subject. On the artist's website he states how Torosyan was an immigrant without a passport who fled Georgia to escape the soviet ruling. He pleaded for political asylum for five years across 15 European countries, before smuggling himself on a container ship to New York. He found himself in worse conditions in New York than he did in Georgia, so took the ship back two years later to England.
To take this image, he used a flashgun, tripod, medium format camera and a long cable release.
I really like the way that the subject has a bit more pigment to his face because of the use of the metz, while also showing more texture than daylight or softboxes would use as it creates more harsh shadows. Because of this, the man seems rather unflattering yet most definitely interesting. His face is the lightest part of the image, which is further brightened by the choice of lighting which results in drawing an audience into the part of the image where his face is where facial expressions will be analysed.
The background has far less texture due to the light not being as close as it is to the subject, complimented by a reasonably low aperture which causes it to be out of focus. However, through the blurred letters we can identify a street sign as the light reflects off it and back into the camera. This helps us position the man and gives a little more context to the image.
The tones of the blues and reds are consistent throughout the image and so while not perhaps complimentary colours, the image definitely comes together and feels whole because of this.
The photograph above was for Luvera's project 'Residency', which was an 'assisted self-portrait' project in which he taught his subjects how to use the camera and lighting, in order to blue the distinction between photographer and subject.
This image is fairly similar in terms of composition. The lighting used makes the subject stand out from the background, and makes the colours more saturated / have more contrast. Like the image above, the subject looks into the camera and makes direct eye contact with the viewer. The textures in this image aren't as prominent, perhaps due to the material of the clothes or how the distance is slightly further back.
The facial expressions in the first image seem rather sheepish and unsure, whereas the pose in this image (hand in pocket) and her slight smile makes the woman seem confident with herself and relaxed at the idea of the photo being taken.
What I wish to take from my research of the works by Anthony Luvera is mostly the way he lights the photographs. I will definitely experiment with Metz lighting, as I feel the way it is very 'in your face' makes the subject even more interesting, as it draws more attention to them. It also isn't made to be flattering and so the images feel very raw and real.
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