Portraiture

Portrait photography, is a photography that shows a persons likeness and/or personality. It can be of any style, show just the head or even the whole body, but the main characteristics is it tells something about the person. The opposite would be figurative that treats the subject as an object, or a piece of art. Figurative photos concentrate on shape and form and texture whereas portraits concentrate on personality and "storytelling".





Diane Arbus
Was born on March 14 1923, Died on July 26 197. She was a gifted photographer who achieved fame ans some notoriety from her images of people who are emotionally or physically aggrieved. Some of her work include awkward adolescents, tattooed roughnecks, sex orgies, and persons she called "freaks" in a matter of fact way without deprecation. She lived and worked in New York City. Perhaps her most famous image is of a giant (a man about 8 feet tall) stooping beside his parents little more than half his height. The very tall man looks a bit frightening, and all have a startled, almost pained expression on their faces.

Diana Arbus was a unique and a gifted photographer she had a unique idea, to photograph people she would simply capture a photo of people who are different from other people, which means that people you would not expect see everyday and see them in our society. A couple of these examples are shown here below. In order for her to get these photographs she would simply travel places to different town and cities and find these fascinating people and capture the moment when she sees one.

      

Portraiture photography has been round since kings and queens were around, since then the development of portraiture had risen and has grown into something unique. We all can see this by glancing at portraiture paintings which may be 100 of years ago and if we see today we can see a huge difference between now and then. A classic example of this is of George Washington, this picture below is shown we may not know who had done this beautiful image but this does not matter, we just may want to know about how its changed throughout the year and maybe the technique used, these versions of portrait painting has now changed and we may now refer to this as portraiture. An example of this is from a famous photographer called Diana Arbus, as shown below.





We can all see changes and contrasts between these two pictures. One of the most major changes is that one is black and white, and the other is coloured. Also, one has been drawn and the other has been captured on a leica camera. 

Photojournalism Part 2

Robert Capa

Born on October 22nd 1913, Died on May 25th 1954. He was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who has covered and photographed five different wars. These were:

• Spanish Civil War 
• Second Sino-Japanese War 
• World War 2 
• 1948 Arab-Israeli War 
• First Indochina War

Robert Capa in Spain, using a filmo 16mm movie camera.

Robert Capa would risk his life in order to capture the correct action of photos, so that the entire globe can see and get a close up glimpse, of how it was like during the war. He also had to plan ahead in order to use his cameras as there were limited film inside the camera as their could only be 32 films in which it can fit in, which meant that he can only take 32 photos of war and its surroundings, which may had let a bit of pressure on him. Robert had rose fame for himself this was by standing right in the centre of huge explosions and firings in order to capture the decisive moment. One of his famous rules were get closer and getting more closer, this had showed the passion towards photography and to bring out a whole new meaning towards the war and the  photos taken, in which it had left everyone speechless.

The falling man


One of these photos were when during 1936-1939 he was in spain photographing the horrors that happened in the Spainsh civil war. In 1936 he became well known across thew whole world for taking the famous photo known as the "Falling Soilder" photo. There have also been many long controversy about this photo if it was taken falsely or if it was staged in any way.


Roger Fenton

Roger fenton

Born on 28th March 1819, Died on 8th August 1869  English, and one of the most influential and important photographers of the mid-19th century, exhibiting more widely and prolifically than any other of the period. His landscape and architectural studies were highly regarded and often referred to by critics as points of reference to which all other photographers should aspire.



Despite this formal education, Fenton's real ambition was to become an artist, and using an inheritance from his grandfather he was able to train in both Paris and London, submitting three studies to the Royal Academy between 1848 and 1851. This training and experience distinguished Fenton's career as a photographer and set him apart from many of his contemporaries.



Unlike his other friends, Fenton never felt constrained to stick to one distinct photographic genre. Instead he moved freely from portraiture, narrative tableaux, documentary sequences, landscape and topographical studies, and elaborate still life studies made in his studio. He used large-format plates to make impressive studies of architecture, and the stereoscopic camera for more intimate studies in the third dimension. Commercially his work occupied the top end of the market where it was widely sold by leading printsellers, most notably by Thomas Agnew & Sons, of Manchester and London, the firm that underwrote his expedition to photograph the Crimean War in 1855. Fenton remained consistent in his love of the British landscape and the history it enfolded. Each summer he photographed in locations revered for their ruined abbeys, cathedrals, castles, romantic associations, and literary connotations. These are now considered to be among the finest architectural and topographical studies of the 19th century.

Tony Vaccaro
Born on 20th December 1922. He is also a great photographer who is best known for taking world war 2 pictures during 1944 and 1945.


German soilder returns home - Tony Vaccaro

Tony Vaccaro is one of the best photographers and one of the respected. Vaccaro also fought in the war as a private in the 83rd division infantary division of the US army in Germany. His day to day task was a scout, but in his spare free time he would had left him to take day to day photos. Towards the end of the war in Europe, Vaccaro had became an offcial photographer for the divisions newspaper. In September he was discharged from the army. These two photographs display one of his finest works, together these two images shows the moments being captured which could be joyous or devastating many of his photographs were the beginning of his photography career.

 

Photojournalism Part 1

Henri Cartier-Bresson 
He was a french photographer, he is also mostly known as the godfather of photojournalism born on Aug 22nd 1908, died on Aug 3rd 2004. Henri Cartier-Bresson was a serialist and a stalker of life, he was always in the right place at the right time and he would spend most of his time waiting in areas in order to capture a decisive moment, and to capture an image that would influence and inspire the whole world. Henri Cartier-bresson was also the early adopter of the 35mm format, and the master of candid photography. He had also helped develope "Street Photography" that has influced future generations who had followed in his foot steps.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

The Decisive Moment
The decisive moment is simply "being at the right place at the right time", which means that capturing the moment in mid-air , and before it happening a second later. A classic and a famous example of this is when a guy is jumping over a large puddle, as shown below. If this image has happened a second later then it would not be a decisive moment. So, it is the moment which is in mid-air and before the next second just before it actually happening. For, example we know ourselves that if he captured the image after it happening then it would not be a decisive moment. Every image he captures and takes has a definite meaning to it, or a purpose for the audience to realise and to see. Once Henri Cartier-Bresson had taken this photo he could not capture it after it happening mainly because of the camera where you had to wait 8 minutes in order to caputure an another image, which was back in 1922.

The Leica Camera
The leica camera AG, is a german optics comapany that produces leica cameras. Oskar Barnack's genius idea of creating the smallest format of 35mm camera that created a revolution in photography in 1925. His unique idea which was diminutive, lightweight leica had offered a new, freedom to the whole world in reportage and artistic photography. From that day onwards to today, leica has had influenced millions on our view of the world we live in. And, had also made all of us to re-think photography and had made us change our minds on particular aspects, for example as shown below there is an image that had influenced the world and had made us realise and to see how images being captured at the right time can change our views on many things. Just as Henri Cartier-Bresson, once said " To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It's a way of life." The image just below shows the execution of a prisoner, the mad died really after being shot in the head by south Vietnam police officer Lt. Colonel Nygen Ngoc Loan, Saigon Chief  of police. After, this image was seen throughout the years it has definitely changes our minds and views on the South Vietnamese police.   

As a photographer, it is a definitive part of your learning process to understand the decisive moment .

"The decisive moment, it is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organisation of forms which gives that events its proper expression." - Henri Cartier-Bresson
Off from via Wikipedia.