Photography At The Crossroads Berenice Abbott Summary

When examining American photography you must discuss the Farmer Security Administration-Office of War Information, also referred to as the FSA/OWI. This administration was the single and most significant documentary photography project in the history of United States. Photographs taken by members of the FSA/OWI all display and represent American society in different ways to help give a better understanding of major historic events occurring in the United States at this time. The members of the FSA use many formal elements to help illustrate society and its cultural that will enhance our understanding of the FSA/OWI project and United States. In addition, these formal elements such as lighting, framing, subject matter, and detail are used

The documentary film connected to the writings of Crimp, Wells, and Bates as they showing us how profitable the modern photography became. As the video mentioned, that in this modern day, Gregory Crewdson creates and sold his superb photographs for large amount of money, such as over $200,000. In addition, a single photograph can be priceless or worthless as sold for over $200,000, has amused me because I didn’t know it was cost that much. However, the readings explains how photography developed in the modern day and enlighten that the photographers developed their various photographic methods of making photos, while the film tells us where and how the photographers are making their money from. While watching the film, I realized that the arts

The documentary What Remains follows photographer Sally Mann’s life over a span of five years as she balances being a mother, wife and photographer. In the film viewers are able to get an intimate glimpse of Mann’s creative process as she captures various images of her loved ones, landscapes, and even a new series that explores death. In this paper I will discuss Mann’s work detailing the criticism it receives as well as how my experience as a novice photographer parallels hers.

In the Martha Rosler’s essay of In, Around, and Afterthoughts, she discusses the Bowery, a favorite place to hang out in New York and wonders why this Bowery seems so attracts to the documentary photographers. Rosler questioning how to deal with the documentary photography as a photographic practice and she suggests that we must start with it as a historical phenomenon. She discusses the historical anecdote on the discovery of flashlight by Jacob Riis, who realizes that this technique allows him to photograph places of great poverty. Rosler implied that early documentary photography would concerned with reviving the suffering of the poor and the documentary carries old information about a group of powerless people to the powerful people, so

In addition, Rosler pointed out that a documentary photo has two paths. The images in the first “immediate” moment captured to be testimony evidences to support or argue against social practice. The second “aesthetic-historical” moment characterized as having less defined boundaries to evaluate a photograph, which means the traditional subjective judgments of an image have fell below its well-formedness and aesthetic pleasure it brings to the public.

Though photography does help us to see the world, it has a way of manipulating the true picture. Images allow us to have proof of the past. However, images do not show the honest emotion that the photographer or even someone who is photographed has felt. Images do not show what

For my chosen photographer, I have based my project for ‘In the style’ on Berenice Abbott’s. Abbott work was mainly based in the 1930’s of the urban designs of America, she was best known for her black and white photography as well as her documentation of New York City. She had a great approach to photography in a variety of ways, through her own style of work and through her introduction of other artists including Eugene Atget’s, for his unique photographic techniques. Abbott’s work has not always been based on photography as she focused on Journalism, but soon became interested in theatre and sculpture. She began her career in photography in 1923 as an apprentice to Man Ray. In 1925, she set up her own photography studio in Paris and made several well-known portraits of artists and writers who were popular in this time. Berenice returned to New York City in the time of the Wall Street Crash, which was the largest stock market crash in American history in

Lynn Huynh Final Paper 1: How did the development of photography alter the course of art history? What observable changes did it make to art? How does the argument over whether photography is art or science fit into art history during the 20th century? The development of photography altered the course of art history in many ways, it revolutionized artistic styles and critical thinking about the function and role of art.

Lester then goes on to discuss the recent publications of photojournalism and the professional ethics that go alongside it. Looking at The Times `Magazine’s article on “The Ten Greatest Images of Photojournalism” Lester points out that 8 out of 10 of the images shown had ethical complications. Lester names the different ethnical fault found in the article. Issues such as stage managing, not paying subjects, and photo manipulation. Lester says, “There is no clear winner or loser when perspective guides a determination.”

Since the invention of the camera at the beginning of the 19th century, we human beings have felt the need to capture all of those objects, people, landscapes or situations that make a certain impact on us. The objective of photography has changed from documentation of events, such as the first war photojournalism records from Crimea in 1855 , to nowadays’ “casual, improvised, fast” photographs –usually selfies– taken “to be seen here, now, by other people, most of them unknown, in social networks” . Capturing a picture of what surrounds us is not only aimed at reaching popularity –like most of today’s celebrities– but also aimed at keeping a record of what could be relevant for us in the future. This is exactly what Martín Chambi does with

Between the use of film or digital photography, film is the more effective method when looking for originality and creativity. With the adoption of digital photography, the younger generations, as well as the older and more current photographers are becoming lazy. These groups must recognize that the art of the photograph is being jeopardized by the digital camera and the camera phone. For the current photographers as well as amateur photographers, this essay will serve as testimony to film as well as other chemical methods, and how they shouldn’t be ignored, but preferred. The digital era has had a massive impact on the art world and all of its mediums, but for photography this impact has resulted in the removal of the human from the photograph making process. This intimate process is what makes it an art form. All of films imperfections and unique qualities, as well as its monetary value and scarcity are just a few factors that have made it so precious. To replace this entire process with a microchip is offensive and undermines the importance of the process that is needed to make a photograph. Anyone can take a picture but you must make a photograph, and this skill is being simplified to a digital camera. The impact of the digital era on photography has hindered the process of making a photograph; painting the art form obsolete in today’s society.

In the philosophical read ‘The social definition of Photography’(1990), Pierre Bourdieu discusses the practice of photography as a sociological study, and how practitioners and viewers consider the dialectic between photography as a reproduction of objects with its transcription of the real world, and photography as a form of art. The particular area of the text I intend to review is the Introduction ‘An art which imitates art’ p73-77. This section of the book ‘A middle-brow art’ is based on how photography imitates nature.

In the world we live in today, anyone can pick up a handheld video camera and record their son’s soccer game or daughter’s school play, but to really capture the beauty of an event takes true talent. It takes the expertise of a cinematographer or director of photography as they are also known, to capture the true essence of an event and scene. Thomas Edison even once said, “By faithfully reproducing and kind or type of movement, it [cinematography] constitutes man’s most astonishing victory to date over forgetfulness. It retains and restores the things memory alone can’t recover, not to mention its auxiliary agencies: the written page, drawing photography. … Like them, cinematography prevents the things of yesterday that are useful to tomorrow’s progress from sinking into oblivion; amongst these one must count moving things, which only a few years ago were considered impossible to fix in an image” (Neale, 54). A picture, whether it be a photographed image or a filmed image is nothing when it has not been looked at with the proper eyes. When expressed through the proper lens and eye an image can really be worth a thousand words.

To be a good photographer, one must have certain skills. First, they must be creative. If every photographer took pictures of the same things, no one would want to buy their work. It would get very boring very fast. To help with this, try thinking outside the box. What have people taken the least pictures of? What have people taken no pictures of? This will help a thriving photographer advance in their work (“Job description 1”).

It would be hard to picture a technology that had more influence on life in the 1900s than photography. Although the airplane, automobile and nuclear power took center stage, it was photography that stole the show. Photography’s role in the 20th century was played out in three acts: Advertising photography, photojournalism, and historical documentation. Photographer Lewis Hine in his book, Great Images of the 20th Century, reflected on one of his child labor photographs saying, “Photographers are the Human Document to keep the present and the future in touch with the past” (Hine).