Henri Cartier Bresson-The Decisive Moment

Who was Henri Cartie Bresson:
Henri was a frech photgrapher whos spontaneous photos helped establish photojournalism as an art form. Always seen with his camera, he is knows as one of the most influential photgraphers of the 20th century. He was the oldest of five children and his family was wealthy, he was educated in Paris and soon developed his love for both photgraphy and literature. In later years he traveled to Africa to hunt both Antelope and Boar he regained his interest in potography and enjoyed taking shots moreso then printing them. His ideas remained he same for most of his life, loving the natrual beauty of the image and not thinking it needed any croping or enhancing.

The Decisive Moment means that thier is a single instance the meaning of an event was most clearly represented graphically. It was the responsibility of the phtographer to capture that representation. It refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself. Bresson made such a big impact on photography due to his abilities to capture such moments. He said two key factors played in to knowing when to take the shot, knowing and intuition. Knowing requires constant attention and it’s intentional while intuition is soly based on instinct. 

Some of his famous work: 

I really like all these photos, not only can you see the decisive moment clearly, it feels like your almost apart of the photo due to it being so spontaneous; as if you’re spying.  My favorite photo may be the first one. I love how happy the single persons seems so happy in comparison to the couple. I also think it’s a beautiful photo witht he Effiel Tower in the background.

Alfred Stieglitz-Photography as Art- His life and famous piecies

Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was incredibly influential in making photgraphy an accepted fine art form over his 50 year career. He also ran some New York art galeries in the 20’s and was married to Georgia O’keeffe. He was very brights atttending a private school until his junior year of highschool and then went to school in Germany for his last year. He then went off to study mechanical engineering in Berlin  wich is where he was first introduced to photogrpahy. He enrolled in a chemistry class that researched the chemistry of photography. He then submitted work for a holiday contest in a British Magazine named “ Amateur Photographer” where he recieved first for this piece. 

His brother helped him buy a buisness and from their he worked soly on photgroahy and ended up getting a job at the Ameteur photgrapher, writing, regularly. Over all his work showed a great master of technacality; he had tone, texture and revealed different ideas. His later work show a decline in pictorial photogrpahy and a rise about the modern world. 

Here are some of his most famous works:

I choose a variety of pictures, I like the last photo of his wifes hands, though it has a really creepy almost possesed feel to it. I also really like “ To Hold the Moment” the tress with the lights. The two photos are similar in the sense that their both dark and mostly only have two colors. 

 

Light, Shadow, and Reflection Pictures

These photos were taken when Michiko and I experimented with the project and had Bella as our model. We tried different background with the lights off in the room and got some really interesting photos with some cool shadows, light and reflection. I really like how they all turned out because thier different and show different backgrounds. My favorite picture has to be the last one. I love the background with the light reflecting off her face. The shutters in the back also complete the photo, wich is intersting because at first I was going to crop it out. 

Light, Shadow, Reflection Contact sheet and some pictures taken over Winter Break

This picture I actually took over winter break, but it works as a silhouette wich is really nice. I like how you can see the brisels on the tree and the sharp contrast between the black fern and white background. I also like the grass which is visible but doesn’t draw to much attention. 

Does one single picture have the power to evoke a message?

When thinking about this I automatically want to say yes because a picture is worth a thousand words; and I truly believe that. From a picture, any picture, you get a sense of emotion from the person, a mood or tone even if it's unintentional and causes the viewer to think. I believe many pictures that evoke a message and make people think usually are depressing, they have to do with war, poverty, death, racism, and sexism... yet maybe why they convey a message is because it's an image of something we don't want to believe. A powerful image I can think of that evokes a message has to be the one of the three fire fighters on 9/11 raising up the American flag. Not only does it show hope it unified America, into believing we can make it through tough times. The picture captured an image of the World changing; during that moment I'm sure national security became stricter, more laws were enforced, besides the fact that people were scared of flying. But the picture more importantly, shows a stark contrast of hope and destruction. Not only do you think of the poor people who died, but the families that were affected. Sadly as I said; it was a terrorist attack on our land but this picture captures the beauty of America and that fact that we will move on.