Virtual Essay

Henri Cartier-Bresson, born on August 22, 1908 in France, was a photographer who is considered to be the father of modern photography and a master of candid photography. It was his mastery of candid photography that I thought I would attempt to emulate through my photographs. Cartier-Bresson is the yard stick when it comes to candid street photography so I tried my best to take photos that adhere to his style, namely to keep my subjects from knowing that they were being photographed. To do this I used a telephoto lens on my camera that allowed me to take long shots. This allowed me to pretend to be taking shot of the scenery when I was actually shooting them from a distance.

Credit: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Above is Cartier-Bresson's image of a couple on a boardwalk. The couple seem very happy with themselves and Cartier-Bresson does a great job of capturing the moment. The photo is shot in black and white as this was the only available technology at the time the photo was taken. I feel as though if the technology was available at the time that Cartier-Bresson would have experimented with colour photography as well.

Credit: Taylor Strawbridge

Above is the picture I took of two friends outside of the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. In this shot, they are unlocking their bicycles. This shot was somewhat inspired by the shot Cartier-Bresson shot above. I used my telephoto lens to get a shot that looks like I'm only a few feet away when, in reality, I was close to 50 feet away.

Credit: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson shot this photo as a sort of portrait, only from the side and at a distance. It is interesting as it shows a lot of emotion from the subject, who seems to be a man of high-society.

Credit: Taylor Strawbridge

This photo of a construction worker on Bay Street near Dundas Street. I shot this one in black and white to pay homage to Henri Cartier-Bresson and the fact that he shot in this form. I shot this photo from across four lanes of traffic and pretended the camera was off to keep him from knowing I was there.

Credit: Taylor Strawbridge

I took this photo on a pretty cold and windy day and I think that it comes across in the photo to the right. The photograph was originally in full colour but I decided to go with a light sepia, which looks similar to black and white to give it a sense of cold and discomfort.

Credit: Taylor Strawbridge

This is a shot of a woman riding her bicycle I took on Bay Street. She is wearing headphones and seems to be very much into the music she is listening to on her bicycle ride. This shot was originally taken in black and white using a telephoto lens which helped to blur the background and keep the focus on the subject.

Credit: Taylor Strawbridge

As my final photograph I took a shot of this student waiting to cross the street. It seems as though something is bothering her and she is trying to figure it out. This photo was also shot in black and white to emulate Cartier-Bressons shots. I believe this is a great shot because the woman really seems to be interesting.

This project was a little difficult to do as I had to try to remember how Henri Cartier-Bresson composed his shots, which is tough to do. All in all, I think my photographs do a satisfactory job of paying homage to one of the greatest modern photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Art vs. Press Photography

Two major types of photography are press photography and art photography. Press photographs are meant to capture the moment of an event as it occurs. Art photography is set up to be artistic and is almost never "real".

Occupy Wall Street Credit: Henry Ray, AP October 8, 2011

Iran Protests, Credit: Olivier Laban-Mattei, June 13, 2009

The photographs about are press photographs that show peaceful and violent protests in two very different parts of the world. The first picture shows the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York, New York currently going on. This photo is an example of a press photographer who is not trying to get into the shot and allow people to know they're being photographed. This photographer shot much in the way that Eugene Smith and Sebastiao Salgado. They shot images without interfering the with procession of events.

The second photo shows a protester in the 2009 Iran Political Protests in Tehran, Iran. This man was severely beating and shows his wounds. It looks as though the protester knows the photographer is right in front of him and is trying to embellish his injuries. I do believe this type of image is alright as it would otherwise be difficult to show the viewers of these images to see just how brutal the protesters were.

Press photographs should never be manipulated as it breaks the code of photojournalists. Photos should be presented as they were taken or not used at all as it can dramatically affect the perception the viewer sees the photo in.

Credit: Ben Heine

Credit: QT Luong

The two photographs above show art photography, these photos are heavily manipulating to present them as art to the viewer. The photo of the lady lying on the street was shot normally and edited using High-Dynamic Range and photoshopped to include the sketch of the hawk and the key. The photo of the clouds wasn't modified as much but clearly this photo was not shot exactly as the picture is presented. It is perfectly ethical to manipulate photographs for the sole purpose of displaying them as artistic photographs. Just as with paintings or drawings, your imagination should be the only limiting factor for creativity and manipulation.

Shooting the Truth: Photojournalism

What is photojournalism?
Photojournalism is a branch of journalism that uses photographs to tell a news story. Contrary to journalism which has many words and possibly a photo, photojournalism has one photo and at most a caption explaining the photo.


What's the role of photojournalism?
Photojournalism as a very important branch of journalism. It gives readers (viewers) a much richer, more detailed idea of what the story is about. Words are powerful, but nothing gets the emotion and action of a news story better than a series of photographs.

