(Originals on left, mine on right)
Charles O'Rear (1941-present):
Background:
Charles O’Rear grew up in Butler, Missouri, and first used a camera when he was ten years old. He originally wanted to fly airplanes, and even got his pilot’s license when he was 16, while also being a sports reporter. Some time later, he became a staff photographer for the LA Times. He didn’t like that, though, and began working on photography for National Geographic. He primarily photographs wine and related things, but his most famous photograph is “Bliss”, which he sold to Microsoft for use as the Windows XP default wallpaper image.
Style:
One thing that really stands out in O’Rear’s photos is how vibrant and colorful many of them are, particularly his landscape and nature photos. However, that’s not his primary type of photo. His wine images are definitely more subdued in their hues; he probably focuses on accurately depicting colors. Despite this, he frequently takes pictures in artificial yellowish light, giving those ones a more homely feel. He seems to like pattern, arranging his subjects in such a way that there are repeating elements throughout the photograph.
Philosophy:
I feel like his philosophy varies between his wine and non-wine photos. For his wine pictures, he seems to believe in depicting things as they are. When he’s in a room with artificial light, for instance, he uses that artificial light rather than making the image grayscale or trying to emulate a more neutral tone. The rest of his photos seem to primarily reflect an appreciation for the beauty of the natural world. He tries to share that by depicting and enhancing it, leaving some pictures raw but editing some to give them a more mystical appearance.
Influences:
The most notable influence he has had on people, of course, was “Bliss”. Outside of that, though, I feel like he’s influenced how I think about photography a decent amount. Before seeing his pictures, I had not really thought about using major hue shifts like some of what he uses in his landscape photos as anything other than mild entertainment. Seeing him able to use them so well, though, inspires me to try doing something similar. Another influence he has had on me is about how much he uses pattern in his work. Seeing it inspires me to try doing more with that myself.
Compare & Contrast:
Artist Statement:
While lots of Charles O’Rear’s images are hard to replicate because they are of specific locations, I was able to find a few that seemed feasible to me. I also really liked the patterns he was able to achieve when using multiple wine glasses in a couple of those pictures. I was able to replicate the color of the wine in the third picture by using food coloring in water (one drop of blue with a few drops of red). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to replicate his spacing or lighting conditions, but I made do with what I had.
1. https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_7703c8b2-03e9-11df-bb34-001cc4c03286.html
2. https://wineviews.com/portfolio/bio/
3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/sets/72157629983954808/
Background:
Charles O’Rear grew up in Butler, Missouri, and first used a camera when he was ten years old. He originally wanted to fly airplanes, and even got his pilot’s license when he was 16, while also being a sports reporter. Some time later, he became a staff photographer for the LA Times. He didn’t like that, though, and began working on photography for National Geographic. He primarily photographs wine and related things, but his most famous photograph is “Bliss”, which he sold to Microsoft for use as the Windows XP default wallpaper image.
Style:
One thing that really stands out in O’Rear’s photos is how vibrant and colorful many of them are, particularly his landscape and nature photos. However, that’s not his primary type of photo. His wine images are definitely more subdued in their hues; he probably focuses on accurately depicting colors. Despite this, he frequently takes pictures in artificial yellowish light, giving those ones a more homely feel. He seems to like pattern, arranging his subjects in such a way that there are repeating elements throughout the photograph.
Philosophy:
I feel like his philosophy varies between his wine and non-wine photos. For his wine pictures, he seems to believe in depicting things as they are. When he’s in a room with artificial light, for instance, he uses that artificial light rather than making the image grayscale or trying to emulate a more neutral tone. The rest of his photos seem to primarily reflect an appreciation for the beauty of the natural world. He tries to share that by depicting and enhancing it, leaving some pictures raw but editing some to give them a more mystical appearance.
Influences:
The most notable influence he has had on people, of course, was “Bliss”. Outside of that, though, I feel like he’s influenced how I think about photography a decent amount. Before seeing his pictures, I had not really thought about using major hue shifts like some of what he uses in his landscape photos as anything other than mild entertainment. Seeing him able to use them so well, though, inspires me to try doing something similar. Another influence he has had on me is about how much he uses pattern in his work. Seeing it inspires me to try doing more with that myself.
Compare & Contrast:
- Image 1: When I initially took the photo, the glasses were somewhat hard to see. However, increasing the contrast during editing allowed me to more closely match the original in that respect. I couldn’t get the same lighting color, though.
- Image 2: Of the three I took, this is probably the one that least matches the original. I didn’t have yellow enough lighting, for instance, and the glasses were too reflective. I think I replicated the angle well, though.
- Image 3: I think this one very closely matches the original, at least more so than the other two. I was able to achieve a very similar color for the wine and both similar positioning and angle of the camera. However, I was not able to get quite the same lighting as O’Rear did, nor did I achieve the same lack of visible reflections in the glass.
Artist Statement:
While lots of Charles O’Rear’s images are hard to replicate because they are of specific locations, I was able to find a few that seemed feasible to me. I also really liked the patterns he was able to achieve when using multiple wine glasses in a couple of those pictures. I was able to replicate the color of the wine in the third picture by using food coloring in water (one drop of blue with a few drops of red). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to replicate his spacing or lighting conditions, but I made do with what I had.
1. https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_7703c8b2-03e9-11df-bb34-001cc4c03286.html
2. https://wineviews.com/portfolio/bio/
3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/sets/72157629983954808/