Ralph Gibson

 Ralph Gibson is an American photographer who shot with Leica film cameras. He's very well known for his many books he's made, and his black and white photos in general. Some of his images are rather sensual in nature, taking things out of context and making the viewer take a second look. 

This first image by Gibson is of the inside of a rowboat. But something about the shape of it reminds me of a person's legs, almost looking like an anal shot. The way the two hands come up along the side, and the middle of the boat's bow is a bit darker really pushes this, as well as the ball sitting towards the bottom of the image. It looks like a very odd representation of fecal matter, or possibly a male scrotum. This observation is honestly unsettling, but it is what I see in the image. It definitely made me have a double take when I saw it. Something tells me he had very child like humor upon making this.

This next image is a lot more tame, nicely composed with a good sense of negative space. Gibson uses the person's elbows to sort of frame the glass of water, and the light from being on the table sort of cuts into the shadow nicely, maintaining the shape of the glass. The shadow of the water on the table forms a very interesting pattern too, and is nicely balanced out being lined up with the salt shaker on the right.

In this image, Gibson interestingly displays this woman's leg in stockings with a similarly patterned background. The leg almost blends into the texture until you see the foot on the wood floor, letting the eye slowly trace it's way up the leg. Thinking about it that way makes the image feel very perverted, or intrusive. Tonality wise, Gibson does a good job leaving in subtle differences between greys, showing the texture of the stocking, the wood floor, and the strange print on the wall.