Ralph Gibson - Blog Response

    Ralph Gibson is an American photographer born in 1939. He does black and white photography which is often described as "mysterious, symbolic, and often erotic." My first thought when seeing Gibson's work is that they are very dark. He uses shadows and dark compositions a lot. In my opinion, he executes the darkness very well. I think his photos are very visually appealing.

    Gibson uses a lot of people in his photos as well which I really like. I think human models can create interesting subjects and can add a lot of variety to photos. One of my favorites by Ralph Gibson is pictured below, I couldn't find a name for the image. I really love how the background is very dark and has a lot of dark shadows compared to the woman and the other hand (assumably Gibson's). The expression on the woman's face also shows a lot of emotion and her reaching out to grab the other hand adds a lot of complexity and storytelling to the image. I also like that we can see the shapes and patterns on her scarf.

Ralph Gibson

    Overall, I really like Ralph Gibson's work. His ability to capture dark contrasts is very visually appealing and creates interesting photos. His work has given me a lot of ideas for my photos that I will be taking for the light and shadow portion of the next assignment.