Photographer Research - Carl Kleiner

Why I've chosen him

Carl Kleiner is a superbly creative still life photographer from Sweden, even if it's fashion, food or advertising. He has an impressive imagination that beams through every piece of work. He has worked for Ikea, making the images for a cookbook called Hembakat ar Bast. His photography is colourful, graphic and experimental, where he uses materials raging from paper to eggs and clothes to dolls, not limiting himself when it comes to thinking outside the box. This is the main reason as to why I have chosen this photographer to research in depth and influence my work. He is effortlessly original, and uses backgrounds of one colour that aren't the typical white or black. Kleiner experiments with pastel shades even if it doesn't blend too well with the subject, the contrast and combination of colours makes an eye popping piece of photography. Effort goes into every piece of this mans work, allowing him to create abstract and sometimes surreal pieces - two themes that I enjoy employing into my own work. Furthermore, Kleiner's versatile approach to his work is another inspirational trait of his that I'd like to employ into my project, as he doesn't focus around just one theme which gives him that edge as a photographer.

This is one photograph of many featured under the Herman Miller project that Carl Kleiner worked on. This is my favourite image out of the group because it features the formal elements that I most enjoy experimenting with, such as colour, pattern and shape - especially colour. In my project patterns I am able to creatively explore colour, just like Kleiner has here. Mixing a variety of colours together usually results in an effective piece of photography because it stands out and catches peoples attention. Kleiner is advertising a mixture of chairs from this company, all composed together in a group, creating an inconsistent pattern due to the different styles of chairs. By using a white background in this piece has allowed the colour of the chairs to pop even more, also creating a large contrast. In my opinion, Kleiner has wasted the top half of this frame, where he could have perhaps trimmed it or added some text to fill it. Other than that, the pattern is strong and the combination of colours is also extremely effective.

This portrait advertising piece by Kleiner is my favourite photograph out of his varied style of work. He is advertising Ritz crisps which are a new product brought out by this company, in need of some creative manipulation to help advertise it to the audience. Kleiner has most certainly employed his imaginative and artistic skill to this piece, by making it look like the Ritz from the packet are jumping out and neatly heading towards the bowl below in a tidy and repetitive pattern. "Put on the Ritz" is the slogan for this piece, suggesting that you can put on a spread as great as the Ritz in London with the help of the brand Ritz. I like the background, of two block colours covering the whole of each half of the frame. The light red and dark pink colours compliment one another, conveying a successful use of formal elements. This background encourages the yellow tone of the crisps to stand out from the frame, displaying how Kleiner thought efficiently when it came to piecing this image together. I am very interested in creating fun patterns with food, similar to Kleiner, and feel that this photograph is the most effective form of inspiration. I could photograph the hands, packet and crisps separately, and use the quick selection tool on Photoshop to piece a photograph together like this one. 

This image is Meow-Meow by Carl Kleiner. It consists of food products, situated around in the frame in a pattern that represents some sort of process. The food products used in this piece are all of the same colour, such as egg yolks, spaghetti, triangle cheese, bread, butter, eggs, rice and crackers. The background is also of a yellow tone, meaning that all of the colours compliment one another to result in a well thought out piece of photography. This type of image inspires me to create a piece similar with food all of the same colour, such as red: jelly beans, cherries, strawberry laces, ketchup, tomatoes, lobster etc. Shape is also a strong formal element featured in this photograph, as all of the foods are circles, squares and triangles etc. The layout of the food corresponds with the title of the piece, as it looks similar to the face of a cat, linking to Meow Meow. The overall composition of this piece is successful as the framing has been used to the best of its ability, with a birds eye shot displaying the subject clearly. 

On the rare occasion, Kleiner has people featured in his work, resulting in photographs that still hold a large amount of creativity. As a lover of macaroons, it would be enjoyable to create some work based around this food item. Kleiner has shot a man in a white shirt and white apron, sitting at a table with one of his hands open, welcoming a pile of macaroons to float from his palm in a consistent pattern. Kleiner has added in each macaroon to the frame to create the illusion of floating food, keeping his artistic side current even in a portrait shot of people. He doesn't only work with still life, but also portraits, which I would like to experiment with also - mixing food and people together to form an interesting and fascinating pattern.

How he has influenced me

Kleiner has inspired me to take these styles of photographs below. After looking at his project for Ritz and spotting all the surrealistic elements,  I was influenced to do something similar but with confectionery (M&M's and Starbursts) as these are always the most colourful and eye catching to shoot. I used Photoshop to create the flow of sweets falling/flying from the packet and heading towards Danielle's mouth/a pile. This technique is an extremely effective form of advertising, as it's quirky and eccentric in comparison to just photographing a still of the confectionery. Kleiner's last photograph also inspired shoot 12 of mine, where I added in individual sweets from my exam shoot into a frame with Danielle's holding her fingers up 'balancing' the pile of sweets.

 

Summary

Ultimately, Carl Kleiner is a very versatile photographer who undergoes an endless amount of projects for a large portion of different companies. His work is often abstract, and always inventive. The colours he uses are always exploratory and never safe, similar to the patterns that he creates in practically every photograph he takes/manipulates/creates. He doesn't just focus on one theme because his work is always displaying different messages and advertising different products, allowing him to explore every artistic bone in his body, always expanding his ideas and trying out new styles. I specifically admire his manipulated and pieced together photographs, as these are always the most intriguing and inspiring.