Capture the Memories: 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