DB 6 Response

I agree with Melanie that this collection of photographs is important in showing that some people do not have as much as others and are less fortunate. It is a great depiction of those that do not have as great of a life as others. However, I do not think this is all we can gather from the collection.

These photos were all documenting the Great Depression, an era that defined how we live and how we look at jobs, money, and resources. It changed a lot about the way people lived and what they appreciated. I think there is more to it than just people who do not have as much as others.

To me, I got from it that it was an important link between our present and our past, to see how far we've come and what those before us went through. It is an easy way to teach all of us to appreciate what we have and to be grateful for all that we've gained over the years.

I also do not agree that the Migrant Mother is completely unhappy. She looks more pensive to me, more worried about her children, but not completely unhappy. She is stuck in a situation that any mother would be distraught to find themselves in - being unable to provide for her children. If anything, knowing that she did not want her state to be broadcasted to the entire country was enough to worry her and make her seem unhappy. She did these photos out of necessity, not out of desire. To me, she is fighting between the desire to keep their troubles secret and the knowledge that broadcasting those troubles would feed her children.

Discussion Post 11 - Comparing Photojournalist Styles

Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson had a photojournalist style that required them to stay completely separate from the subject matter. They did not alter anything or change anything to their liking, simply taking photographs of what was happening at that very moment.

Smith and Salgado were quite opposite from this, in which they would involve themselves with lighting, subject matter, and change what they wanted to capture what they specifically wanted to see. They crossed ethical codes of photojournalism in this way.

I agree with the original group's post that the concept of "better" is subjective and it is hard to say which one in particular had the better style. In my opinion, however, a photojournalist should simply be a fly on the wall, taking photos of what they see, not what they want. They are not there to alter the scene, they are there to capture the moment and relay it back to the public. In this sense, Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson have a better journalistic approach. A news reporter would not alter their story and change what happened to their own liking, and a photojournalist should be treated the same.

Discussion Post 9 - Photojournalism

Photojournalism has the same role as journalism itself does - it should be telling a factual news story to the person that is reading the story or viewing the photograph. I agree with the original blog post that it should be used to tell a story, but a factual one, one that is representative of true events.

The original group's blog post was very true in saying that photos used for journalism purposes should not be altered or changed. They are not there to convey a message other than what has actually happened at that moment. It is not an artistic message or feeling - it is the message or feeling that the factual story should evoke. The rules that should govern photojournalism should be the same as those that govern journalism - unaltered, true facts and images should be given to the viewer. The ethics of writing a news story and of taking a news-related photo are the same - they should remain unaltered. In this sense I disagree with the original blog post.

The only altering that should be done is possibly lighting or to fix any sort of blurry subject matter. Purely editorial changes should be made, nothing that will alter what the actual subject or message of the photo is.

Virtual Essay

I have chosen Herve Lefebvre as tyhe photographer for this assignment. He takes beautiful photos and the ones that I am most interested in looking at are his culinary photos. They are beautifully lit, at interesting angles and really make the food even more appealing than it already is. He does his subject justice in a big way. This is an example of a photo by Lefebvre:

Taken from http://www.foog.tv/?p=1046

Lefebvre using plating, design, and lighting to capture the food that he is photographing and make it stand out. Sometimes he will have items such as wine glasses or a kitchen in the background, but their outlines are blurred and they are just a backdrop for the food itself. He uses a variety of angles and takes his photos from varying degrees of closeness, adding variety and interest to each photo he takes. While all of the subjects may be edible items, it is not monotonous to look through them all.

Photo taken from http://www.imagelicious.com/services

The above photo was taken by Imagelicious Food Photography. I find it to be very similar to Lefebvre's style as it has interesting lighting and the background is simple and does not detract from the food itself. The lighting is bright as are the colours, drawing the eye right to the food itself. Lefebvre's style is prevalent in this due to the bright colours, the food being the main focus and lighting being used to especially showcase the food item.

