Assignment 6 - Virtual essay (option 2)

Henri Cartier-Bresson

During this course, I learned about many different journalistic photographers. Among them, Henri Cartier-Bresson's style of photography is my best like because he believes in taking pictures while being invisible, not interrupting the scene, so his photographic style was unique, subject forward, and being invisible. I like with this way of working. Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 - 2004) was born in 1908, in Chanteloupe, France. He was one of the greatest French photographers in 20th century, considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the "street photography" or "real life reportage" style that has influenced generations of photographers who followed. His photos contained the richness, the sensibilities, and the varieties of the human experience and he also elevated "snap shooting" to the level of a refined and disciplined art. The most important thing in Henri's photographs is that the photographers should with the astonishing patience and the power of observation. He was able to find the art in life, instead of making it. Many people said his work proved that photography is capable of faithfully reproducing reality; all you have to do is catch the right moment to show the people and surrounding world in all their happiness and unhappiness. While looking at his photographs it makes me feel like I am in that period of time.

 

The photos on the below I picked all have reflected his “real life reportage” or "street photography" style. Also, all photographers said they are inspired and learned how to take the decisive moment. The decisive moment means "le moment decisive", the right moment which the elements in motion come together and are in complete balance.

 

'His people seem lost or marooned on the city streets' ... Henri Cartier-Bresson's Harlem (1947). Photograph: Magnum Photos
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jul/20/photographing-america-evans-cartier-bresson

This photo was taken by Manolo Almeida. He said "...Bresson´s images show me how to see the simple people of one particular way."
 [Bouchard]

http://jpgmag.com/blog/2010/05/best-of-photo-challenge-inspired-by-henri-cartier-bresson.html

When I found the Henri's photographs, I really like this photo because of the feel. The subject in this photo was so natural; we can see that the people who lived in their daily life. Even though many people think it is easy to shooting this kind of photos, I think that to capture of the natural photographs like joyful or sad, photographers should have an astonishing patience to waiting for the moment to occur so it is too difficult to shooting these types of photos. Both of them present the relationship with the people’s natural daily life.

 

http://users.ipfw.edu/virtue/intl/Photo%20Contest/Photo%20Contest%20Winners%2007/39.e.%20Leanna%20on%20the%20Louvre%20fountain%20black%20and%20white.jpg

The photo on the right  shows a couple that is lying near the beach and enjoying the day and the sun shine. We can imagine from the picture that they may either be talking to each other or just enjoying the sun shine, sleeping behind it. The picture on the left that I searched on the website showed a woman lying on the edge of a well. I think this photograph reminds me of Henri’s work since people weren’t alerted and the photographer captured the moment or events of this currently place. It is clear that both images have such a quiet atmosphere.

http://edizioni.fotografiafestival.it/archivio/artwork_img/Henri-Cartier-Bresson-Diep.jpg

Andre Kertesz, Montmartre, 1927

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/K/kertesz/kertesz_montmartre.html

PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia—1992. © Josef Koudelka / Magnum Photos

http://blog.ricecracker.net/tag/henri-cartier-bresson/page/2/

Photographer: Henri Cartier-Bresson

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/08/10-things-henri-cartier-bresson-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/

 

We can see that in third photo, Henri combined all the geometry at the composition such as the vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, curves, and others to his photo. In the similar picture, there was the old man walking with a stick and used the shapes and geometry as well. The three images have the same subjects-people and staircase. Therefore, I think the photograph reminds me of Henri’s work.

 

http://pphotographyb.blogspot.ca/2010/10/classic-photography-by-henri-cartier.html

Untitled by Nema' Etebar
"Henri Cartier-Bresson: a truly great photographer. He had a way of capturing timeless moments. I respect his perspective a great deal."

http://jpgmag.com/blog/2010/05/best-of-photo-challenge-inspired-by-henri-cartier-bresson.html

This is one of my favorite’s photos by Henri is of the old man is sitting on a couch. The seniors are great subjects to shoot because they always show out the best face of natural. When I see the picture first time, I feel how beautiful these pictures are. The similar picture on the left was capturing the pretty old lady. Both of them present timeless moments and I like the way of his work.

 

 

Three of a Kind by Wyn Lovoto

"HCB inspired me in taking this picture as I waited patiently and low-profile until the right moment arose: lighting, poses, expressions, composition all came together during a very short moment of time.

 http://jpgmag.com/blog/2010/05/best-of-photo-challenge-inspired-by-henri-cartier-bresson.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://eloquemment.blogspot.ca/2010/06/henri-cartier-bresson.html

When I searched the Henri's photographs, I really like this photo because of the atmosphere there. The man and lady were looking at and smiling each other in view of the sea. In the picture, the photographer was invisible to the model and captured this moment of happiness of the pair were sitting arm in arm. The similar photo also gives the same feeling.