Are there rules that photojournalists must follow?
As with most forms of journalism there are a few "rules" that a photojournalist should follow. Photojournalism adheres to four principles:

• Timeliness
• Accuracy
• Fair representation of the context of events and facts reported
• Accountability to the public

Here are some ethical codes a journalist should abide by:

1.  Have an accurate and comprehensive representation of the subject(s)
2. Avoid manipulating photographs to enhance the scene
3. Avoid using staged photographs as they are not genuine events
4. Provide complete and accurate context when photographing subjects

Are ethics of taking journalistic photos different than the ethics of writing a news story?

There are subtle differences in regards to the ethics of photojournalism and journalism. Journalists must be very careful with how their words are interpreted by having their work edited thoroughly. Omission or modification of facts or statements can have a profound effect on the readers view of the story. Photojournalists must be very careful how they photograph a scene as to not convey a different story than is unfolding. It is very difficult for a photographer to do this as camera postion and angle can affect the tone of the image. Low-angle (looking up at the subject) can lead the viewer to assume the subject is evil or powerful. On the other hand, high-angle shots (looking down on the subject) can lead the viewer to assume the subject is docile and powerless. In the end, journalists and photojournalists must commit to ethical behaviour and representation of the facts as their livelihood and credibility rely on it.

Low-Angle Shot. Credit: Unknown



High-Angle Shot. Credit: Unknown


What is the impact of altering press photographs?
Altering press photographs distorts the viewers feel for what happened at the scene. This could be to improve negative feelings about the scene or subject, or to increase negative perceptions of a scene or subject. Altering press photos is a highly unethical proposition.

As a photographer, I know it is often difficult for a photo to turn out the way it looks to my eye. For this reason the only manipulation of the photo that would be acceptable to me are those alterations which help the colours become more vivid. Photoshop is definitely a frowned-upon practice in photojournalism.



Thank you for reading the StrawBlog.

The Migrant Mother

The Migrant Mother is an iconic photograph of just how devastating and widespread The Great Depression was. The photo was taken in 1936 by Dorothea Lange in California. The photo shows a mother and her children living no nothing more complex than an open-ended tent in a field. Dorothea asked no questions to the subject except her age. I believe that by not asking questions to the subject, the photographer has added the sense that this woman could be any mother, anywhere in the world. During the great depression this photograph had the effect of showing the world that this horrible economic period had such a huge toll on families; how they lived, how they earned money, what they did to pass the time.

Credit: Dorothea Lange, 1936

The look on the mother's face shows the fear she has about the future of her and her family. She looks as though she is thinking about how she can better the lives of her loved ones, how they can get back on their feet and start fresh.

Today the photograph shows us just how bad conditions were back then. In the economic conditions we are in it is very easy for us to say how unfortunate we are to have lost our jobs and to maybe be living on employment insurance but the fact of the matter is that The Great Depression was so much worse and the governments weren't set up to be able to handle the number of unemployed. I sometimes wonder how today's workers would adapt, if at all, to conditions similar to The Great Depression.

Works Cited:

"The Migrant Mother." Photograph. Library of Congress. Dorothea Lange. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Web. 16 Oct 2011.

Photo Manipulation

Photo manipulation is a great tool that has sprung forward since the advent of the computer. Today, there are not many photographs which are left unaltered. Photo manipulation allows the photographer to get their message across much more vividly and effectively. Simple things like changing the photo from colour to black and white, grey-scale, or sepia have a profound effect on the photograph's story. Photo manipulation can be used very effectively to alter the emotions of those who are looking at it.

Motorsports have been around ever since the car was first invented. It has always been man's obsession to make a car go fastest around a track, or from point A to point B. For ever style of car, there is a form of motorsport to go with it. There is Rallying, Formula 1, NASCAR, and Sports Car racing. I have always been fond of motorsports and hope to be able to weave this dangerous and intricate sport into my career in some form or another.

Earlier this summer, I went to the only Canadian stop of the American Le Mans Series, at Mosport International Raceway. At this race there we're highly modified sports cars such as Ferraris, BMWs, Jaguars, Porsches, and Ferraris. However, this Aston Martin prototype car caught my eye with it's beautiful styling and caught my ears with the most magnificent noise a car has ever made.

Muscle Milk Aston Martin Coupe. Photo Credit: Taylor Strawbridge

Above is the original photograph I took at the side of the track. Everything except the car is slighty blurry so as to give the viewer a sense of the speed at which this car was moving. The photograph was taken at a shutter speed of 1/500 of a second.