Taken from http://www.vivianchung.com/blog/2010/05/food-photography-under-strobe-light-preset/



The photo you see above is taken from Vivian Chung Photography. On her website she shows two different versions of the photos, one is the original "raw" photo while the other is under a special lighting called strobe-1 preset. This instantly shows me that she is using lighting to capture a certain aspect of the food, just as Lefebvre does. Also, background images are used but only as a backdrop to the main focus and do not detract from the food subject matter. Lefebvre does this quite often in his photographs.

Taken from http://www.vadimdaniel.com/blog/food/decca77/

What instantly attracted me to this photograph as a possible influence by Lefebvre is the angle and closeness the picture is taken at, along with the brightness. As I had stated before, Lefebvre has used a variety of angles and takes his photos from extremely close or far. This photo is very reminscent of this style as it is so close to the food itself that you can hardly see the plate, let alone any background images. It is bright and colourful, showcasing the variety of colours and therefore textures on the plate. Lefebvre uses these techniques as well.

Photo taken from http://www.kathleenhinkelphotography.com/photos/food%20photography/

While this photograph does not have the same cleanliness to is as Lefebvre's normally do, there a couple of aspects to it that are reminscent of Lefebvre's work. The blurry background image is one of these aspects as you can see the fuzzy outline of wine glasses behind the food. The use of bright colours and bringing them out is another aspect. Finally, Lefebvre sometimes used the shapes and angles in the food to dictate at which angle he will take the photograph. This photograph uses the tall, upright stance of this dish as a guideline for a potrait photograph rather than landscape. It further uses this tall garnish in a great way with the photograph being on a slight angle but with the dish itself still anchoring it in the centre.

Photo taken from http://www.culinarysnapshot.com/

The whiteness of this photo instantly attracts me and makes me think of Lefebvre's style. Lefebvre's colours often only come from the dish itself, not from its surroundings or the plating, just as this photo has done. It draws your eye to the colours of the dish and the brightness of it, instead of everything that is happening around it. It makes the food itself the focal point, just as Lefebvre does.

Lefebvre takes beautiful photographs of food and does the work of a chef justice when he does so. Many photos are reminiscent of this style and use lighting, colours, and little background interest to bring the eye right to the food itself. Lefebvre's style may have been influence by other photographers, but many photographers seem to have his style and approach to culinary photography, as well.

Photo Journal Part 2

These are my two examples of an art photograph, both captured by Andre Kertesz:

The following are my two examples of press photographs, both captured by Henri Cartier-Bresson:

 The main differences between the two sets of pictures is the setting and lighting of the two. It is obvious that the photographs taken by Kertesz in an artistic matter were planned and thought out thoroughly. The use of lighting and shadow to provide a certain feeling and effect is prevalent in both photos. On the other hand, the press photographs taken by Cartier-Bresson are not as thought out and seem to be more spontaneous than the art photographs. The lighting isn't as particular and the subject matter isn't placed specifically.

The similarities between the two is that they both invoke a certain feeling to the viewer of the photographs. Whether planned and lit or taken at a distinct, spontaneous moment, both sets of photographs relay a message and emotion. They both capture a subject that speaks to whoever is looking at the photographs and causes them to feel something.

I  believe that altering press photographs is not acceptable or ethical. The first part of our readings really captured my attention:

"Nowadays the photographer in the role of a photo editor (or other way around) could

make the same picture in Photoshop. Of course you have to wait for it… maybe thirty

minutes… and you might get a nice piece of art. Unfortunately some media will use it as

a journalistic photography, to tell us the news of the day."

It has become widely accepted that Photoshop or a similar form of photo-altering program is being used for lighting, effects, etc. It is also being used to crop subjects out or in and to change what a photographer or editor does not want to see. When sending a photograph out to the press and therefore to the people reading a newspaper, it should be as realistic as possible. It should be the exact photo that was originally taken so that the real story is being told. It would not be deemed ethical or acceptable to alter a press story to suit what a certain person would like to send out to the public, so it is just as unethical and unacceptable to do so with a photograph. Photographs tell the story just as much as the story itself, and they need to be the original story. Both Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson speak about simply capturing a moment and seeing that moment in a photograph when it is developed. They do not set it up or alter it, as it is the moment that was originally there. This is how press photographs should be viewed.