 

As I mentioned above, we can see the people’s life and emotions from those photos, because his photographs reflect the decisive moment. I think the most important aspects of his work that is to capture the moment at the right place and time in its perfect. He said “During the work, you have to be sure that you haven’t left any holes, 

that you’ve captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late.” I really love this word.

 

Source:

  

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

http://jpgmag.com/blog/2010/05/best-of-photo-challenge-inspired-by-henri-cartier-bresson.html

http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2005-A-Fi/Cartier-Bresson-Henri.html

http://blog.ricecracker.net/tag/henri-cartier-bresson/page/2/

 

 

Assignment 3 - Photo Journal 2

Press vs Art photogrphy

The main differences and similarities between art and press photography;

There are some examplse of press photography:

                                         

                                  By: James Vellacott  "Some members of the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace."

Source: http://www.ephotozine.com/article/press-photography-and-long-lenses-12044

      

                                                  Caption competition                                              

By: Leon Neal "During the visit to Britain by US President Barack Obama, I was covering a number of the meetings inside number 10 Downing Street. It included this one between the president, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Prime Minister David Cameron. I have absolutely no idea what was said, but I love the body language between the three subjects. While the prime minister had moved out of the way to allow us to photograph Mr Clegg and President Obama, the combination of the apparent giggling fit on the left, and the rather stern look from Mr Cameron, makes for an amusing caption competition shot."

Source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-16180487

                                  

                                           Earthquake in Japan

By: Ishinomaki port, Miyagi prefecture, Japan "Boats rest on a pier at Ishinomaki port, in Miyagi prefecture, on 15 April, more than a month after a tsunami devastated large areas of northeastern Japan. Ishinomaki was one of the most seriously affected cities in the region, hit by several waves of up to 10 meters high. All Japan’s harbors were closed briefly after the tsunami; those in the disaster zone reopened to limited shipping traffic only at the end of March"

Source:http://www.worldpressphoto.org/photo/2012larslindqvistgn-2?gallery=2634

There are some exsamples of art photography:

By: Patrick Desmet "Creating a montage has always been one of the favorite creative outlets of Patrick Desmet. Patrick is a fine art photographer living in Belgium. He started his digital photography in1995. Everyone believes creativity and uniqueness dancing in his portfolio. The tone and the images transcend the subject and move into a highly personal area that's endlessly satisfying to look at. The use of colors, textures, lighting and pose are spot on in the vast majority of images in his portfolio. Your eyeballs will get ecstatic with such viewing his adventure."

Source:http://blog.pokkisam.com/content/unique-art-photography-patrick-desmet

1. The main differences and similarities between art and press photography.

Photography has a very important role in both press and art in the world today. However, there are many differences and similarities between art and press photos in some ways. Art photography is done to express the artist's perceptions and emotions and to share them with the public. Art photography can be altered and manipulated by using edit programs to make its image more easily understandable because it doesn’t have to expose a truth, so the photographers can express and describe their images whatever they want. On the other hand, Press photography is a form used to capture images in events which are going on in the world to record and tell the news. As photojournalists, the main role is to display facts and reality to the viewers, and they have to follow a Code of Ethics when capturing photos. Therefore, photojournalists are not allowed to alter the reality of the situation. The main similarities between art and press photography is that both types of photography capture a story and provide the viewer the feeling of emotions such as exciting, sadness or happiness. Therefore, people can easily understand and get the message through the photography. Another similarity between art and press photography is that they both used the same type of tool like a camera to capture the image and can be edited. Even though press photography limited to a certain degree, it can be edited to improve the quality of the picture by changing the shading, color and contrast without changing the original facts or information, and art photography can be edited with no any limits or boundaries.

2. Is it ethical and acceptable to alter art photographs? Why? Why not? 

Yes, it is ethical and acceptable to alter art photographs. From my point of view, Art photography should express and show the feelings, thoughts, and the creativity of the photographer. In art photography, the photographer don't have to follow a set of rules; therefore, the artists can change their images and alter it adding more details to express their vision better to the public, so when people see that images, they can be able to grasp what the artist is trying to capture.

3. Is it ethical and acceptable to alter press photographs? Why? Why not?

 No, it is not ethical and acceptable to alter press photographs. According to The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), photojournalists must not manipulate their images or add or alter in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects, so press photographs must provide accurate truthful facts. The only acceptable changes are used to improve the quality of the photo without changing the facts on the photo itself. Its main purpose in the media is to tell the story without changing the reality and truth. As a press photographer, they must be concerned with producing accurate news for the public and they have the responsibility to preserve its images as a matter of historical record.

