Virtual Essay

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004)

Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer, who is also known as the Father of modern photojournalism. He spent most of his life traveling around the world to capture events in just in the nick of time, which is well known as the “decisive moment”, with his precious 35mm Leica. Although he spent most of his time taking modern photographs, he started out to be a painter before he encountered this particular career (in which he was very gifted) - photography. He was part of the team whom developed the “street photography” or “real life photography” – photojournalism style. He also co-founded Magnum Photos with Robert Capa, which became an influential force in photojournalism. With the particular style of being “invisible”, not being able to engage with the events and having the ability to come up with the accurate angle within the frame, which also requires the patience to wait for exactly the right moment to capture, this skill is definitely difficult, but it was never a challenge to Cartier-Bresson who was so talented. His images appear to be simple, but meanwhile are complex in the number of layers of insight, story or message of depth they present. Most of his shots are just demonstrated as it is, rather than editing this and cropping that. He believed that capturing the moment regardless of time and environment is the best way of depicting the photo. He would describe the action of tip-toed picture, velvet hands, and hawk's eyes.

This shot by Loren Zeman was taken at a quick moment, which Zeman captured just when the old woman wrapped the little girl in her arms. This is very close to the picture which Cartier-Bresson had took, however Cartier-Bresson’s picture of the little kid had his eyes still open. Also, both pictures are in black and white. It's as if we were there with the children, on the spot, feeling the warmth from the caregivers. These photographers would have to practice some sort of unobstrusiveness in order to capture unposed photographs, which Loren had done well.

(Loren Zeman)

Vs.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, INDIA. Tamil Nadu. Madura. 1950)

The following 3 pictures has almost the same angle, when Cartier-Bresson and Simon-Bolivar present these pictures, it tells us a story of what is happening down there, without any contacts with anyone downstairs.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, FRANCE. The Var department. Hyères. 1932.)

VS.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, ITALY. Abruzzo. Aquila. 1951.)

Vs.

(Avenue Simon-Bolivar, Paris, 1949)

This is one of my favourite photos so far, the way that Huff has captured this moment of the busy New York City, it was well depicted through his Leica M9 & 35 Summicron F2 ASPH. This is a great shot, because it is obvious which we know that the people on the streets is not alerted at all. It really makes me feel like I was just right there where Huff was, looking out the window.

(Steve Huff)

“Cartier-Bresson came to America many times during his career. On one early visit, he captured this extraordinary moment, as a mother and son, separated by the war, are reunited in New York. One of the things that make this moment so extraordinary is the way the other people in the frame — and there are many of them — remain absorbed in their own concerns, oblivious to the drama of the reunited family.” Both Eisenstaedt and Cartier-Bresson was a Leica photographer, they both captured the moment where passion, intimacy was caught just in the nick of time. Eisenstaedt, just like Cartier-Bresson took pictures quickly to find and catch the storytelling moments.

(Alfred Eisenstaedt, VJ Day, The Kiss, New York, New York 1945)

Vs.

(Henri Cartier-Bresson, New York, 1947)

Cartier-Bresson and Salgado both were pioneers and is into photojournalism. They both use white and black film, but also both wanted the audience to truly see what was going on, even though they had different ideas on how this should be done. They just really want to tell their journalism through their photographs. Both, at Refugee camps, taking the photos and moments of their lives, how can they miss a moment like this? This sort of photojournalism is what we all need, with just one capture to shoot the whole scene and story is what their roles are. To take photos like these, Cartier-Bresson would cover his camera with a lot of black tape to remain "invisible" to his surroundings and to remain silent.

(Refugee camp at Benako, Tanzania, 1994. © Sebastião Salgado)

Vs.