I feel a little more lenient towards the altering of art photographs, but only if it is done so by the photographer themselves. Photography for art takes time and technique, lighting and certain subject matter to convey what the artist would like. Taking a photograph and altering the light, colours, or sometimes even a slight subject change might be necessary to get the message to the viewer of the photograph. The artistic photo is completely up to the artist themself, and they are looking to send out a photograph that they personally want to, and therefore should have the free rein to do with it as they wish. A painter can add more paint and a dancer can change their steps without question, and an artistic photographer should be allowed to do the same. Cartier-Bresson even took it upon himself to completely destroy photographs that he deemed as less important as the rest, so that the ones that were preserved were the ones that sent the right message. This is what artists should be allowed to do.

Sources:

Readings from Module 10

http://thinkinpictures.visualsociety.com/2008/02/13/henri-cartier-bressons-scrapbook/

Documenting the Great Depression

By Amanda Gaffoor, Caitlin Gregory, Patricia Charles, Kimmy Koo, and Taylor Kuikman

Early Documentary Photography

In the early nineteen-hundreds, photographers were beginning to realize that using photos of people or situations was a great way to expose the truth. An example of this was Alfred Stieglitz’s exhibit at the Albright Art Museum called “Pictorialism”. It collected photos from a variety of sources that had documented various images in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century.

An example of a Pictorialist photograph from Alfred Steiglitz

There are many other examples of people who began to use photos as a way to document and support a story. Jacob Riis began using photos in his newspaper columns, Lewis Hine became a staff photographer at the National Children Labor Committee so that they would have concrete proof of children in sweatshops, factories, and street trades.

World War I started a new trend where every single aspect had to be documented, and taking the time that Pictorialists would normally take to document one photo was no longer feasible. This began what we now know as documentary and journalist photography, where many photos are taken and then weeded through for the best ones.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression project has such a great impact on society because it allows civilization today to understand what the great depression was all about. Through photographs we are able to put ourselves in a historic position and imagine what it must have been like to have gone through such a terrible time.

“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it” – Dorothy lange (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960).

This photograph is of the Migrant mother. It is one of many other photographs taken by a lady named Dorothea Lange.  During the great Depression this photograph was taken because it stood out from every other unfortunate scene. With nothing left except for a tent and her children, the Migrant Mother didn’t object to getting her picture taken. Today, we see the impact the Great Depression had. We cannot feel what the Migrant Mother and her children felt, but we can see by the expressions on their faces and their surroundings that this was a memorable, terrible experience that would go down in history.

A Photo Essay on the Great Depression

The Great Depression started in 1929 in the U.S. but became worldwide news on the day known as Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929; the day the stock market crashed, and went on until the early 1940’s. With the crash of the stock market many banks were forced to close because a large portion of their clients’ savings were invested into the stock market. This cause even more panic across the country.

 Not only did businesses and industry get affect during this time but farmers, who in pass depressions were unaffected, did as well due to the drought and horrible dust storms. These weather conditions were worst in history. By 1934 the Great Plains, from North Dakota to Texas, from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rockies had all dried up.

Farmer and sons, dust storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936. Photographer: Arthur Rothstein.

Many were left unemployed and some even homeless.  Those who were fortunate to have a job still felt very unsecure with them. 

Squatter camp, California, November 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.

Part of the daily lineup outside the State Employment Service Office. Memphis, Tennessee. June 1938. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.

The FSA Photo Project

The FSA photo project is a collection of photographs of America and its people from the Great Depression to World War II. It shows the impact that very great and sometimes terrible situations had on the people and how they managed to survive. Many of the photos in this blog have been taken from the FSA photo project.

The Other Migrant Mother

The great depression impacted several countries world-wide. One of the most signature pictures of the great depression era is the Migrant Mother. The photograph itself was taken by Dorothea Lange in a peapicker camp near Nipomo, California in 1936. The photograph depicts a 32-year-old mother of seven children.

The image above shows the migrant mother with three of her children; one where she is holding and two huddling against their mother. When Lange shot the photographs of the migrant mother, she was unsure to what attracted her to the mother but in respect, the mother asked that no questions were to be asked. The migrant mother provided her age of 32 and that her and her children have been living off frozen vegetables and birds her children had killed. Although this mother was hungry and desperate, she knew that Lange’s photographs would eventually help her and her family out.

