Josef Sudek

Sudek was born in 1896 and died 1976. He started photographing when he was a bookbinders apprentice at the age of 15. In WWI Sudek photographed the war, however suffered a serious injury resulting in the amputation of his right arm. Since as he couldn't continue witht the bookbinding he focused more on his photography; which later on he received awards and was a founder of the Prague photographic society. 

The location of this image looks like it is inside a working class family home. All the light in this image looks like it is coming from the window behind the main subject. Shadows from the chair, candle, plate and fruit are projected towards the camera and the deep contrast shows that there was no light from behind the camera or either side of the frame. The table, window and chair are all square or have very strong definite straight lines. However the main subjects are very circular and have an effect on the light that has contact with it. Looking through the bottle you can see that the strong lines have now been bent and warped because of the shape of the glass. The use of a family home may reflect Sudek's upbringing and what he may remember from before the war. This may suggest that he was trying to make the audience feel quite nostalgic. These items are the simple necessities that was available at the time however now we would have very different opinions. This is what intensifies it's artistic value to a modern audience.

This looks like a workshop shelf. The items look like they would be inspiration items. A small aperture has been used and this can be seen by the blurred backgrounds behind the glass. Since as the glass is also fogged I imagine that Sudek doesn't want the detail from the background in the image. I wonder if the main subject; the flowers are special to Sudek. Maybe his wife/partner has given them to him and he just placed them there because it's where they would survive the best. The amount of moisture on the window has caused it to start dripping, this could represent the crying of someone. Maybe someone who died gave him the flowers and the crying is a form of mourning. The White rose that is in the centre is also the brightest which suggests that it's the spirit of the person is there. The window is the only source of light which is shown by the dark shadows behind the frame.