Yiannis Logiotatides
Photography
Chiaroscuro
Transition from light to darkness.
The light, as the protagonist in the creation of the photograph, flirts with all the surfaces it can touch. Thus it lights one side of the subject and darkens the other, the opposite one, creating a dramatic and mysterious effect.
In Black & White photography, darkness and light are in constant battle. This effect is possible when light falls on an object at a 45 degree angle, giving the spectator the ability to watch its form becoming more and more visible and multidimentional. Portraits, still life, objects but also buildings seem to take on life, sometimes outlandish, sometimes tender and prolific, ready to lead to creative inspirations
This lighting technique is known as Chiaroscuro and of course it existed in the old times when the only art of depiction was painting. The Athenian painter Apollodoros, in the 5th century BC, named the technique for the first time “shading”, or “painting of shadows”. Its most glorious time came during the Renaissance, with pioneers DaVinci, Caravaggio and Rembrandt. The technique was named Chiaroscuro (chiaro=light, scuro= darkness) and is considered one of the four rules of Renaissance Art. On the other hand, in the Byzantine world, the icons had abundant light thus creating a flat effect.
In Photography, with its special characteristics and dividing lines, the term “Rembrandt lighting” has been used which means nothing more than “ambient/natural lighting”.
In Cinematography, the technique was widely used, especially in the Black and White period by Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergei Eisenstein (Soviet cinema) and later by Stanley Kubrick.
The idea behind this Chiaroscuro exhibition was the use of this technique in photography in recognition of this special lighting in natural environment but also the attempt to place it in a frame of good composition and content
The subjects I have used in this exhibition are:
Portraits, Still life,Interiors, Architecture, Landscapes, Nature.
Yiannis Logiotatides