Lange was able to successfully send food their way after she had gone back to her employer in Washington. These photographs were also sent and featured in the San Francisco News and were placed as an iconic picture in the New Deal agenda.  

The New Deal agenda had a mission to improve the conditions for farmers and sharecroppers hit by the great depression. The goal was to take what everybody could not see – the human side on how pressing the economics factors had on these people.

The fourth picture that Lange photographed wasn’t deemed as popular as the one above only because the newspapers would not have printed a picture of a woman breast-feeding her baby.

Although the above photograph was not deemed popular, Lange’s photographs not only became ionic for the Depression era but also set a genre within photography; the photographs allowed to see the human side on how something such as a depression can affect the way of living. In addition, the genre allowed communication to further travel onto a different level; instead of communicating with just words and voice, it allowed our eyes to convey what the photograph was depicting and how much truth is shown in one single photograph.

Who Was Dorothy Lange’s Migrant Mother?

Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother was a lady who went by the name of Florence Owen Thompson. She was the mother of six children and was  a Cherokee, but her and her ancestors were forced to move to Oklahoma. This made them lose their Cherokee roots. Dorothea Lange was at the time employed by the Farm Security Association during the Great Depression, where she was able to witness the migrants in a terrible situation, since the crops they came to harvest were destroyed by the cold weather. Florence later became angry when she saw the picture on the newspapers and thought that Lange was using her picture to make money. Instead of doing this Lange had sent the picture to Resettlement Administration in Washington, where aid was later provided to ease the pain of migrants. Florence and her children were embarrassed by the picture; Florence even said that she wished she never took the picture. It was until she became ill and needed immediate care that her son was seeking help. He went to a news reporter and asked for his help. It was now that they all saw the importance of the pictures. Airing the story Florence got help and received more than $35,000 in a migrant mother fund that has been started. Florence’s picture influenced and touched many people and it was because of Dorothea Lange that migrant women awareness was raised, not just for mothers but for all women. It shows that migrant women face many challenges and I think that Dorothea Lange’s photograph of Florence was greatly impacted by the way society looks at migrant women.

CNN:  “We Were Ashamed”

The daughter of the Migrant Mother spoke to CNN about the impact the pictures of her family during the Great Depression has on them. She said that they were ashamed to be documented and showcased to the world living that way yet it also pushed them towards a better life. They knew they wanted more than that and seeing this picture made them more determined to do it.

Even though the picture is very defining of the generation, the daughter said that the picture did not define her mother or their family. They wouldn’t let that happen.

This is a great example of how one picture can impact a person’s life in a very big way. Knowing that the picture of their family struggling so much was seen by Americans across the country pushed them to do more and to hold on to things when they got them.

Sources:

Early Documentary Photography

http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

A Photo essay on the Great Depression

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/depression.htm

FSA Photo Project

http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

The Other Migrant Mother

http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

Who Was Dorothy Lange’s Migrant Mother?

http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

CNN: The Migrant Mother’s Daughter: “We Were Ashamed”

http://webct.georgebrown.ca/webct/urw/lc2044122001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

Photo Manipulation Assignment

I edited three different photos that I took during various vacations for this assignment. The first set is of a street in Miami:

Original Photo:

Edited photo:

Since the original shot was a very beautiful, vacation-like shot of the Miami street, I wanted to make the edited photo look like an old-style postcard. To do this I added more light to the photo to really amplify the sun and the brightness in the trees. I also sharpened the photo so that the details in the palm trees became almost etched rather than flat. By doing these two very simple things I brought the photo into a much sharper and nearly cartoon-like image, which I think allowed me to achieve the desired look.

The second shot I used was from a camping trip at Killbear National Park.

Original photo:

Manipulated Photo:

In this photo I added highlights, shadows, and I also filled the light in the photo. Once I adjusted these levels I used a warming tool to make the colours on the warmer side of the spectrum to really bring out the sunset glow. By doing these things I wanted to showcase the sun coming through the trees and the shadows that the warm glow from the sun creates.