(INDIA. Punjab. Kurukshetra. A refugee camp for 300.000 people. Refugees exercising in the camp to drive away lethargy and despair. Autumn 1947)

Sources:

http://users.ipfw.edu/virtue/intl/Photo%20Contest/Photo%20Contest%20Winners%2007/45.a.%20arms%20of%20the%20old%20mother.JPG

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox&ALID=2K7O3R14TE52&IT=ThumbImage01_VForm&CT=Album

http://www.afterimagegallery.com/ronis2.htm

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/galleryL1000789.jpg

http://www.gallerym.com/work.cfm?ID=69

http://wholepackage.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/hcb1.jpg

http://www.lensculture.com/webloglc/mt_files/archives/2004/12/

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1983868_2128611,00.html

http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2004/08/cartier-bressons_impact_on_journalism.html

http://www.biography.com/articles/Henri-Cartier-Bresson-9240139?part=0

Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado

In comparing photographers, Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson to Smith and Salgado, we completely get a whole different spectrum of photography; in a sense that their beliefs are completely different from one another. Therefore the similarities of the two groups are scarce. One major similarity I did find however is the fact that both groups are photo journalist. In essence what that really means is how the two group use photography to depict stories or news. Another similarity is that the pictures that the two groups take usually depict of the current situation- but that’s where it all ends in terms of similarity.

Although they depict the current situation, rest assure that the photo’s itself has either been adjusted by Smith and Salgado with lighting or other post production work in the dark room or that it was captured the moment without any post production. Post production was considered a faux pas in the photography circle, it was said to be that photographers are to “resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities” and that photo journalists should respect the integrity of the photographic moment.

Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson believed that capturing the moment regardless of time and environment is the best way of depicting the photo. An example of such capturing the moment would be Kertesz’s “Landing pigeon” picture in New York City (1990). Kertesz commented that it took “maybe 30 years for that instant”. The need to be invisible is also prevalent in both of Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson work. Cartier-Bresson would describe the action of tip-toe picture, velvet hands, and hawk’s eyes. Because of such stealth state both Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson believed that the proper expression would be present if there were no disruptions in the photo – capturing the real moment of the action.

On the other side, Smith and Salgado believed that being involved in the photograph is the best way of capturing expression. Salgado will often enter the circle and interact with his subjects in order to get closer and squeeze more expressions from the subject. The photo’s that Smith and Salgado take, it makes the subject feel as though that the one taking the photo is so close to them, they feel that the photographers are in the photos. A great example of that is Smith’s picture of the “Spanish Wake” whereby he captured a family that was all mourning the deceased. Smith’s view of “I give myself to the story” is prevalent in most of the photo’s that he took. Compared to Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson, Smith and Salgado were not shy of post production work in the dark room. Often changing lighting in order to guide the audience on how Smith and Salgado wanted to convey their photos.

If I had to choose which of the two groups were more effective in depicting and illustrating their photos, it would have to be Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson. I really adore the patience of Kertesz and Carter-Bresson in taking their photos. They believed that capturing the moment of a photo, rather than adjusting the photo in post production is key and honestly I believe that too. The rawness and reality of the photo that Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson is what you really want from a photo journalist; photos that are natural and depicts the story through the work of capturing the moment.

Sources: all from course lecture notes

Press photography versus Art photography

Fine Art Photography

Fine art photography is generally photographs which photographers create to interpret it as an art, they are mainly like artists, instead of using brushes and paint to create their vision, they use the device of cameras to express the art they capture and manipulate it by playing with photoshop. In Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia states “fine art photography refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer as artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism (which provides visual support for news stories, mainly in the print media) and commercial photography (the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services)” (Wikipedia, 2011). "Until the late 1970s several genres predominated, such as; nudes, portraits, natural landscapes (exemplified by Ansel Adams)" (Wikipedia, 2011) (pictures below). Just like how Cartier-Bresson said "drawings go further than photography" when he refered to he women who came to his studio most afternoons to pose for him in the nude. Although, Cartier-Bresson is the godfather of photojournalism, but he was never interested in the photography, which at some point he is somewhat also a fine art photographer (David Friend, 2004, p. 1).

"When it comes to fine art photography, ethical standards are not even relevant. We can debate personal beliefs and the soundness of those beliefs as a cohesive set of rules governing one's photographic conduct until the end of time, but there is nothing unethical about a fine art photographer using the initial capture of the image as simply a starting point. Fine art is fine art, whether the medium is paint or pencil or clay or pixels. If you are not a photojournalist, but instead are drawn to photography by your desire to create your version of "art", then you have every right to make choices as to how best to convey your vision” (David L. Robertson, 2008). Unlike press photography, fine art photography is not trying to tell you a current real event, it is like I said earlier, your own expression of art. If you were to alter the photos, lets say the ones right under, it does not effect anyone. If it was altered, it would probably just give you a taste of another type of style of the landscape and nudity feeling.

