Stephen Criscolo is a conceptual photographer from Georgia, USA who uses modern image manipulation techniques to produce surreal images which place humans in odd situations such as swimming with jellyfish or floating in ink.
Mark Mawson is a London-based photographer who primarily produces aqueous photographs and videos for corporate clients for use in marketing campaigns. He is an expert in shooting liquids, drinks, fragrances and splashes and has produced campaigns for clients such as Nespresso, GAP, McDonalds, Starbucks and Honda
Artists' Examples
Artist Analysis
Stephen Criscolo is a “Conceptual” photographer who produces a wide variety of images all of which are rather abstract. His images often feature a person in a unique situation such as in a room next to the moon, floating in ink or swimming with jellyfish. Criscolo made the images very though-provoking and are left very open-ended which engages the viewer’s imagination.
The images are edited in a way that makes them appear seamless and realistic. They use a simple colour scheme of black, white and blue, often with black being the primary colour used. This makes the images cold and mysterious – further adding to the thought-provoking nature of the images.
Forward planning would have been needed to produce these images, for example in order to create the image of a moon next to a person, he would have needed to set up a blue-ish/white light where the moon would later be super-imposed so that the moon would appear to glow and look correct when it was inserted. He edits his final images in Photoshop using various adjustments to make the image seem more realistic.
As mentioned earlier the images are designed to be very thought-provoking, the subjects within the images are often showing no emotion in their body language and facial expressions, this adds to the sense of mystery and adds intrigue for the viewer.
Mark Mawson’s images on the other hand appear to be more straightforward. He produces images featuring various types of liquids, inks, drinks, etc. being poured or thrust into water to create interesting shapes or ’clouds’ of liquid. The images are inherently realistic as they are simply liquids being observed directly, however where he has manipulated them for marketing a product the ‘clouds’ of liquid can appear quite abstract as they surround the product.
The images have a simple composition which centres around the liquid. They often use a contrasting background colour such as black or white which draws the viewer’s attention to the ink. The texture of the clouds created by the rippling of the liquid adds depth to the images and creates a very appealing look.
In order to create his images, he will have needed various liquids and the ability to take high-speed photographs his images may also have required special lenses such as macro lenses in order to capture the detail that appears within them. I believe that these images would have required a lot of time and skill in order to perfect them and to make them look as good as they do.
Whilst the images may not contain any hidden meaning, they are very imaginative and create a rather happy and playful mood.
My Edit
