DB 11

Eugene Smith and Sebastio Salgado always took their pictures with their subjects aware of their presence. Also Smith enjoyed correcting/ manipulating his photographs in the dark room. Smith would give more exposure time on some parts of the picture and less time on other parts. This creates a great black and white contrast and therefore creates a sharper focal point for the viewer. Salgado on the other hand would befriend his subjects and therefore create a relationship with them. He stated “by spending more time with people, he is able to see their suffering and strength, which approaches at times a spiritual ascendancy.”

On the other hand Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson needed to be invisible when taking the pictures.

In my personal opinion I believe that Andre and Henri have the best approach in terms of a photojournalist stand point. In many of my pass assignments I have written for this online course, I’ve stated my distain for altered/staged photographs. Photographs have a lot sway in the public especially in the print media.

DB 9

The role of photojournalism is huge today. It can alter decisions made by governments, give politicians the extra bump in the elections, and it could effect people’s perceptions on a topic.  Photojournalism is to record what is happening not what the photographer thinks should happen. Photojournalists absolutely have rules to follow because if they are doing apiece about crime and they stage a scene, this can create a large impact on the viewer. The first thing a reader of the newspaper is going to see is the large picture right in the middle. From there they probably already passed judgment and established a mindset before reading the article.

 The ethics behind photos and an article is the same. Both the photographer and the writer have to report what they see and hear. Altering press photographs should not be edited at all. According to the slides “journalists must not alter their images because their role is to report about various events and inform the audience about facts.”

DB 6

The reason the project has significant impact on the society is that it gave a perception of depth to how bad the impact was. Like that old saying goes: A picture speaks a thousand words.  In most of the pictures you see how the people interacted, such as the signs depicting segregation. These pictures allow you to compare the current society norms that you are in to what they had. Which in returns gives some of these pictures more of an impact to the viewer.

In terms of the Migrant Mother it depicts what everyone went through during the migratory farm labor and the great depression. You can see in the mother’s eyes the large amount of despair and sadness in the two children. The mother in the picture seems very uncertain with her future. When you compare this picture to today, it shows you how bad they had it. 

Virtual Essay

Option 2: Find (online) at least FIVE images that remind you of the work of a particular photographer of your choice. Write 600 words analyzing the similarities and possible impact your photographer had on these images. You should explain the most important aspects of the work of the photographer you have chosen. Post the assignment on your blog/website and submit the link through WebCT Assignments.

Andy Biggs

At first I didn’t know which photographer I was going to base this assignment on. As I was scouring the Internet I came across a very interesting picture. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies, which is The Lion King. This led me to find a famous photographer that focuses his work on the African wildlife. The photographer Andy Biggs is known for his black and white safari photography of the wildlife and landscapes but he also takes colour photos also. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Biggs) 

The photograph that led me to the photographer Andy Biggs. Notice how the sky dominates the background.

Andy was born in 1969 in Houston, Texas. Andy’s deep passion for photographing the safari has made him a great teacher. He offers photography classes, which not only teaches you about lighting, photography, etc, but Andy teaches you about the wildlife and culture. He also inspires people to pursue their passions; Andy only started shooting in 2000. Andy has accomplished being the wildlife photographer of the year in 2008.

Most of Andy's photos show the intensity, power and beauty of the safari. I will be examining five of his photo below In the many photos I witnessed of Andy's, there seems to be a common theme. The theme is that there is always an asymmetrical positive to negative ratio. What I mean is the background is always either dominant by sky or land. Andy does this to create a sharper focus on the main "targets" in the foreground.

The photo above perfectly describes my point in the previous paragraph. Essentially what Andy did was he purposely took the picture so that the blue sky dominates the picture. That way the brown in the Wildebeest stood out. For such a calm picture in the background it creates a beautiful scene of raw power coming from the Wildebeests.

In the picture above it is a perfect example of Andy's black and white work. Again he dominates the picture with the sky creating the negative space that I talked about. What is so great and in line with his style is he creates pictures so have the viewer a depth of perception. As you can see he shows you the massive tree which is being compared to the giraffe.

The photo above this time is different from the ones I talked about before. The difference is his use of positive space in this African scenery. He allows the safari landscape encapsulate this photo which creates a sense of great depth. This photo shows that the Safari is a mysterious place and the hot air balloon shows it is very calm and quiet.

Andy did a fantastic job capturing the essences of strength and beauty in the Hippos above. As you can see in this photo he made the background out of focus and the foreground the most dominate. Having no colour in this picture help Andy's viewers focus on the power of the hippo's movement. As you can see the strength of the hippo's movement which caused the water to show up beautifully in the black and white photo.

The last photograph I have from Andy Gibbs is one of the stampeding zebra. What is amazing about this photo is that the only thing you can see is the zebras. The viewers can't see the background or foreground due to the dust. He perfectly kept the one zebra in focus while the others are blurred. This creates a sense of intensity which looks like the photo is following this high speed chase.

Here are five photos I have chosen that I believe are inspired by Andy's photos.

As you can see we can see two styles in the picture above. One being the negative space and two the comparison of the giraffe to the tree.

I didn't want to stick to the African safari to find Andy's style. You can see the water in the picture above takes up 3/4 of the picture.

Like the photo of Andy's Zebra, this picture shows the power and speed of the animals with the focus being on the cheetah. 

Work Cited
http://www.theglobalphotographer.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Biggs
http://www.andybiggs.com/index.php
http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/photographer-spotlight-andy-biggs-4596