Virtual Essay part 2

My photographer of choice is Henri Cartier-Bresson. Henri is believed to be the father of modern photojournalism and changed the view of “street photography” into a style that has influenced generations of photographers. Henri Cartier-Bresson is known for capturing the purest form of what ever he was taking, and making sure nothing was staged. For this reason I have chosen him; I have been inspired by his, “in the moment” pictures, and un-tweaked photographs.  

Henri wasn’t a photographer right away; he was a French painter before he became fascinated by photography in 1930. His inspiration was Photojournalist Martin Munkacsi. Henri was amazed on how Munkacsi captured moments in the streets with a camera, he didn’t know that was possible. From that day on, Henri took his camera and went off into the street to snap some photos. “"The only thing which completely was an amazement to me and brought me to photography was the work of Munkacsi. When I saw the photograph of Munkacsi of the black kids running in a wave I couldn't believe such a thing could be caught with the camera. I said damn it, I took my camera and went out into the street.”-Henri Cartier-Bresson. 

By using a Leica 35mm range finder camera with a regular 50mm lens, he captured the purest pictures. Henri barely used the flash on his camera because he wanted to be very secretive and crafty. Invisibility was his main goal, to capture pictures so that no one would be able to pose and be prepared. That way he captured the most natural photo.

He believed in composing his photographs in the viewfinder, not in the darkroom. He did this by having nearly all his photographs printed only at full-frame and completely free of any cropping or other darkroom manipulation. He proved this by not cropping out the first millimeter or so of the unexposed clear negative around the image area resulting, after printing, in a black border around the positive image.

Cartier-Bresson worked exclusively in black and white, other than a few unsuccessful attempts in colour. Although he loved snapping photos he hated the process of developing the photos, he was not interested in that part of the photography process.

First picture

Grilled satay

by Saelan Wangsa

Indonesia, Martapura

Equipment: Pentax K10D

A man who is preparing Satay, for his family and friends. This is captured in the moment when he is putting the food on the grill, it reminds me of one of Henri’s photos because of the “in the moment” feel.

Black and White

by  Ugurers

This photo is amazing how the natural light gives  t he  effect  of  empty  streets . The natural lines and architecture in the background give it a Henri Cartier-Bresson inspiration.

hell's mercenaries

by Sorin Onisor

Workers at the charcoal factory, somewhere in the center of Romania. You can tell the workers are tired by the angle of the camera and the natural lighting the photographer was able to capture. Also being invisible in this photo is the key just like Henri Cartier-Bresson.

By Dst zero Darrell

This photo was taken on November 14,2008 in Centro Seville, Andalusia, ES,

, using a Canon EOS 5D The steam in the air from the street market is just unbelievable. Looks as if Henri took this photo himself.

No regrets           

by Adi Popa

This photo is one of my favorites, it is so pure and real. The man looks as if he has had a long day on the farm and is taking a break. The photographer however seems invisible.

All these photos are inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson's photos, they all have the invisibility feel and are in black and white. More and more photographers are being inspired by him with the natural non manipulated look. 


References:

http://ugurers.deviantart.com/art/black-white-35288440

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7d7/3168369006/

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R14T1LX&nm=Henri%20Cartier%2DBresson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson

Assignment 1 Photo Journal PART 2

This photo is a beautiful shot of the woods, 

even though it is swampy the photographer managed 

to make it beautiful and serene.

This picture has been altered with the sepia setting.

 Although it is altered it is still beautiful.

Press photography is generally used to capture the emotion in a moment in a photo. Press photography is frequently used in tabloids, magazines, newspapers, media etc. Its ultimate objective is to make the viewer understand what is happening in that moment by looking at the photograph. Although it is very difficult to capture, press photography has been very effective in the early years and also today. These photographs are intended to give the entire story by one shot. “You are talking too much with your pictures. We only need documents. We have editors to write the text, to go with it” (p. 90).Kertzes.

His photographs were so intense it felt as if he's telling an entire story through the photo.

Art photography is “photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer as artist”. It is a display of how the photographer feels about a photo. It’s the photographer’s own unique way of showing a possible different side to a photo. For example a photographer can take a picture of a dying rose and still make it look beautiful. Art photography is used to express the emotion of the artist that is taking the photo.

What differentiates art photography and press photography is that one is supposed to depict a specific emotion whereas the other is up to your own preference. Art photography can be altered because it is up to you what you want to do with the photo. Art photography is about being creative and being careless with your emotions.

This photo is about the anti-government riots in Athens.

 It sends such a strong message, 

even though not much is happening in the photo. 

The blood trickling down his hand is very eye catching.

Press photography has a more rigorous obligation to display the truth. It should have an appropriate outcome and not a misleading one. Their aim is to capture the best images in order to document an event, tell a story or convey a message. With press photography it is difficult to capture a photo without being deceptive or hypocritical. That’s why press photographers have a responsibility to make sure that their photos cannot be misinterpreted. Press photography unlike art photography has more to do with the event rather than the photographers view. "According journalistic codes of ethics journalists must not alter their images because their role is to report about various events and inform the audience about facts."

 This photo is a photograph based in China. 

It displays a suffering child being carried by a soldier. 

You can see the pain that the child has to go through

 in Sichuan’s earthquake.