(Steen Doessing, Stag Rock Study 4(Black Water), 2009)

(Steen Doessing, Intertidal, 2008)

(Nenad Karadjinovic, Blue, 2010)

Versus: Press photography
On the other hand, press photography is a whole different aspect compared to fine art photography. Since fine art photography is an emotion, style of an artist to express their creativity. Press photographers “take photographs to record news, current events and lifestyle stories. Their aim is to capture the best images in order to document an event, tell a story or convey a message. The pictures are then reproduced in newspapers, magazines and, increasingly, niche-market, web-based publications” (AGCAS, 2010). The sector skills council for creative media states that most of these press photographers are “skillful, diplomatic people, who work under pressure to capture the best possible images to document events, tell a story, meet the picture editor’s deadlines and help sell the newspaper” (Skill Set, 2011). Many photographers work mostly for either the local or provincial presses, they cover a variety of different topics in the newspaper, whether it is from the “court proceedings to business stories, hospital openings and village fetes”, as well as the different categories they cover, like the top news to business, entertainment, or health sections, etc.(Skill Set, 2011). Although, this is all said that press photographers need to capture photos "where the acuuracy of images is important"(Photo-Journalism Ethics in the Digital Age), however some photographers like Kertesz, care more "about the life that was going on there" instead of heroic images (Icevska, 2009, p.6). Not only do these press photographers need to be accurate, but in order to be accurate of these life-threatening events, Cartier-Bresson "believes in taking pictures while being invisible, not interrupting the scene" (Icevska, 2009, p. 15) if not things might end up differently.

There are many ethical problems for press photography because I believe that if you alter the images, the picture would not tell the exact meaning of what the photographer is trying to interpret, it most likely would be misleading. It is said that "seeing is believing for millions of people in the world and so image editing presents a problem for society in general" (Photo-Journalism Ethics in the Digital Age) and I agree with this.Why is it then so important that these particular press photos need to be manipulation/editing-free? "Even in cultures where newspapers are traditionally objective, most readers still accept that you cannot always believe what you read and that the author may have a particular bias or agenda. However, the most skeptical of readers is inclined to believe her own eyes when shown a photograph of an event. The velief that the camera never lies is widely held and readers are more likely to believe a picture than a written account" (Photo-Journalism Ethics in the Digital Age). Which is why specific associations had made codes that requires members to "photograph as honestly as possible, provide accurate captions, and never intentionally distort the truth in news photography. Never alter the content or meaning of a news photograph and prohibit subsequent alteration" (Photo-Journalism Ethics in the Digital Age). There were also a few suggestions which is tell to the readers that the images has been altered or it should be labelled as "photo-illustration". Later on there were guidelines stating that manipulations are acceptable if you only use "dodging, burning, color balancing, spotting and contrast adjustment to achieve accurate recording of that event or object" (Photo-Journalism Ethics in the Digital Age) - I guess these are acceptable because they do not rely on any ideological, moral, nor subjective judgments. If there are not any guidlines to follow then anyone can just alter photos, for example if it is a historical record of an event, then that history would be doubted, because you can not just have anyone to alter it as you like, if so wouldn't anyone can change history? None of these are to be real perhaps.

(Chen Qinggang, China, May 14 2008)

• This picture was present in the Hanzhou daily, rescue troops were carrying an earthquake survivor in the Beichuan County. It had won the first prize in the spot news singles category of the 2009 World Press Photo contest.

(Stepan Rudik, Street fighting, Kiev, Ukraine, 2010)

• The picture of earthquake survivor compared to this picture right here, is a major level. Stepan Rudik's photo had won the 3rd place in Sports Features in 2010. However, he was later on disqualified due to that the photographer digitally manipulated his work, by removing the foot right between the thumb and the fingers of the hand being bandaged. Do you think the disqualification was justified?