Muscle Milk Aston Martin Coupe. Photo Credit: Taylor Strawbridge

Here I increased the saturation and vibrancy of the picture using Apple Aperture. I used both of these tools to bring out more colour into the shot, this makes the car and it's surrounding seem more alive than they appeared in the original photo and bring it closer towards the conditions in which the car would have looked if you were standing here when it went by.


In April, following my final exams, my girlfriend and I spent a week in Cuba. We relaxed on the beach, I went swimming in the ocean for the first time (so salty!), and we went on a tour of Havana. If you haven't had the opportunity to visit Cuba I suggest you go at least once, as it's truly a beautiful country. The one thing my girlfriend and I tried to do every evening was to watch the sunset.

Cuban Sunset. Photo Credit: Unknown

Here is the original photograph, taken by a friendly tourist, shows all the beautiful blues of the Atlantic Ocean, and the vibrant reds of the sunset in the distance. Even this photo cannot do the amazing colours justice.

Cuban Sunset: Photo Credit: Unknown

In the altered photograph I applied the sepia tone to the entire photograph to make the photo look like it was taken 100 years ago. I sharpened the photograph to make the details and edges "pop", it gives tremendous detail to the sand and ocean that you can't see in the original photograph. Finally, I increased the elements of red in the photograph to make it seem as though the photo was taken in brighter conditions that they actually were.

Looking back at the photographs I have taken was a fun distraction from the monotony of school work, especially as we move towards exams and major assignments. It makes me look forward to next summer, and some of the plans I have already made, more vacations and Montreal for the Formula 1 race next year!

Thank you all for reading my post!

Taylor Strawbridge

Portrait Photography - Past & Present

Photography has been around since 1839, when Louis Daguerre invited the first successful photographic process. Since then camera, and photography have changed greatly. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Europe was undergoing a big social change. For the first time, a significant middle class was emerging. One of the ways that someone would affirm their new-found affluence was to have their portrait done. As Gisele Freund states "By having one's portrait done an individual of the ascending classes could visually affirm his new social status both to himself and to the world at large". As you can imagine, before cameras existed, it would take a long time for someone to have their portrait painted. While these painted portraits were fairly accurate they lacked a sense of realism. Nonetheless, as more and more people demanded portraits, the process became more and more mechanized. This trend continues right up until today, when anyone with a camera can take a "portrait" of anyone, anywhere, at any time. There are some considerable differences between portraits taken in photography's infancy and in the present; portraits are not taken as a sign of affluence today as they were 150 years ago. The time it took to properly expose a subject back in the 19th century would seem like an eternity today. The portability of today's cameras allows users to take photographs anywhere they please, whereas photography equipment in the 1800's was much more cumbersome.

Daguerrotype of a woman

Myself in Dusseldorf, Germany

Photographers in the past were often scientists or artists and had to have a strong understanding of the photographic process in order to obtain professional results. Often those who were being photographed were wealthy members of the middle and upper class, although often times scientists would take photographs to aid in their research and documentation of progress. Today, a photographer is anyone fortunate enough to have access to a camera. Today that is anyone with a camera phone, point-and-shoot, or DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera. Cameras and their accessories are so cheap today that anyone, with any budget, can be a photographer. This simply wasn't possible in the past. The subjects of today's photographs can be anyone or anything the photographer deems even slightly interesting. It could range from a homeless person to Sir Richard Branson, from a local park to the Burj Khalifa and everything in between.

Technology has changed photography immensely since its inception 172 years ago. In the early days a camera was little more than a camera obscura with a lens fitted at one end and a medium at the other. Today, cameras are some of the most highly-engineered and precise equipment man can make. All you have to do is look at a modern DSLR camera to see how far the technology has come. Modern cameras can take over 5 shots per second, have many settings, and can be the most complicated piece of technology in a household.

Modern DSLR Camera

Freund, Gisele. "2 Precursors of the Photographic Portrait."

http://vimeo.com/9921480. "Dawn of Photography - Process"


 

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Taylor Strawbridge. I am a fifth semester marketing student at George Brown College.

I was born, and currently live, in Toronto.

This picture to the left was taken on a helicopter tour I took in May.

I have many hobbies and passions such as photography, motorsports, hockey, and bicycling.

I have been very interested for the past few years and have taken many opportunities around the world to take some photos and to hone my skills (there's still lots to improve).

Last year I rode by bicycle in the 2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 320km charity ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls. I raised $4,200 for the cause. It was one of the most physically and emotionally demanding things I've ever done. It was a great experience that I would do again in a heartbeat.

Every year I attend a motor race in Bowmanville, ON. The that race around the track include Le Mans prototypes and GT cars including Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and Chevrolet. This type of racing is the most exciting to me and there are really 4 races going on in one race.

I look forward to learning as much about photography as possible with all of you!

Taylor Strawbridge