Alvin Langdon Coburn

Portrait and Background Coburn was internationally recognized as the leader of the Modernist Age. He took pictures ranging from portraits of his friends to landscapes and abstract constructions. At the age of 21 he moved to New York and opened his own studio, there he took pictures of soft-focus cityscapes. In 1904 Coburn immigrated to England to commission photos of celebs, those photos were later published in a book called, Men of Mark. Later on in his career he wanted to “free” the camera from it’s “shackles” and used a kaleidoscope attached to the camera to create what are called vortographs.

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal, London, ca /2 x 6 11/16 in. (21.6 x 17 cm) “My aim in photography is always to convey a mood and not to impart local information. This is not an easy matter, for the camera if left to its own devices will simply impart local information to the exclusiveness of everything else.” - Alvin Langdon Coburn

St. Paul's and Other Spires St. Paul’s ca /8 x 11 5/16" (38.5 x 28.8 cm) “Why should not the camera artist break away from the worn out conventions... and claim the freedom of expression which any art must have to be alive.” - Alvin Langdon Coburn

The Octopus New York's Madison Square ca x 31.8 cm (16 7/16 x 12 1/2 in.) “A photographic portrait needs more collaboration between sitter and artist than a painted portrait.” - Alvin Langdon Coburn

The Canal Rotterdam Ca /8" x 15 3/8". “Photography makes one conscious of beauty everywhere, even in the simplest things, even in what is often considered commonplace or ugly. Yet nothing is really 'ordinary’, for every fragment of the world is crowned with wonder and mystery, and a great and surprising beauty.” - Alvin Langdon Coburn

From the Calton Hill ca x 22.6 cm. “I wish to state emphatically that I do not believe in any sort of handwork or manipulation on a photographic negative or print.” - Alvin Langdon Coburn

The Steps to the Scott Memorial ca x 22.4 cm. "An artist is a man who tries to express the inexpressible. He struggles and suffers knowing that he can never realize his most perfect ideal.” – Alvin Langdon Coburn

Vortograph Inventive Interesting perspective Changing the way people take pictures Use of texture and value

References photography.com/C/coburn/coburn.html photography.com/C/coburn/coburn.html otes.aspx?ID=212 otes.aspx?ID=212