Photographer Research - Jose Antunes

Biography

Jose Antunes is a writer and photographer based in Portugal, working professionally since 1980, for magazines, newspapers and books. From aviation to zen photography, from technology to nature gazing, he has covered it all. Founder, in 2002, of one of the most important photography magazines in Portugal, FOTOdigital, he keeps it alive, these days, in a modern digital verso. He also writes and photographs for multiple clients, both editorial and commercial. Executive editor and photographer, for six years (from 2002 to 2008), of a Portuguese aviation magazine for professional pilots, Sirius, he is a keen aviation photographer, besides loving to be outside, walking along the coastal areas, and photographing what he calls the Atlantic Realm. He leads photographic tours in this area and also in the whole region of Sintra, mixing photography with a look at the cultural aspects of the land, elements always present in the photo tours he leads in his country.

Why I've chosen him

The reason why Jose's photography caught my eye was because a lot of his work conveyed weather, even if it wasn't intentional. His pictures vary from landscapes to close ups of flowers which are all aspects of portraying bitter weather and warm weather. A topic I am exploring in my project is weather through evidence; I am looking at things against the sky and will hopefully shoot landscapes on my holiday so choosing Jose as part of my photographer research will help inspire me in some of my shoots. He takes all of his photographs outside from places he visits and creates tours on his websites for areas in his country for tourists. A lot of colour and sometimes depth is used in most of his photography which are two formal elements in which I enjoy shooting the most. His photographs vary so much that his pieces are always so interesting because they don't all consist of the same theme. 

This landscape photograph was captured in the area of Sintra as part of Jose's tour in west Portugal. He runs these tours for small groups of tourists who just want to focus on photography, and exploring different places and things that they can photograph. Having half of the frame filled with headland crowded with houses/buildings, and the other half filled with the ocean and the sky creates an effective contrast in an overall photograph. There is evident areas of the headland that have been darkened through possibly the curves tool on photoshop, which creates texture; an effective formal element in lots of photography. This piece is my favourite one of Jose's that I want to use for inspiration in my holiday shoot, where I will aim to capture a picture that has similar features to this one.

This second photograph of Jose's is simply of a dark yellow  flower with tiny petals and a thin stem. It has been situated in the right side of the frame to allow the rest of the space to be filled with its blurred background. Having the background blurred is effective in allowing the subject of the image to pop out from the picture. The background has also been slightly duplicated, so there is double of the flowers next to each other, creating depth and all round an interesting photograph. Having the yellow contrast with the pink looks bright and fun for the viewer because there are no dull tones in this photograph. The season of summer is clearly shown through this picture through the use of bright colours, which is why it attracted me so much. 

This photograph is different to Jose's typical outdoor styled photographs. In this piece, he has captured a plane mid fly through the sky, with its propeller blurred because of movement; another effective formal element that Jose has used in this picture. Having the bright blue sky in the background is a strange combination of colours mixed with the black, white, red, yellow and trays on the plane. Perhaps the plane would look more successful in front of a white background. Nevertheless, this photograph was still a successful outcome for Jose because there has been no wasted space and the subject of his image is interesting. 

This is the second piece of flower photography that I have included in my photographer research because it was my favourite one of his that caught my eye the most. Like the first flower picture, he has positioned the flower in the right side of the frame; again effective in allowing the blurred background to be more emphasised. The background of this image is near enough the same colour as the petals on the foreground flower, which creates an impressive piece of photography. Having the yellow pollen directly in the centre of the petals makes this flower so attractive, because bright yellow and bright pink look effective when paired together. Colour, pattern, texture and shape are formal elements that Jose has used in this piece in order for it to look so appealing.

How he has influenced me

Jose Antunes' photography was very inspirational in a holiday shoot of mine, along with going back to edit a picture that I had previously captured. The first picture below is of a flower I positioned in front of the sky, knowing that the background would convey warm weather along with the bloomed flower. Jose always blurred the background of his flower photography and this is why I then went back to my flower picture and blurred the blue sky behind it. It could have been more effective if there was more surroundings behind the flower, however it did work in allowing the white flower to stand out more. The second photograph is what I took when I went on my holiday. Jose influence me to, if found, photograph a headland against the ocean, because when he done this in the first photograph of his I looked at, it was really successful in filling the frame with rock and sea. 

Summary

Overall, Jose's photography is extremely varied and interesting, allowing his pieces to stand out because they're not all of the same subject or theme. His outdoors work is refreshing and extremely eye catching  because of the use of colour as the main formal element. His flower photography is possibly my favourite along with his creative landscapes due to his very interesting tourist areas.