Here is also a link which some photographers manipulated their photos too far:

http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/10-news-photos-that-took-photoshop-too_b328#

Sources:

Press photos
Chen Qinggang http://www.mirror.co.uk/2009/02/16/world-press-photo-competition-115875-21129076/
Stepan Rudik http://www.petapixel.com/2010/03/03/world-press-photo-disqualifies-winner/#

Fine art photos
Steen Doessing http://www.steendoessing.com/Text_page.cfm?pID=2529
Nenad Karadjinovic http://www.spraygraphic.com/ViewProject/1097/normal.html

Other links

http://ww2.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/press_photographer_job_description.jsp
http://www.skillset.org/photo/careers/photographers/article_3278_1.asp
http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/PhotoEthics12.pdf
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzaG9vdGluZ3RoZXRydXRofGd4OjRmNDAzZGZlNjZmMDhkYmE http://photographybydlr.blogspot.com/2008/12/to-clone-or-not-to-clone.html http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzaG9vdGluZ3RoZXRydXRofGd4OjUyODU5MmVmMDJjMWIzZGI

Photo Manipulation: Capturing the reality

In the beginning on January, I went on a little road trip with my family, we drove all the way to Montreal to have some fun and visit my Aunt. After resting for one day, the next day we drove to Quebec City to walk around. I have never been to Quebec City before; therefore it was all very foreign to me. The moment I saw the centre of the beautiful city, all the buildings, streets and little boutiques I was amazed, because I love looking at old buildings. There is so much history about every single one of them; it is probably the oldest city in North America.

This first photo is Old Quebec City (where I was on a small slope when I took this picture), I have added several effects. First, the old paper look, because I want the picture to look like it just got printed out and where back then there was not any good quality paper like today. I added a sepia tint to make it look like the photos back in the days where there are no colours, just to give that vintage edge to it. I also sharpened this picture by a little, so that it gives more details on the buildings. The highlights of this picture has been darkened, because I think the sky is too bright and this darkened highlight is just the right tint to balance in this picture, now the buildings would not look to dark. The last effect I made to this photo is that I gave is a faded look, from dark to bright (a colourful centre) this captures the centre of the city and focuses mainly on that part.

(Original)

(By Anna Yu, Old Quebec City, Jan 2011)

(Edited)

(By Anna Yu, Old Quebec City, Jan 2011)

When we were leaving the city, heading back to Montreal, we are on the road and I saw this gorgeous scenery from the car. I just had to stop the car and go down to take a picture right away. However, I was restricted to go in the parking, or else I would probably have a better view. I had to take the picture where there were these fences/bars, but I still caught a good view.

In this second photo, the scenery of the Saint Lawrence River, I did not do much editing to the picture because I do not think that it needs too much enhancements. I played with mainly the colours, from saturation to hue, to temperature, to tint. Adjusting a little of this and a little of that, the image ended up looking like this. I wanted the colours to stand out more and making the snow whiter to make this picture warmer. Because the beauty of this photo is the landscape and there is not much to do about.

(Original)

(By Anna Yu, Saint Lawrence River, Jan 2011)

(Edited)

(By Anna Yu, Saint Lawrence River, Jan 2011)

Although, the pictures that I captured are not like most photographers in the past, where they “capture the reality going to dangerous places including wars” (Gordana Icevska, Course notes week 5). Images captured in the past are “important because they were first images taken in a combat zone, which were used for propaganda” like Roger Fenton (Gordana Icevska, Course notes week 5). However, I believe that my work is also important (even if I did not take part in the civil war to take pictures) because my pictures represent what is now present. Reality does not necessarily mean only the dangerous places are real, where we live now and what we do is reality. Reality is a part that plays the main role of our life and to capture this moment, every second we live in is something memorable and needs to be captured.

Sources:

Gordana Icevska, Photography: Shooting the truth, Module week 5 - capturing reality

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

I would say that the main differences between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today is the style and the idea of when photography was invented. Back then in the good old days, masters have a limited view of the new concept of photography, many may not accept this new invention as art because it was something new to them. The originality of a particular idea is the main focus today compared to decades ago where only paintings were called "art". However, there are still many artists/photographers today trying to get their view out to the world to let everyone see the beauty in a object - that is the similarity that will never change through time. Janurary 7th, 1839 was the day photography was created by Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre. Without this creation for visual presentations we would not have developed the photos that we have today.

