PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS

Question

1. The list of photographers who have contributed to the development of photography is long and diverse. Select at least two photographers that you feel made essential contributions to the field. Describe these contributions and analyze how photography might be different today without these people.

 

1. How have the uses of photography changed over the years? What era in photography would you have liked to live in as a photographer? Explain.

PLEASE HELP

Answer 1

I'm going to go with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Carrie Mae Weems.

French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, was the father of the "decisive moment" and a master of creating clean, compelling compositions with action and movement. The idea behind the decisive moment is that there is a fleeting fraction of a second in any action or scene that can best capture the essence of it in a photograph. He began work in the mid-1900s and passed away in 2004. There is also a famous quote attributed to him that is one of my favorites to share with new students. He said, "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." That can sound discouraging, but really, I just think of it as driving home the importance of taking way more photos than you need to get to your golden images!

Black American photographer, Carrie Mae Weems has been an amazing influence on artists and offered compelling commentary on race, gender, art, and politics in her pioneering work. She began her published work in the 1980s and continues exhibit today. I had the honor of attending a talk she gave a couple of years ago at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I also love the work of William Eggleston, Cindy Sherman, Gordon Parks, and Diane Arbus.

Regarding the changing uses of photography over the years, I would first mention that photography was not originally accepted as an art form worthy of museum exhibitions until really the early 1900s. Alfred Stieglitz was one of the early photography-as-art pioneers. Later, color photography was not seen as art and was considered vulgar by purists. William Eggleston was one of the photographers who helped to shake that up. We've continued to use photography as a document, and photojournalism remains crucial today. The photographers employed by the Farm Security Administration during the dust bowl of the 30s in the U.S. like Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, as well as Gordon Parks come to mind as documentary photography greats. Another photography great, Annie Liebowitz, makes me think of the lines between advertising and fine art having become increasingly blurred.

Answer 2

2 of my favorite photographers and the most influential to me would be Richard Avedon & Irving Penn. Avedon started his career as a fashion photographer in the late 40's and the movie "Funny Face" was inspired by him. The character Dick Avery travels to Paris and shoots fashion spreads with his model(played by Audrey Hepburn). For me, this was the golden age of photography. The Avery character made amateur photographers want to go and do the same. Avedon was a rockstar and his career spanned 7 decades. He influenced many photographers not only with his fashion but with his portrait work. Provocative at times, Avedon's portraits dug deep and had a lasting effect on many. Irving Penn also had a lengthy career as a commercial photographer and shot fashion and still life. His still life imagery was years ahead of its time. Penn's creativity with objects graced the pages of Vogue Magazine for years. His images inspired me as a still life photographer in a time when editorial product photography was becoming more in demand. The uses of photography have changed quite a bit over the last century. I think the science of photography gave us a way to achieve a visual record of people and landscapes. As that process became more mobile and instant, being a photographer became more of a lifestyle and way to express who we were. I'm happy with the era of photography I've lived through already but being a photographer in the 50's & 60's must have been pretty cool. Socially, everything that was happening in the world and then the process of making an image. If you understood that process and had your own technique you were in demand. Clients would never attempt the process before digital photography. A lot has changed but we must change with the times.

Answer 3

W. Eugene Smith (news photography) Photojournalist

Ansel Adams.(nature/landscape photography) Fine Art Photographer

2 of the greats of all time.