Portraiture

Tony Vaccaro was not only famous for his life-risking war photographs, but also for his unique portraiture. Vaccaro always said that he wanted to capture his opinions on the subject, not theirs. In order to do this, Vaccaro tried to sum up the subject in one word and try and portray that word in a photo.


This is the portrait of Picasso taken by Tony Vaccaro

He believed his job was to place the subject of the portrait on a pedestal, and to make sure it was the 'right size', to show who they are. He said it had to have a special quality - forget their appearance, bring out who they really are.

He was invited to picassos house in france to take portraits of him, Picasso was posing, but Tony fooled him into thinking there was something wrong with his camera in order to get the photo of Picasso looking unposed and natural. Tony believed that in order to determine whoever it was' personality he would sum their personality up in one word and try and then capture that word but in a photo.

I think that the main difference between portraiture and photojournalism is the fact that portraiture is staged, and photojournalism is not posed as the photographer is always unaware of whats going to happen. The photos taken in photojournalism are real events, and the photographer has to have a 'decisive moment' in order to get the shot they want. In portraiture however, the photographer will sometimes have to give some guidance to the subject, and they are typically in a studio or in their own house.

Back the 1800's portraits were only ever made for very rich, wealthy and royal people, however now they are made for anyone and everyone. Throughout time, i think that because many people are able to set up their own companies and they make their portraits available to anybody-because they can in this day and age. Also, technology has advanced meaning anyone can take portraits and get hold of the lighting, cameras, backdrops and other technical needs to make a portrait.

Fashion Photography

Portraiture-
Eyes to the camera and she is showing
her emotions & feelings.

1-The difference between portraiture and fashion photography is that portraiture is an image of someone to show their feelings-and it is usually either a full body pose or from the shoulder up shot, whereas fashion photography is for modelling fashion items and trying to sell a designers garments, and these can be from a very wide range of different angles and camera shots.

An image is a portrait when you can see them showing a certain feeling or showing who they are as a person. They are usually looking into the camera and on their own, this could be them showing us what their job is, what their status is (depending on what is in the background), or what they are feeling.

Fashion Photography-
Wearing a long designer garment
in a different setting
to a studio.

An image is a fashion photograph when you can see them holding a pose, wearing certain things with lots of fancy hair and make up. Fashion photographs are similar to portraiture because they are sometimes still looking into a camera showing an emotion/feeling, but portraits are more down to earth and 'friendly' types of photos. The portraits are with their own clothes and their own make up/hair.

2- I think that the way some fashion photos are manipulated/airbrushed is worrying. This is because the model probably doesnt look half as 'good' as they make her/him look in the magazine. This leads on to the audience being lead into thinking that what these models look like is what they need to look like, and this can lead to drastic measures such as eating disorders or perhaps surgery. The audience are being fooled into thinking that the size 0 models are 'perfect'.

In all honesty, i think that millions of teenage girls would dream of being in a magazine, and because of all of the photo manipulation, they believe that they have to lose drastic amounts of weight and have the right hair or face in order to successfully end up in a magazine and become famous.

I also think that young girls (as well as boys) sometimes look at themselves and think that they are not good enough, looks-wise to be in a magazine, because of the examples set in the magazines today.This leads on to thinking that their friends/boys/girls will not find them attractive and in order for that to happen, they need to be like the models in the magazines. They mislead the readers and make them believe that you have to be stick thin and beautiful to be in a magazine.

Everyone is beautiful, but the audience dont know this because they are being tricked into thinking that what is in the fashion magazines is beautiful.
The models are picked through their size and beauty. Models that model designer clothes are size 0, and look too unhealthy to walk down a catwalk (in my opinion). I think that the models in, for example, Vogue, are all white girls. I have never seen a black girl in a magazine, and i think this is a major ethical issue.

Photojournalism

Photojournalism

Application-individual people who influenced photojournalism:


Robert Capa- June 6, 1944.
American Soldiers landing on Omaha Beach, Normandy.

