Helene Binet

Helene Binet is a Swiss born photographer. Her main focus is photographing architecture. There are many reasons why her work is so influential and could contribute to my own work.

One of the biggest reasons is her use of black and white. By using sunlight, Binet boosts the look of the highlights and shadows in her images. In this photograph for

example she uses the casting of the low sitting sun to really emphasize the shadows. I feel that this makes for a much more intimate photo. This technique also brings out the harsh lines in the buildings to enhance the detail we see in the frame. This shot also appears to have been balanced on a wall to increase the stability of the shot. This also gives Binet a chance to create an even, slightly symmetrical photograph.

Another aspect of Helene Binet’s work that I really like is how she uses film and plate photography. Her obsession with shadows are pure an untouched as she doesn’t use digital. Her use of light is particularly evocative in this photo. Here the shadows are dark and “punchy” and her highlights are bright and detailed to create a dramatic, high contrast look to the whole picture. She also uses converging lines to lead our eyes into the center of the photo, which appears to be never ending, in essence creating a mysterious feel to the image.

I particularly like this photograph because of the drama that the whole image creates. The roof’s lines are accentuated by the sun, which creates superior detail in the image. The combination of high contrast highlights and shadows make the roof look almost like sand dunes. The picture is complemented by the sky, which in my opinion really makes an exciting twist to what would be a flat and uninteresting clear casted sky.

I find that in Helene Binet makes very interesting black and white images that tell a story. This picture in my opinion uses the dark and light to tones to narrate a community. The whole picture appears fairly dark, which emphasizes the quiet, antisocial feel in the photograph. However the beam of sunlight that runs through the middle of the photo creates a sign of hope and happiness to show that the town isn’t deserted. The high spot that Binet is standing on conveys a sense of perspective as she captures the roofs of Palermo, Italy.

I think that Helene Binet would really contribute to my work especially with her clever use of sunlight that brings out shadows and highlights within an image. As I am using film this could be a useful thing to keep in mind, as I don’t have the freedom of using Photoshop to edit my images.

http://www.complex.com/art-design/2013/02/the-25-greatest-architectural-photographers-right-now/helene-binet (9-11-2013)

http://www.helenebinet.com/photography.html (9-11-2013)

http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/articles/2012/december/06/ten-questions-for-photographer-helene-binet/ (9-11-2013)