Henri Cartier Bresson-The Decisive Moment

Henri Cartier Bresson was born in 1908 in Chanteloup, France. He traveled around the world photographing culture and war. He was a major artist of the twentieth century. He went to school in Paris and Cambridge University to study the arts. He photographed in Africa and loved to photograph with a naturalist style- no artificial lights or props. In the 1930 he had work in Mexico, New York and Madrid galleries. 

Alfred Stieglitz-Photography as Art

http://www.phillipscollection.org/research/american_art/bios/stieglitz-bio.htm

Alfred Stieglitz was born in 1864 and died in 1946. He influenced modern art in early twentieth century America. He was born in New Jersey but moved to Manhattan and Germany during his life. He learned about photography by taking a photochemistry class and began his interest in photography. He managed and edited Camera Notes in New York and was apart of the Camera Club. He founded three New York galleries where he exhibited the work of other artists. He did a series of cloud photographs. He married Georgia O'Keeffe. During the thirties he slowed and stopped photographing to die.

W Eugene Smith

Steelworker, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1955 by W. Eugene Smith. [1280x926]

• introduced to photography by his mother and after his father committed suicide he became obsessed 
• at a young age a local newspaper hired him
• wanted pictures to show the terrible aspects of war
• photo jounalist 
• he had strict ethical values he would not break
• photographed images of suffering 
• He photographed 26 carrier combat missions and 13 invasions 
• he immersed himself in his subjects (unlike most other photojournalists)
• he resigned from Life magazine because he wanted more rights over his images
• he did photo essays (one was over 11,000 photos of Pittsburgh

Can a single photograph affect the world for change?

I think that one photograph can be extremely impactful and make people think or change their ways. Say for instance a graphic image of a war is released to the public. People would start protesting the war and possibly make a change to stop the war. I do think there is a limit to how much an image can change the world because not everyone will see that image or care or decide to make a change because of the seeing that image. Large problems cannot be solved with one picture but they can be improved and work it toward a solution.

Project 5: Light Shadow and Reflections

Silhouette: Pinterest

Brassaï

Backlit: Pinterest

Johan van der Keuken

If this image was taken with the metering on the darker areas such as the back of the person or wall then the light would be blown out. The detail in the curtain would become white and detail would be seen more in the darker areas such as the wall and the back of the person. The balance of the picture would be lost and would become less interesting if the artist chose to take the image this way. 

Reflections: Pinterest

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Shadow: Pinterest

Matteo Angelotti

André Kertész