Sonya Noskowiak
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Sonya Noskowiak (born 25th November 1900, died 28th April 1975; aged 74) realised her love for photography in 1920 but it was not until 1929 when she met, and then trained with, Edward Weston that her skills and clean style flourished. Alongside printing some of Weston’s work she started to get clientele for her portraiture and by 1932 Sonya's' photographs were shown in exhibits all over the world, including the 1932 exhibit for the seven F64 group members[2]. Sonya’s images reference to Weston’s work was recognisable but she soon developed her own unique style. There were all high contrast black and white photographs, mainly portraits. She stopped working for Edward Weston in 1934 and by 1935 she had set up her own studio in San Francisco where she worked until 1965.
This is a simplistic photograph. It was taken in the studio
with a warm filling light to illuminate the face. As is common in all of Sonya
Noskowiak’s photographs it is very high contrast and sharply focused. The image
is monotone and it is clear that the clothing was chosen to emphasis this, the
neck piece is pure white which matches her hair band and to contrast that the
hair is almost black along with the dress, the face is a tone lighter than the
grey background making it really stand out and draw our attention to where the
focus is aimed, at the front right eye. No imperfections on the skin are hidden
to make the viewer believe this photograph is true and has nothing to hide. The
photograph is trying to draw your attention to what is off screen and follow
the eyes of the model. Sonya did this by positing herself with a slight Bird’s
eye view and making the model look to the side and slightly down. I think she
did this to almost pull the viewer towards whatever the model would be looking
at so that you question what it is she could be looking at.
The high contrast and soft-fill lighting draws attention away from the background and the very simple white and black dress blends into it, again making us question what it is the model is looking at. The other thing that instantly wants attention in this photograph is the white headband which cuts perfectly through the models hair and creates a perfect division. I think Sonya did this on purpose to help draw the eye down from the hair and point to the face so that we again question what it could be the model is looking at. Once you realise the image is making you think what she is looking at you can think why. To me it seems that she is trying to represent how we don’t know the truth of what is looking at. The aim of this photograph is to draw your attention off the screen in a deliberate effort to make you believe the photograph to be true and instead wonder what else there is.
The high contrast and soft-fill lighting draws attention away from the background and the very simple white and black dress blends into it, again making us question what it is the model is looking at. The other thing that instantly wants attention in this photograph is the white headband which cuts perfectly through the models hair and creates a perfect division. I think Sonya did this on purpose to help draw the eye down from the hair and point to the face so that we again question what it could be the model is looking at. Once you realise the image is making you think what she is looking at you can think why. To me it seems that she is trying to represent how we don’t know the truth of what is looking at. The aim of this photograph is to draw your attention off the screen in a deliberate effort to make you believe the photograph to be true and instead wonder what else there is.