My last photo is from a trip in Michigan of an old, cute cottage bookstore.

Original Photo:

Manipulated photo:

Since the original photo showcases such an adorable and slightly kitschy landmark, I really wanted to play up on its "cute factor". I really wanted to show that it is fun and touristy. To do this I made the saturation much higher to make the colours really pop. I then made the shadows deeper as well so that those bright colours looked even brighter against the dark backdrop. I warmed the colour a bit to bring out that brght yellow, as well.

The Affect of Photography and Our Memories

After reading the various articles offered on "click!", I came to the conclusion that photography mostly impacts the way in which we remember things. Very often our minds can slightly alter memories or lose events completely, but a photography can bring you back to that moment in an instant. It can also make you both recall the incident in exactly the way it had occurred, or give you a different insight if the photo had captured something at a different angle. This applies to both our personal memories and our memories of historical news events.

One of the articles I read was entitled "Photography Changes Our Persepective on Historical Events" written by marcel Chotkowski LaFollette and delves into the way certain photographs taken by Watson Davis, a science journalist, at the "Monkey Trial" can show you a different side to the story. The other article I read was entitled "Photography Changes How We Access the Memories Necessary to Function in Everyday Life" by Jeff Sandoz and it details an account of a doctor who used photographs to help his memory when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Both of these articles take the idea of memory in different ways, but they both bring up valid points regarding the link between photographs and memory.

Most of us were likely not alive for the Monkey Trial when a school teacher in Tennessee was put on trial for teaching evolution to his class. It became a large and highly publicized event, the outcome of which would shape the learning in schools for a very long time. Photographs were taken by reporters throughout the trial, only some of which were published in the newspapers. One photograph that the author talks about was one that showed the interrogation of William Jennings Bryan, an anti-evolutionist, by Clarence Darrow, the defence lawyer. It is outside due to the extreme heat in the courtroom, and shows a very heated argument between the two men. The author of this article wonders why this photograph was never published, never to be seen by the public until years later, since it so wonderfully depicts what this trial represented and is a reminder of what its impact was on school systems in the United States.

Photo Taken by Watson Davis at the Scopes Monkey Trial

While the photo may not look like much to us now, it is certainly a reminder of everything that happened during those trial days and is an excellent depiction of an argument involving two sides of a major issue to this day: Evolution and Creationism.

The other article talks about a man named Dr. H who self-diagnosed himself with Alzheimer's which was then confirmed by his physician. He was put in a nursing home for the last years of his life when he could no longer take care of himself. Instead of becoming resigned to having his memory fade away, Dr. H used photographs to help him maintain some level of cognizance. He had a wall of photographs of his family, going back four generations, and on them he wrote who they were and their relation to him. If they were still alive and regularly visited, he wrote on them anything he was meaning to tell or ask them. He also took photographs of the people he met at the nursing home and kept them in a photo album, also labelled, so he would have a frame of reference if he ever encountered them again. He would keep records of their names, their various statuses (health, age, etc.), and change those records as the details themselves changed. Dr. H used photographs to avoid losing so much of his memory that he would no longer be able to properly interact and recognize the people in his life.

Most of us have never encountered either of these situations personally and our memories are usually mostly intact. However, we do look at things differently when photographs surface that show a different side. How many people changed their views on police action during the G20 summit when the photos of Adam Nobody came out? I would be willing to bet that many people did. When photos of Russell Williams were released of him sitting in a courtroom, emotionless, while photographs of him in stolen women's underwear were being shown, did we not form our own opinion and memories of that trial? We also use our photographs to remember nights out with friends, family, and memories that we do not want to forget. Photographs are important to everyone's memory keeping, likely one of the most important methods people use to do so.

A photograph taken by my mom on my first birthday, her way of being able to remember the day.

Introduction

My name is Caitlin Gregory and I am a first year student at George Brown College, studying in the Baking and Pastry Arts program. I have always had an interest in photography and art, although I have never taken up photography myself. I am excited to be studying photography and its impact on our history and society today. This is a new area of study for me but I do believe it will be very interesting and eye-opening.

A photography of the sunset at Killbear Park, where my family and I go camping every summer.