DB 11 - Presentation Week 11: Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado

By researching and examiming the work of Andre Kertész and Henri Cartier-Bresson versus Eugene Smith and Sebastio Salgado we are able to witness two distinct approaches of photojournalism. Although the job of photojournalists are all the same, which is stating the truth and the facts of a particular event through photography; here we will explore the distinct types of approaches by some very famour photographers. 

Andre Kertész and Cartier-Bresson both stand for what they believe in. Their belief is that a photographer needs to be unseen, that the  should be no where in sight. In that way you get to see the photograph for what it really is , raw and true. By remaining unseen there are no other objects or factors to disturb the photograph in any way, shape or form. 

                   Srinagar, Kashmir, 1948 by Cartier-Bresson photograph of Muslim women was taken on the slopes of Hari Parbat 

                                                 Hill as they pray while the sun rises behind the Himalayas. 

Cartier-Bresson  who was considered the god father of photojournalism  was born in 1908. He is known for his ability to catch decisive movement or“snap shooting”, as well as his enjoyment for painting. He was able to capture the moment, and to freeze the reality on the pictures, just by feeling it. “Look at the atmosphere, the reflection. Why did I do it this way? Instinct. I have no other explanation. The subject offered itself to me and I took advantage”. (Icevska)  

                                               Kertesz: Landing pigeon, New York City, 1990 by Andre Kertesz

Above is a photograph that was taken by Andre Kertész. He explains how he managed to capture the "decisive moment." "Time and time again I went back to the same place, but it was never right.

                                                                The Wake, Spanish Village, 1951, W. Eugene Smith                         

 The Wake, Spanish Village, 1951, W. Eugene Smith

 The Wake, Spanish Village, 1951, W. Eugene SmithThe Wake, Spanish Village, 1951, W. Eugene Smith

                                                              Gourma-Rharous Mali, 1985 by Sebastio Salgado
                                “It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their  humanness.”

When looking at the work of Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson versus the work of Eugene Smith and Sebastio Salgado the similarities would be capturing of events that occurs around us or infront of us. All are capturing the truth in their eyes and sending the viewers their own message. The differences would be Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson both tries to stay low while they're shooting; therefore, allowing the end result to not be affected by their appearance. While Eugene Smith and Sebastio Salgado alert their shooting subject and developing a close relation with them; in  another words they are the opposite of A. Kertesz and H. Cartier-Bresson. We could also define them as one side were shooting a truth image and the other side as fake image or far from truth image.Its basically shooting from 2 different worlds.

What’s the better journalistic approach? 

I believe that the better journalistic approach would be to stay low or rather invisible. Since it's for journal/news and the main purpose for these photos were to display the truth. As we also discussed in our past discussion that the truth is the truth; it should never be alternated in any ways.

Work Cited:

"About W. Eugene Smith." American Masters. Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 18 APR 2002. Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/w-eugene-smith/about-w-eugene-smith/707/>

"Andre Kertesz." Photography Now. International Fine Art Photography Index, n.d. Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www.photography-now.net/listings/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=363&Itemid=334%29>.

Friend, David. "Cartier-Bresson's Decisive Moment." Digital Journalist Dec 2004: n. pag. Web. 14 Nov 2010.

Icevska, Gordana. "‘From today painting is dead’ or let’s paint with the camera." Shooting the truth: How Photographs in the media betray us 04 NOV 2009: 20-39. Web. 14 Nov 2010.

Icevska, Gordana. "The world of Photographers and Photojournalists." Shooting the truth: How Photographs in the media betray us 29 OCT 2009: 3-17. Web. 14 Nov 2010.

Photo Credit:

Andre Kertesz
Landing pigeon, New York City:
"Photographers Gallery"-http://www.photographersgallery.com/photo.asp?id=2893
Carnival, Paris:
"Andre Kertesz: On Reading"-http://homepage.mac.com/curatorial1/Kertesz%20web%20gallery/

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Srinagar, Kashmir, 1948: 
"After Image"- http://www.afterimagegallery.com/bressonsrinagarnew1.htm
Séville, 1933:
"Nouvelles Images"-
http://www.nouvellesimages.com/Seville--1933_Henri-CARTIER-BRESSON_art~PH2467_id~cartespostales_mode~zoom


Eugene Smith
The Wake, Spanish Village
"Artnet"-http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424021118/the-wake-spanish-village.html

Sebastio Salgado
Refugees in the Korem camp:
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/salgado/salgado_covers_full.html
Gourma-Rharous Mali, 1985:
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/salgado/salgado_mali_full.html
Reindeer graze on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula:
"Environment of Man"- 
http://www.environmentofman.com/2009/05/sebastiao-salgado-the-great-humanitarian-photographer-of-our-time/         

Press Photography vs Art Photography

Press photography mainly deals with the capturing of images that are used for news,documentations,entertainment and lifestyle stories for publicaton.Their main purpose is to capture the audience by showing the emotions of the images and trying to portray what it is like for the people in the photographs.When these photos are taken they are then altered, in this way it is no longer the original and then published in newspapers and magazines.

