Recreation I

Original

Alexander Gardner was born in Paisley, Scotland on October 17, 1821. He moved to the US in 1856. He never attended a school but was a apprentice silversmith jeweler. In 1851 he visited the Great Exhibition in London and saw Mathew Brady’s work which sparked his interest in photography.

Gardner worked with Brady during the civil war and much of the work of Brady is said that it should have been recognized as Gardner’s work. The photograph of Samuel Arnold was created in 1865 and was part his project to photograph the conspirators to Lincoln’s murder.

Gardern’s work defined documentary photography. While working with Brady during the civil war, they were there in the action taking photographs of the glory and horror of war. They documented our history and gave us something to view as art and to remember our past as a country. Gardner documented Lincoln’s funeral and the conspirators, as well as their execution. He was able to photograph what others were not able to see and experience. He took the chance to enter the battle of war and captured the emotions of war enabling others to experience what the soldiers had gone through. He captured the conspirators who did a horrible deed. He photographed those that people despised and the men who betrayed their president. Gardner enabled others to see the faces of the conspirators and for the memory of Lincolns rein the historic day of his death to never be forgotten. This is what made his work well-known.

Gardner’s photograph of Samuel Arnold, which was part of the series of the Lincoln conspirators, defies many of the normal portraits that were created in his time. Most portraits then were taking head on with the subject in the middle. Gardner balanced the photograph so that Arnold was on the left side of the rule of thirds. The plain background makes you focus on Arnold while he looks out of the frame in a contemplative state. The light creates a well-contrasted photograph and is placed higher so there is a shadow on the bottom of Arnold’s face. The shadows create a dark feeling to the photograph and the subject.

Gardner’s idea of photographing the conspirators before their death was brilliant. The concept of taking portraits of these men that were about to be executed was historical. The simplistic set up enforced the concept of capturing the physicality and the dark emotions of the men. It simplicity and emptiness of the frame enforced the idea of what was left of the lives for these men…nothing. They were not on their own and about to die for what they have done.

Gardner utilized the collodion process, which was an early photography process. In the process salts of silver are dissolved in collodion. The mixture is poured on a glass plate and sits for a bit. The plate is then put in a silver nitrate solution. Once the silver nitrate solution process is complete it is removed and exposed in a camera while still wet and then developed.

Gradner’s goal of the series was to take portraits of the Lincoln murder conspirators in their moments before death. Gardner perfected this idea with the simplicity of the portraits, which exemplified what was left of their life and the dark emotions of the subject as they look off the frame. This series of portraits inspire me and historic to our country. I love the set up for these portraits, the lighting that creates the shadows on the face and the placement/emotions of the subjects. Gardner’s series was a success.

Recreation

I utilized the same composition as Gardner did in his photograph of Arnold. I placed the subject in front of a plain and simple wall and was located on the left side of the frame. The lighting is from the top left of the frame creating a shadow on the bottom of his fame and had him looking out of the frame like in Gardner’s work.

I believe this is a recreation of the original not only because I utilized all of the same elements in the photograph but because of the subject and the idea behind it. The subject is my boyfriend Joe. Although he has never conspired anything even close to as terrible as a murder, he is still a conspirator. He has played many jokes on me and has conspired even with my sisters to carry out what he likes to think as jokes. To me, he is my conspirator in my life and sometimes his conspiring gets him into trouble yet I will always love him.