Week 2 -Vantage point Practitioners

Henri Cartier Bresson

Born August 22, 1908, Chanteloup-en-Brie, France. Died August 3, 2004 (aged 95), Montjustin, France. Henri in his early days was a painter he had a fascination in surrealism but once he had spent a year in Ivory Coast his passion switched to photography which was not just a one off hobbie, it was a life long passion. Henri had his first first exhibition in Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1933. Henri explains his passion for photography '"For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression." In 1940 Henri joined the army but was captured by the German forces and was put into a Prison-of-war camp where he was locked up for three years. After two failed attempts in 1943 Henri finally managed to escape the camp and return to his passion of Photography. Henri had a wanderlust which led him to head east to india where he met and photographed Mahatma Gandhi before he was assassinated in 1948. Henri documented Mahatma's death which then lead to being one of life magazines prized photo documentaries of all time due to the affect it had on many people around the world. In later years Henri went back to his first fuelled passion which was painting, Henri then subdued himself from the world and hardly ever talked about his career as a photographer. 
Personally I find Henri's photographs so powerful, It shows the world as it is. His photographs show war, love, sadness and loneliness. Henri works a lot with Fore/mid/background and leading lines.

Guard of honour at a ceremony
commemorating Leningrads liberation
USSR, 9 May 1973

In this photograph its clear to see the leading line of people, this carries my eyes down the line giving me a clear indication of what is happening in the photograph. Henri has also used a Narrow DOF making the main focus the little girl and flag. 

SWEDEN. Goeteborg. 1956

This photograph makes me feel sad, and even though there are two people together hugging I still get a feeling of loneliness. There is so much happening in the background, you can see ships and city but yet there are two people lonely, cold and trying to sleep. It makes me wonder what happened to them both. I love the detail in the rocks in this photograph. Henri has used a Narrow DOF in this photograph because only the people and rocks are in focus. I think if Henri has just focused on the people making the rocks softer swell this photograph would have been ineffective because it wouldn't have given the idea of the people being secluded from society.

Alexander Rodchenko

Born on December 5, 1891, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Died of a stroke on December 3, 1956 in Moscow. Like many other photographers Alexander started as a painter, his work was inspired by Cubism and Cubo-Futurism. Alexander had much practice in many different forms of art but focused into photography. He used his camera as a drawing instrument. He managed to master photographing using odd angles, Shadows, wide frames. I love Alexanders exploration of shadows, many leading lines and patterns which hold the frame together. Alexander often shoots his subjects from above or low angles so he could shock the audience and make objects look larger or smaller.

Suchov-Sendeturm (Shuchov transmission tower)

Even though I'm not much of a fan of Achitecture photography I really like this shot. I love how he has shot it from a lower angle making it look larger. Also the leading lines which lead your eye right to the top of the power lines. 

Girl with a Leica, 1934 

In love with this shot because of the odd angle he has shot it at and also the shadows. I feel the shadows make this photograph almost mysterious because you can only see parts of her face. The shadows on the women lead your eye across her body. When ever I look at this image I find myself tilting my head.