 

           Rescuers help survivors after Earthquske in Sichuan, China By :Bo Bor 

               http://www.mirror.co.uk/2009/02/16/world-press-photo-competition-115875-21129076/ 

When dealing with press photography, you have to be creative and make your photos believable, while following various types of codes of  ehtichs and guidelines. Photographers must also ensure that there are mixtures of validity and reliabiltiy.

 

     Photographer Carlos F. Gutierrez, Patagonia Press for Diario La Tercera, showing Chaiten volcano erupts, Chile, May 2, 2008

                       http://www.mirror.co.uk/2009/02/16/world-press-photo-competition-115875-21129076/ 

In contrast to press photography, art photography is somewhat more difficult to define. Technically there is no definition of art photography because art is looked at in many different ways. People have many ways of viewing art and art can only be determined based on a person. Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses and emotion (Wikipedia), Persoally I think we can define art based on what we see, based on what the books says that art is not. It is not like commercial photography, in that it is not produced to sell a product or promote an image. It is not journalistic in nature where a photograph is taken to capture or tell a visual story that coincides with a written one.

 

                                                        Nadar Terror  http://www.amadelio.com/vlog/tag/diane-arbus/

Instead art photography is more treasured, to some people more valuable. It can also be viewed as artistic and interesting. (e.g Old antique buildings, landscapes,natural elements). Whereas press photography cannot been altered and edited art photography are usually are edited. Alterations are not acceptable in press photography, because it represents the reality. Alterations are used in art photography, because it is fiction. Photographer choose to keep the original photo and not have to many of that copies so that they can be sold at a higher auctioned price.

 It is very hard to distinguish between the 2 types of photographs, because they do look alike at times. For instance the photograph can be looked at as a Press photographed of a very rare flower, instead it is an art photograph. I think it is very unethical to alter Art photographs, the fact being that art is suppose to be original. And by editing the images to me it is no longer art. Press photograph on the other hand can be altered to sell the story or to improve the qulaity.

 

 

In general, press photography provides the audience with facts about present events that are taking place around the world.  The audiences are then able to make their own judgment based on the written news and the image accompanying it. It provides them with the validity of the event and a personal connection to the subjects of the news story as well. 

Art photography is like any other form of art.  Art photographers similar to painters are free to express their artistic vision and feelings through their unlimited resources and techniques. The image does not have to be related to any media event- the image can be of anything and everything.

Work Cited 

Westbrook, D. (2007). A brief history of photojournalism. Retrieved on November 13th, 2010 from  http://www.photographyschools.com/photojournalismhistory.htm

Wikipedia contributors, . "Press photography." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia., 27Jan2009. Web. 13 Nov 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Press_photography&oldid=26675030

http://www.mirror.co.uk/2009/02/16/world-press-photo-competition-115875-21129076/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/2009/02/16/world-press-photo-competition-115875-21129076/

http://www.amadelio.com/vlog/tag/diane-arbus/

http://www.scanner-magic.com/scanography-fine-art-photography.html

Shooting the Truth: Photojournalism

  David Bracho Photojournalism 

What would the world be like if all we had were a bunch of newspapers with stories that included only words? Wouldn't that be less appealing, less encouraging for people to read?  This is where photojournalism plays an important role, photographs are included in newspapers and  magazines so that it can  tell stories and make everything believeable or seem accurate. Photojournalism is a form of journalism where people (edit, collect and present material for broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. In some cases a photo can tell a story just by looking at it, but adding a story to a photographs makes it alot more interesting.

There are rules that photojournalist should follow, they must tell it as it is and must not change or alter the story of photographs. They  must not mislead the audience in any way or edit the photographs in a negative way that would totally change the story. From where I stand I think that the rules are there for a reason, if there were no rules photojournalist would be able to do what they want with the photographs and the stories.

Basically the ethics  of taking journalistic photos and ethics of writing a story are the same, there are rules and guidelines that are to be followed. All photojournalists have to respect the images and tell the truth of the photographs. Altering press photographs can result in both positive and negative effects in terms of ethics of photo journalistic. Nothing is wrong in altering a photograph to improve the quality as long as the audience can still see the story behind the photograph. By editing a picture, people may view it differently and it may be wise to keep the original for accuracy. In this diverse society there are many views when you look at photojournalism and thats what makes it interesting.

 


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