Replicating Peter Sekaer

Peter Sekaer

The photographer I chose to emulate is Peter Sekaer. Much of his work reflects his work for the government documenting housing projects, slums and public urban housing. While some of his works are still photos of storefronts and houses, many of his other works include movement and speak of the life associated in the slums he visited or the housing projects. He was particularly interested in capturing the human condition or moments of life in his travels.

In regards to his technique, there wasn't a specific technique that I could point out. However, he seems to center focus the subjects of his photographs. The large majority of his photos are outdoors with the exception of a select few. There isn't any particular condition for his photographs except that they are taken during the day. Some photos are darker then others due to the grayer skiers in unfavorable weather conditions such as rain but no matter what the conditions were, he took photos in them. This explains why some of his photos have a softer light to them while other ones have a harsher shadow to them.

My Style Replications

This is the first photo that I took in his style. I hoped to capture the hustle and movement of the area with it's cars and pedestrians. In hindsight, It would have been more effective to have been on the other side of the street so that the pedestrians would have been walking towards me. That way I would've been able to capture the expressions on the pedestrians which would've helped to capture something about the condition of that moment in time.

I chose this view because Peter Sekaer has some kind of art or striking window display on the storefront. I also liked how it was a bit moist that day because I took the photo after a some rain so the skies were a bit gray which helped to create tones similar to those in his photos.

This photo, as well as the next, draws from his photos of everyday life. It is similar to his style because they are all waiting in front of a storefront. In these instances, the people were waiting for the bus. I tried to take the pictures when some people were moving or passing by because while some of his documentation photos are static (like those that simply feature the signage of a store), because I wanted it to feel like the people in the photo had some purpose to them.

Out of all the photos I took, this one was the one I was the most satisfied with This was surprising because this was not a planned shot. I was walking down Atwood Street and this truck had stopped at a light. I saw the stenciled name and the other signage and took the photo because Sekaer just happened to have a lot of signage documentation. I was really please with the contrast of the photo and how it turned out. I'm not sure that I can say this was my most successful photo in terms of trying to emulate his style but in terms of composition and lighting, this one was definitely my favorite.