Alfonse Van Besten- Shannon Roulet

       

      Van Besten was a well known Belgian autochromist in the late 1800's. If your unsure what autochrome is: "Autochrome Lumière is an early color photography process patented in 1903 by the Lumière brothers in France. Initially marketed in 1907, it was the first commercial photographic process capable of mechanically capturing the world’s colours before the advent of subtractive color film in the mid-1930s." Van Besten used this process to create vivid and amazingly composed photos of woman, children, etc, both in regular every-day life and glamorized and posed.  

      Van Besten was also a painter and I think his skills in that really bleed into his photography. He is able to use his knowledge of color to place things within the peice that he knows the eye will find aesthetically pleasing. He also uses his expertise on composition to make images that keep the viewer captivated and always looking around. I find his specific and careful use of color, and his attention to detail in his portraits incredibly inspiring.