Alfred Cheney Johnston (April 8, 1885–1971) was born in New York City, and at the age of 18 he enrolled at The Art Students League of New York, later transferring to the National Academy of Design in New York City where he studied to be an illustrator. The required drawing and painting classes from the Academy's rigorous training program would prove to have a significant influence on his later photography.
Cheney started experimenting with photography by taking portraits of friends and fellow students attending his art classes. At this time portrait artists were making a good living and it's likely that his mentor (Charles Dana Gibson; creator of the "Gibson Girl", an American icon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century) advised him that there was a good living to be made specializing in photographic portraiture. He applied the knowledge and principles he'd absorbed from his painting classes to his portrait photography, and throughout his life many would compare his photographic technique to that of fine art painting.
Cheney started experimenting with photography by taking portraits of friends and fellow students attending his art classes. At this time portrait artists were making a good living and it's likely that his mentor (Charles Dana Gibson; creator of the "Gibson Girl", an American icon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century) advised him that there was a good living to be made specializing in photographic portraiture. He applied the knowledge and principles he'd absorbed from his painting classes to his portrait photography, and throughout his life many would compare his photographic technique to that of fine art painting.
Quotes
"I just work in my own way . . . I don't imitate the methods of anyone else. And I break all the laws of photography whenever I see fit...why insist on having a shadow here and a high light there, simply because books have been written saying that you must? I suit everything to the personality of the person whose picture I'm making. Lights, background, composition-everything! I like to have a little talk with the person I'm going to photograph, before we get to work, two or three days before perhaps. We sit down here and talk things over, and I find out what kind of pictures are desired, and all that sort of thing. You see, a girl who wants to go into pictures or get on the stage, or who is already famous, perhaps, but needs new photographs, must have several kinds. She needs straight heads, full length pictures, some beautifully draped, some taken in decorative costumes. Her pictures must appeal to the editors of magazines and newspapers, as well as to theatrical producers. They are a large part of her stock in trade. I talk over her good points with her, suggest costumes, perhaps, though I always try to leave as much as possible to the girl herself" Alfred Johnston 1928, when being interviewed by Violet Dare.
Denotation
You can see a lady posing in the mirror whilst knelt on the sofa.
She seems to be resting on some cushions.
She is wearing a lace fabric round her lower half of her body.
It is in black and white.
Connatation
She seems to be admiring herself in the mirror.
She must be uncomfortable resting on them cushion things.
Love
Admiration
Self Comfort
Beauty
Source info:-
http://transversealchemy-raw.blogspot.com
http://www.alfredcheneyjohnston.com
http://broadway.cas.sc.edu/index.php?action=showPhotographer&id=45
Connatation
She seems to be admiring herself in the mirror.
She must be uncomfortable resting on them cushion things.
Love
Admiration
Self Comfort
Beauty
Source info:-
http://transversealchemy-raw.blogspot.com
http://www.alfredcheneyjohnston.com
http://broadway.cas.sc.edu/index.php?action=showPhotographer&id=45
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