-Robert Capa

Robert Capa was a famous war photographer, particularly known for risking his life to take great photos in World War 2. He was a freelancer for Life Magazine, where he was given an assignment to capture significant war photos. Unfortunately, his films were destroyed purely by mistake, meaning he couldnt publish what he believed were his best photos.
Capa used a Leica camera, the first practical 35mm camera used mainly for landscape photography. He used this camera everywhere he went during the war, and since then has produced what some believe are the most unique war photos of our time.


-Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson- 1932.

Henri Cartier-Bresson believed strongly in 'decisive moments', meaning that you can't decide what's going to happen in the pictures, so must be at the right place at the right time. Cartier-Bresson was always waiting for something to happen, and he famously quoted 'In this space, something will come', he didn't actually know what, but he just knew something would-whether it be unneccassary or not.
Cartier-Bresson is most famous for his picture 'Behind the Gare Saint-Lazar', captured in 1932. This image shows a broken wheel, which some people of Britain saw as a coinscidence, as the picture shows a man jumping from what looks like a broken fallen down ladder into water-'the unknown'. This image defined Europe at the time, 'jumping into the unknown', just like Europe was with the war. Cartier-Bresson was also reffered to by many people as the 'Godfather of Photojournalism'.

-Tony Vaccaro

Tony Vaccaro-War photograph

Tony Vaccaro was once a Private in the U.S Army. He fought in the war for 2 years, and then became an official photographer for the Army's newspaper. He then moved to Germany where he got his first proffessional photography job. However, Vaccaro's photos were sensored from being published into the divisions newspaper as they did not want the US civilians to see or think that the American soldiers were dying, giving off the impression that they weren't doing very well, therefore the photos were sensored due to the subject (dead Americans). Vaccaro used the Argus C3 Camera to take all of his photos, which was said to be the best selling camera for nearly three whole decades.

Context-the way the photographs are displayed:
Robert Capa tried to show his photos to the world through a magazine that he worked for (Life), however all the pictures were ruined and so he couldnt.
Tony Vaccaro couldnt publish his photos as they were sensored with dead americans in them.

Photojournalism is also since then online as well as in newspapers and magazines because of the changes in technology throughout the years. For example, photos and videos are now displayed online through various websites to show a news story.

Technique-techniques utilised to create images
Capa and Cartier-Bresson both used the Leica camera, which was produced in 1925. The camera is originally German, and was particularly useful for Cartier-Bresson as he could see whats going on around him which made making his 'decisive moments' easier, as with the camera it only covered one eye.
The photographers all had to process their photos in water and other different chemicals and then left out to dry in order to show them to the public eye.

Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a type of photography that is published in newspapers/books/magazines in order to tell a news story. As well as just still images, photojournalism can now be published as videos on the internet on various news websites.

Photojournalist Robert Capa worked for a magazine called 'Life' where he published his photos from World War 2. This is a clear demonstration of what a photojournalist does; communicates news through photos.

These three photographers all believed that you had to be in the right place at the right time, as you can never decide what is going to happen in the pictures. You must take the photo at exactly the right time in order to show the world, or target audience, what the news you are trying to broadcast through photos is.

Photojournalism is different to other types of photography such as portraiture or fashion, as the pictures tell a story and show us truth, whereas fashion photography advertises the clothes or make up or hair styles, and portraiture shows us feelings. Photojournalism is typically just what the photographer wants you to see, not truth. The photo shows us a news story, however we, as readers, don't actually know whats going on until the photographer tells us whats in the shot. For example, the Thomas Hoepker photo of New York and the 9/11, the young adults in the photo could be discussing whats going on behind them, but instead they were all critisised for 'looking too relaxed' and being 'careless'.

I think that photojournalism is an unreliable form of photography because photographers do not know what they are going to capture, meaning they might not actually be able to get the photo that they need, as the photo is a moment of truth and a real event-it is unpredictable. It is also unreliable because the photographers do not know when the moment of the event will come. The photographer can only wait until the right moment comes, just like Henri Cartier-Bresson said.