Source:

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

Friend, D. (2004). The Digital Journalist: Cartier-Bresson’s Decisive Moment. Retrieved on Nov. 08, 2011 from: http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0412/friend.html

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

- http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/ethics.html

Assignment 2: Photo Manipulation

   One of my hobbies is taking pictures. In particular, I love to take picture of landscape and nature. It is very interesting to transform the photo from original. Using the free online editing tools allowed me to play around with my photos and to see what I am able to do to my picture.

                     

               Original

                                        Edited Photo 1

    I took this picture in the Toronto Zoo in June 2011. As you can see, I took the photo in low light conditions therefore the colors of picture were little bit dim, so I would like to make it much more vivid and richer. I used Picasa 3 version to edit the picture. At first, for this photo I have chosen, I tried to make it livelier by brightening the colors, sharpening it. I also used shadows function and highlights tool to make the picture look like natural, but I still felt that I had to add more tools to show what I wanted to express. After that, I chose the effect of boost to improve the color saturation. The last thing that I changed for this picture, I added museum matte flame to the photo to look like hanging at art gallery.

 

                                                                                                          
                           Edited Photo 2

  

    This picture is exactly the same what I did one above, I just added to use 1960’s tool, but I didn’t change background color and fade function. This is one of my favorite effects in Photoshop, which transformed a modern photo into old photo. As seen above, with the modification, the feeling of a peaceful zebra was well expressed in the picture.

                                            Original

                                         Edited Photo

     I took the above picture from the city of Ottawa in May 2009; it was my first travel since I came to Canada, and so I had great expectations for the trip. Unluckily, as you can see, the day I captured this photo was not a good day. It was very dark and cloudy. For this photo, I tried to make it bright sunny day with Picasa 3 version. I adjusted the brightness, highlights, and shadow tool first; these tools make it more clearly. The next thing I changed is that I used the effect of orton-ish. I opened the part and changed the brightness and fade slightly. After that the picture looked nicer. I also tried to use glow tools to give the picture a gauzy glow and changed intensity and radius a little bit.

 Original

                                          Edited Photo

 For the last photo, I took this photo in New York last year. I really expected to take a picture in front of this structure because the structure is one of the well known places for travellers.  I would like to highlight the letter of love, so I used fill light tool and chose the effect of cross process. Finally, I added Polaroid flame to the photo, which looks like above.

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

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

There are many differences and similarities between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today. One big difference is that the quality and color of photos. Mr. Daguerre and Mr. Talbot, who were famous photographers in 1830’s, invented Daguerreotype and Calotype. Daguerreotype created images on silver plated copper and developed with warmed mercury. Calotype created negative images using paper soaked in silver chloride and sensitized with iodine vapors; therefore, portraits in the early days were mostly black, white or brown. Today, with a technological revolution, digital cameras were invented and as a result, photographs are in full-colored and high quality images, so people can get clear pictures. Photography and portraits in today’s world are also similarities from portraits in early days in some ways. One similarity is that photographs help people to build up a picture of life in early days and present days because these pictures capture time and the environment.

  
  Portrait of a Child - N. Pieneman                                              Anon.Portrait, late 19th century   

    (Fodor Museum, Amsterdam)

  
 Source: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dutch_Art_in_the Nineteenth_Century/The_History-painters               
                  http://www.answers.com/topic/ferrotype

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

In the past, the photographer was a painter or an artist who devoted their time in photography art. Since cameras in the early days were so expensive and hard to operate, photographers at that time had had high degree chemistry knowledge. Most people could not afford them, but only some people who were in high social status could take a photograph. They would hire photographers to come and take portraits of them. Now, anyone who can afford buy a camera could be a photographer. Photography is not only for rich people but everyone else. There are a great number of cameras available in today’s market. Most of the digital cameras today have a very polish design to them, making them very lightweight and convenient to carry. Moreover, it is not difficult for them to operate, and developing pictures are also cheap and easy; so, most people have their own camera and can take pictures anywhere with anyone, anything, and anytime.

                                                
                                                       Photographers  in the past


     Source: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-greatest-inventions-of-the-19th-century.php

                                              Today's  Photographer



Source: http://www.pixiq.com/article/todays-top-100-photographers-on-twitter

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

Technology did play a significant role in photography. In the past, only black and white images were available and they were not clear. Nowadays, photographs are more vivid with many different colors and high-end quality. In the process of developing pictures, photography is easier to develop and a result, today, people can quickly get pictures whenever they want, but in the early days, it was hard to develop them because the process took a long time. Advanced technology increased the performances of cameras and brought photography into a more improved era. Photos can be operated to make them better by editing errors or changing colors and backgrounds. Today, people are living convenient lives thanks to advanced technology.

                                        Sample of photo manipulation



Source:http://www.elistmania.com/still/20_female_celebrities_before_after_photoshop

 

                 
 
            CLAIRE COHEN compares the London of a century ago with photographs

         takenat the same locations today.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1258785/Unseen-images-lost-London-really-capital-place-live.html