Photographers back then would probably call themselves as masters because they had spent most of their lives learning how to be a professional in this industry. The time that photographers had spent in trhe 18th - 19th century in photography is very serious to them. Comparing this to now, everyone can call themselves as photographers, because as long as you have a camera you can take pictures anywhere and whatever you want. Even if one has not practiced the studies on photography they can still pick up a camera and take marvelous pictures if it is to their interests. There are no boundaries today of photography, you can basically take pictures of any object you like. For example: for myself I love to take pictures of objects, I normally do not like to have people in it. At times when I go on trips, even if it is road trip I can take pictures of the surroundings while I am in the car - whether they are trees or buildings or even road signs. Back then you would mainly just focus on portraits or landscapes.

The impact of technology was huge on photos we see in the past and today. In the past, many masters would spent hours in the dark room getting their prints the way they want and to what seems to them the perfect taste and style of the portrait. It was a very time-consuming work of art, now a days it is a lot easier than the old days, with the technology of DSLRs and digital cameras we do not need to go to the dark room to print out the pictures that we took anymore and to edit them. The precious time that photographers in the past took in their dark rooms were to create master pieces using many difficult skills to create the perfect photo, and also using all types of chemicals - (in a way they can also a chemist). "From the mid-1820s Daguerre had searched for a way to make pictures using light and chemistry". Although Daguerre has made the turn of the century on photos, now with our technology we can do anything in a split second on pictures we took on the computer. With all the programs that had been created by intelligent programmers like photoshop or softwares on Apple - these help us make our lives a lot easier to edit our photos, whether it is to crop or add effects. Not only do we have programs created to edit pictures, let's talk about cameras just by itself. The digital cameras that we have now is not just like the ones that Daguerre use to have where it is only a wood box with lens at the end. The digital cameras now provide many features - many including face detection, the contrasts, effects that you would like to add on - for example the negative-positive effect (where later on will be explained). Doesn't this kind of technology make our whole lives better and more efficient? However, some photographers like the originality of creating the perfect photo in the dark room.

Remember where I had an example above about the negative=positive effect? This is an example of how it looks when it was back in the good old days. William Henry Fox Talbot's calotype process was the first negative-positive photographic process created in the 1841s. " A sheet of good quality paper was first treated with light-sensitive silber compounds before exposure in the camera. The 'latent' image thus produced was then developed in gallo-nitrate of silver and fixed" (Waxed calotype negative).

(John Murray, The Taj Mahai, Agra, c. 1855)

With the help of photo programs this can be made, to add additional touches and effects to bring a whole different perspective on a piece.

(Peter Stubbs, St. Stephen's Church and St Vincent Bar, 2007)

Sources:

Historic Photographs http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/photographicproject/photographicprocesses.html

More about the works on view

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/French_Daguerreotypes/dawn_more.html

Daguerre and the invention of photography

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dagu/hd_dagu.html

Picture:

http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/

Excited!

Hello Everyone! How's everybody? I am Anna Yu! Nice to meet you all! Isn't it exciting? I'm ready to get a better knowledge of photography!

But first, let me tell you all a little something about me first.
I live in Markham, I had studied my first 2 post-secondary years at York University (not long ago) and have started studying at George Brown just recently a few months ago (May 2010). I changed from planning to go into teaching to now, the baking and pastry arts management. I love baking, I'm doing co-op now and loving it every second. It's great to have that feeling in which your passionate about.

I like photography, although I must be honest, I have never taken any courses regarding photography. I mean i'm very interested in learning the whole aspect and techniques but I do not have much knowledge of and I hope that this course will help me learn more about photography. Although I may not have a beautiful camera like those DSLRs but at times I love taking pictures of anything other than myself =) Whenever I get a chance to go somewhere new and special to me, I take loads of photos but its always places and things/objects. I hope whoever has experience in this field can give me some good tips on taking pictures, I would love to learn! What an excitement!!! =)