Keith Carter

Keith Carter is a black and white photographer,often called a "transcendent realist". His photos tell stories and are very narrative. The majority of his work deals with southern folklore and depicts stories Carter either read or heard. His images incorporate feeling and sentiment,and human relationships with other people or different things are often easily found.


Carter's photographs,overall,tend to have a dreamlike quality. He plays with depth of field to dramatize his subjects. He has a wide range of subjects- people (clothed or unclothed),animals,landscapes,objects.






Many of his photos that do include people seem to give us less information than what may be desired. Sometimes,they are not much more than silhouettes within the image. It seems as though he uses this technique more often than he gives more detail and information about the subject. However,much of his work does include detail. This is an example of how diverse a photographer Carter is. He is able to photograph a wide range of subjects using multiple techniques,and still tie them all together somehow in the end.

Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna is a photographer from Britain,primarily known for his landscapes. His black and white images have an ethereal,dreamlike quality to them. He rarely photographs people and they are never seen within his landscape photos. In the sense that humans are absent from the scene,the subjects Kenna is photographing-whether trees,houses,statues,or architectural structures-tend to have their own personality and take on a kind of humanness.


Each scene he captures seems to be completely solitary,having complete peace and no disruptions in the midst of a chaotic world. Kenna is able to photograph even the simplest subject in a way that makes it seem dreamlike. One reason for this is that he typically photographs in the early morning light or late in the evening,using very long exposures. Without his mastering of and ability to toy with light for specific effects,his photography surely would not be the same.

Kenna's images are also uncluttered,having no unnecessary or unwanted elements within the frame. This allows the viewer to understand the subject at its core-exactly what it is and no less. Being able to focus only on the subject to which focus is being called for,and having effects of light help emphasize and dramatize that subject is what makes Michael Kenna's images so effective.