Presentation Week 5: From Roger Fenton's combat photographs to Robert Capa's war photography

Similarities and differences

The similarity between all the photographers is that they are war photographers. They capture images of armed conflict and life in war-torn areas. Roger Fenton took photographs of Crimean war in 1855, Alexander Gardner and Mathew Brady took photographs of American Civil war and Robert Capa took photography of Spanish Civil war.

 Roger Fenton. Col. Doherty, Officers and  Men, 13th Light Dragoons

Roger Fenton was one of the great photographers in the mid of 1800 for works of art on Crimean war. Due to the size and cumbersome nature of his photographic equipment he was only able to produce pictures of unmoving objects, mostly posed pictures. But he also photographed the landscape. Fenton avoided making pictures of dead, injured or mutilated soldiers[1].

A sharpshooter's last sleep, Gettysburg

Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter

Alexander Gardner and Mathew Brady’s photographs have some similarities in style, due to Gardner worked for Brady for several years. When they began photographing Civil war, they frequently rearranged scenes. Gardner was known to place a rifle beside a body to improve a photo’s composition[2]. At Gettyburg, one of his subjects even performed double duty:  In A Sharpshooter's Last Sleep, he was a Union soldier, in Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, a Southerner. Gardner, unphased by the death and destruction around him, dragged the body 40 yards on a blanket and cocked the corpse's head toward the camera for the second shot. Brady, for his part, once inserted the image of an absentee officer into a group portrait and then reshot the picture. 

Soldier guarding arsenal Washington DC, 1862

Most famous photography of Capa is “Falling soldier” Looking at Capa’s photography during the war, it shows a lot of peoples actions and expressions. All shots were taken up close to capture the action or expression[3]. 

 Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, Cerro Muriano, September 5, 1936.

Gardner, Fenton and Brady took more optimistic outlook when shooting their photographs. Fenton, Gardner, and Brady were all known to shoot more landscape style photos, which failed to prove the true pain and agony which war entails. Though it can be argued that Brady shared more similarities in style with Capa because he took many photographs of dead soldiers, Capa's were more action styled which set him apart. The photo of the Falling Solider was the one photo that was not meant to shock people, but gave viewers a image of the realities of war.

Juyung Bae - 100662916
Michael Wong - 100664311
Jasmine Wu - 100666507

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[1] History of art: history of photography. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.all-art.org/history658_photography4-2.html

[2] Kulman, Linda. (2001). Dodging bullets and editors. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/photography/war.html

[3] Whelan, Richard. (2002). Robert capa - in love and war. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/robert-capa/in-love-and-war/47/

Topic 1: The role of portraits in the early days of photography and portraits

1. What are main differences and similarities between portraits in the early days of photography and portraits today?

One of the main differences between portraits between the early days of photography and portraits today is what the portrait conveys. In the early days portraits showed signs of higher social status. Today we can take portraits of our families, which convey a different message: capturing a moment in time.

2. Who was the photographer and who was the subject of photographs in the past and today?

 In the past many photographers were people that took their profession very seriously. Because of the rarity of having a camera and the size of the cameras, photographers would have held shops. Well-established people would go into these stores and get their portrait taken. Compared to today, the camera is more accessible to people and are more portable. Today photographs are used to publish news and document history (minor or significant). From natural disasters to kids celebrating a birthday party they are all capturing a moment in time.

3. What was the impact on technology on the portraits in the past and today?

Technology has a huge part in portraits today. The digital camera, phone camera and the Internet are the three main technological develops that come to my mind. In the past it was very difficult to show portraits in a large scale. Now with the help of the digital age it is as simple as a point a click. In a matter of minutes a picture can be viewed hundreds of times. Also it allows for information to be relayed and felt more quickly. What I mean is the story of the Oil spill can be described in words but one large picture of a bird covered in oil says it all.

Assignment 3 Photo Manipulation Assignment

Before I started the assignment I had an idea to manipulate the photograph into something similar to a painting.  I had the mindset to emulate the same ideas as Alfred Stieglitz in his 1892 picture “The Terminal”. From what I learned in this picture I tried to do what a pictorialist would do. I choose a simple scene, and decide to make the mask the man is holding the focal point.

The first photograph I choose is a screen cap of a scene in The Dark Knight. Things I adjusted were: Colour to Black and white, soft focus, filled a bit of light, I angled the picture so the mask is upright and the focus of the picture. I also wanted to recreate a picture that was taken by a SLR camera and developed in a dark room. Therefore I made a film grain look to it in order to give the viewer a sense of film grain on the light sensitive paper. I also put most of the background and even the man out of focus in order to ensure that the first thing the view sees in the picture is the mask. This also reduced chaos in the picture but making the background out of focus. On top of that a little orange feathering was on the mask so that it pops out of the picture a bit.

 

 

So to further explain each alteration of the picture I need to explain the thought process. For the black and white change I decided to do this in order to create less distraction or chaos in the picture and for the view. I find that the fewer colours can have more of a dramatic effect on the viewer. Next with the soft focus, this was done to reduce the traffic in the background. Like I stated before this was done to keep the viewer fixated at the center of the photo first. With the angling, this was done to make the mask upright.

Due to my limited resources, skills and the program’s options I could not express what I wanted to do to the photo in my full potential.  Therefore it was difficult to work on a photograph in a way a pictorialist would, which is expressing myself.