In my opinion press photography should not be altered due to the fact that It provides people with the validity of the event and a personal connection to the subjects of the story. Generally, press photography provides the audience with facts about present events that are taking place around the world, and if you were altering that then how do we know what to believe is real or not. On the other hand art photography, I believe, is ethical to alter. Art photography is expressing your thoughts through a photo, and if it involves altering it then so be it. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. With art photography you are not trying to depict an emotion at a given moment. You want to make the viewers think or have their own perceptions of a photo.

References  

http://www.photography-schools.com/photojournalismhistory.htm

https://gbc.blackboard.com/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/press_photographer_job_description.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-art_photography

Photo Editing

There are many ways to edit, or as they call it now, photo shop a picture. The program I chose for my photos is the picnik program. This program gives you the option to totally change or alter any picture of your choice. Many people use Photoshop to fix any blemishes or brighten up photos to their preference. However Photoshop can be quite controversial, as to the originality of a photograph. Personally I have never photo-shopped a photo, this assignment will give me a chance to explore the world and opportunities of Photoshop.

The first photo I decided to manipulate is a photo taken by myself in Wasaga beach. The Camera I used to take this photo is a Sony Cybershot Camera. Although I love the original photograph that I captured, I wanted to switch things up drastically. I decided to go for a more evening feel. This photo was captured in the morning around 10:00 a.m. To get the evening feel, I had to do some tweaking with the effects on picnik. The effects I used to get that evening sunset look is, an effect called sepia. Sepia is known for its dark brown-grey colour with a tint of orange toning, which is a specialized treatment to give the photograph a warmer tone. Following that, the next step I took was to make the photograph much more dramatic with the effect called boost. What boost does, is it punches out the strongest tone that is in the photograph. It magnifies the intensity of the photographs main colour. In this case I’m going for the more orange tones, to give it the feel of a close sunset. After applying the boost, I decided to go really vivid and brighten up the photo with an effect called Lomo-ish. Lomo is an effect that brings sharp, well-focused, well-composed pictures. The Lomo-ish effect completed the photograph I was trying to achieve.

Before picnik.com

After picnik.com

The second photo that I captured is of my brother playing basketball. The same camera was used to capture this photo. For this photograph I went for an older rustic feel. 1960’s inspired, I used the effects on picnik once again to create this look. Firstly what I did to give it the older feel was I applied the 1960’s effect, which rounded off the edges and gave it the brownish tint to the photo. The way the 1960’s effect works is that it replaces colour with brown and orange tints. Next I applied the film grain application and it gave it the grainy unclear look. The early cameras used by photographers that couldn’t obtain a clear image inspire the film grain look. Finally, to make it really rustic I applied the sepia effect just like the first photo that I photo-shopped. The end result is a really pretty 1960’s inspired photo, that looks as if he was playing at an old college basketball gymnasium.

Before picnik.com

After picnik.com

My experience with Photoshop was a good one. I enjoyed the different effects that are offered in the program. It was really easy to navigate the site, and I can definitely see myself using Photoshop in the future.

The role of portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today

What are main differences and similarities between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today?

Social development was the reason why portraits were important in the early years. Portraits were used to show political status and economic power, for example middle class Western Europe. Portraits were performed with an artistic sense of art like Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre inventor of the Daguerreotype Photography. Although in the early days portraits and photographs were time consuming, the meaning behind the photos are timeless. Photography in the early ages was an artistic expression, not a source of income. However today photographs can be taken by anyone who owns a camera or an electronic device that has a camera installed in it. One main difference between portraits today and the early days are, photos are much easier to take with the improvement of technology. 

1850's Fashion portrait

In our course module article "Excerpt from a History of Photography" by Lemagny and Rouille, it states photography was practiced in two different ways during the 1850’s. One method was chiefly employed for the studio portraits, using wet collodion. The second method “was employed for a limited production, chiefly for outdoor work, and sometimes, for convenience’s sake or on particular aesthetic grounds, it might resort to the use of the calotype”.

Who was the photographer and who was the subject of photographs in the past and today?

In the past photographers equipment were expensive, having said that the subject was usually middle class to high-class clientele. These photos were taken to show their social identity statuses. 

Nikon Coolpix camera

Nevertheless the relation between photographers and their subject change over time, by having cameras more accessible by people. In today’s society cameras are mostly installed in the many electronic devices we use in every day life (cell phone, laptop, PSP etc).

What was the impact on technology on the portraits in the past and today?

Having technology has made a great impact on portraits today, this is because of the many programs that are used to adjust or improve a photo. Photoshop is one of the programs that people use today to improve any blemishes that they might want fixed.

Dove photoshop ad

Although portraits in the past weren’t accessible to everyone, people still appreciate the time and meaning of early photography when detail and originality was a fundamental part as photographer.

References:

Freund, Gisele. "The Precursors of the Photograhic Portrait".
Legamny, Rouilee. "The Excerpt from a History of Photography". pages 36-44.

1950's Inspired

 2011 look books are inspired by the beatnik movement of the 1950s, David Bailey’s photographs of Berlin in the 1960s, the street style photographs of Leon Levinstein, and style icons such as Jane Asher, Edie Sedgwick, and Jean Shrimpton. Nudes are in this spring! These outfits are from Club Monaco's 2011 look books, but you can get similar outfits at forever 21 at an affordable price! 
Cheers!

About Me!

Hey everyone!
This is really exciting I never thought I would be making a blog, especially for a photography class!
Well here goes nothing.. My name is Ani and I'm currently attending George Brown studying Marketing.
I was born in Toronto, and I'm proud to say I speak 3 different languages! I hope you guys enjoy my blog!
Cheers!