Thesis Title:Studying the effective elements in theater photography by looking at the photos of Douglas H Jeffery, Josef Koudelka & Yousuf Karsh
By: Soha Asadi
Supervisor: Dr. Mohammad Khodadadi Motarjemzadeh
Degree: MA
Course of Study: Photography
June 2019
Abstract
Theater is transient intrinsically, and after the show runs, it does not leave any trace of it, and it only records in the memory of the audience who saw the show at that time. However, photography gives it a chance to be captured and kept in a frame in order to be living forever. In fact, theater photography has played an important role throughout the history of theater.
Theater photographer captures several phenomenal moments of a play which may be unseen by the audience in the theater. In addition, the photographer has to be familiar with all the elements which are essential for the theater photography, so he can thoroughly represent the essence of the play into the pictures.
This thesis is going to introduce the effective and essential elements of theater photography by looking and interpreting the works of three photographers with the help of data from library and also written and digital sources. These photographers are Douglas H. Jeffery whose pictures are one of the most important archives of theater photography from twentieth century; Joseph Koudelka, a great and famous street photographer who has some important pictures in the field of theater photography; and Yousuf Karsh, one of the greatest portrait photographers with a lot of famous pictures who has some experience in theater photography which helped him through his work as a portrait photographer.
This thesis will also have a glance at photography history in order to perceive a better understanding of the relation between theater and photography in different periods of history. In fact, photos are the only documents proving that those plays were existed. If we separate photography from theater, there would be no theater lasting more that its own playtime, but because of photography, theater will get a new life and spoken in another language; in the end, although the show is over, photography will immortalize its recording of moments.
Key words: Photography, Theater photography, Douglas H. Jeffery, Joseph Koudelka, Yousuf Karsh