INTRODUCTION
This essay will discuss and compare two different styles of taking a photograph. The first part of this essay will in depth look into and explore more about spontaneous photography and how Bressons view on the decisive moment is relevant in this matter. In the second part this essay will go deeper in to the narrative world of staged photography. The opposite of a candid and spontaneous photograph. The two genre of photography are far from each other, but where goes the line between the one or the other, and can they ever overlap each other? Gregory Crewdson is an American photographer famous for his dark and silent cinematic images of the American suburb. His images could almost be called the definition of staged photography
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As Westerbeck and Meyerowitz says ”The spontaneous and arty motivated photography at public places which is influenced by issues which can be assigned since the beginning of photography”
Henri Cartier Bresson was born in the 1908 in France and is called the father of photojournalism and the decisive moment. He was considered to be one of the most influential photojournalists, and helped develop street photography. In his book with the same name - The Decisive Moment -he claims that there is nothing in this world that doesn’t have a decisive moment:
”‘Manufactured’ or staged photography does not concern me. And if I make a judgment it can only be on a psychological or sociological level. There are those that take photographs arranged beforehand and those who go out to discover the image and seize it. For me the camera is a sketchbook, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to ‘give a meaning’ to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, and a sense of
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A raw and powerful image that became world famous and also gave him the Pulitzer Prize in 1969. But in fact, the image was arranged and sort of staged. The execution was supposed to have taken place indoors, but for the photographers to get a better shot with better lightning, the Police Chief chose another location for the execution. Even though the killing of Nguyen Van Lem, also known as Bay Lop, took place, the story behind the image was
For Emerson, the reticent beauty of nature was the motivator. To him, photography should be recognized because its still-life beauty was able to persuade the public’s appreciation of the life and nourishment
Johnson, Brooks. Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers on their Art.” New York: Aperture Foundation Inc., 2004. Print.
“The documentary tradition as a continually developing “record” that is made in so many ways, with different voices and vision, intents and concerns, and with each contributor, finally, needing to meet a personal text” (Coles 218). Coles writes “The Tradition: Fact and Fiction” and describes the process of documenting, and what it is to be a documentarian. He clearly explains through many examples and across disciplines that there is no “fact or fiction” but it is intertwined, all in the eye of the maker. The documentarian shows human actuality; they each design their own work to their own standards based on personal opinion, values, interest and whom they want the art to appeal to. Coles uses famous, well-known photographers such as Dorthea Lange and Walker Evans, who show the political angle in their documentations and the method of cropping in the process of making the photo capture exactly what the photographer wants the audience to view. In this paper I will use outside sources that support and expand on Coles ideas with focus on human actuality, the interiority of a photograph, and the emotional impact of cropping.
As the camera’s popularity grew, the use of it shifted from an art form into a social rite, a statement of authority and security. The act of taking photographs, and the photos produced, act as mementos or proof of the past. Photographs summarize an event all within itself, creating an immortal piece, allowing the people to grasp onto the ownership of area in which they feel insecure. On the other hand, Sontag states that the deed of taking photographs occupies the same need for “cosmopolitans […] as it does for lower-middle-class [citizens]”(177). With that being said, how can there be any power at all in photography, but a fake sensation we created from the act of photography to fill our insecurities. By tapping into the insecurities of the readers, Sontag forces them to connect with the words and consider their actions relating to photography more
In the chapter, “The Mirror with a Memory”, the authors, James Davidson and Mark Lytle, describe numerous things that evolved after the civil war, including the life of Jacob Riis, the immigration of new peoples in America, and the evolution of photography. The authors’ purpose in this chapter is to connect the numerous impacts photography had on the past as well as its bringing in today’s age.
“Alternatively it might be the case that an every day observation, some small ordinary event, which when isolated, framed in the camera and re-presented to the viewer, can take on a different and worthwhile quality.”
Most photographers have a statement in mind and look for a picture that expresses it. Erwitt observes what life wants to say and then records it so others can hear. For me this is what photography is about. I believe a scene should inspire you not be staged. Like Erwitt’s work I try to take pic...
The camera is presented as a living eye in her work, capable of bending and twisting, contorting reality in its own light. It is at the same time a sensuous device, one that exp...
As seen in paintings of battle scenes and portraits of wealthy Renaissance aristocracy, people have always strived to preserve and document their existence. The creation of photography was merely the logical continuum of human nature’s innate desire to preserve the past, as well as a necessary reaction to a world in a stage of dramatic and irreversible change. It is not a coincidence that photography arose in major industrial cities towards the end of the nineteenth century.
Whereas men had a so-called “head-start” with painting and sculpture, photography was pioneered by and equally associated with both genders. Sexualized images of women circulated via mass media. Described as a voyeuristic medium, photography was a powerful tool in deconstructing the male gaze and bringing private moments into the public domain (Bonney 1985: 11).
Women desire to become beautiful and powerful, even if they don’t say it in words. And the Photographer plays with that concept and creates that desire, that you can become that person you see in the photograph. And live that lifestyle. Photographers use techniques from the cinema/cinematic, to create the desire of viewers/Buyer/Consumers. The cinematic techniques made it possible the way people lived and the...
"History of photography and photojournalism.." History of photography and photojournalism.. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. .
By definition street photography is art that shows human beings in different conditions, good or bad, around public areas. It is believed that street photography originated in Paris. The city of Paris helped to define street photography as a genre. In the Unit...
Photojournalism plays a critical role in the way we capture and understand the reality of a particular moment in time. As a way of documenting history, the ability to create meaning through images contributes to a transparent media through exacting the truth of a moment. By capturing the surreal world and presenting it in a narrative that is relatable to its audience, allows the image to create a fair and accurate representation of reality.
In Sontag’s On Photography, she claims photography limits our understanding of the world. Though Sontag acknowledges “photographs fill in blanks in our mental pictures”, she believes “the camera’s rendering of reality must always hide more than it discloses.” She argues photographs offer merely “a semblance of knowledge” on the real world.