Retrieval

Proposal

Something that i noticed looking through my work and further research was that my photographs were very static with nothing really happening in them.

I chose these photographers as they possess the ability to impressively 'capture the moment.' In light of this research I would develop my work to better represent the individual involved, in order to reflect their identity through a single moment the individual would ideally be involved with something significant rather than simply existing within the space.

Mike Brodie

Brodie started off taking portraits with an old Polaroid a friend of his gave him, emulating the style of a National Geographic photographer, Steve McCurry.

Brodie eventually stopped taking portraits as found having people was annoying. In the end Brodie turned to documenting travel, although with no formal training he successfully accumulated an extensive archive of American travel. Brodie describes his process as his craving to experience the feeling of seeing something that you like and wanting to just hold on to it. “I wanted to keep having that feeling, so I kept on doing it over and over. I would just keep doing it until I got another good photo.” What Brodie managed to accomplish is a true and reflective record of a questionable youth that represents a dichotomy of both beautiful and bleak moments.

Richard Bellingham

Bellingham’s work gives the audience an invitation into his home life in his series and published book, “Rays a laugh.” Bellingham captures a series of family photographs in such a voyeuristic way it looks as though the camera has no affect on the individuals inside the frame. This plays a huge part in the way we see someone and our impressions of the captured moment. To disregard the camera in the room allows the individual to reflect themselves and their identity through the captured moment without putting up a guise.There are many odd contrasts throughout this book, which deal mostly with emotion and play a big role in how you view the series as a whole.Bellingham informs us that his father, Ray is a chronic alcoholic and is often captured at his worst, half conscious. In one photograph he is seen sitting next to the toilet with his arm resting on the seat, presumably passed out after being sick. This grotesque imagery is then contrasted with an image of Ray sleeping in his bed seemingly quite peaceful.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

The French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, was best known for capturing spontaneous moments on camera, from scenes of ordinary street life, to important world events. He described his approach to photography as the "The Decisive Moment," which was also the name of his most famous book of photography. Cartier-Bresson shot with black and white film, which gave his pictures an abstract quality, transforming them to stark compositions.

Cartier-Bresson believed it was important for a photographer to be in sync with his surroundings, to sense the rhythm of a scene and to feel connected to his subject matter. He quietly and surreptitiously set himself in the middle of the action, a technique that enabled him to capture events in a way that other photographers had not. When Henri Cartier-Bresson would talk about “The Decisive Moment” he said sometimes it would be spontaneous but others times he had to be patient and wait for it. Regardless he was very methodological when he would go out and shoot, and would only keep his images if every element of his image; people, background, framing, and composition were perfect.

Brassai

Brassai used strong contrast in his photographs, which created emotion by utilizing different lighting techniques. Brassai was fascinated in photographing different people and places at nighttime, as he believed the night scene brought many amusing characters and settings. These images that he captured were almost surreal and gave the viewer a very dream-like feeling. Although his style is very interesting as he does not manipulate the image into showing something superfluous but simply showing the viewer exactly how it is.

Robert Frank

Robert Frank learnt from a young age to create original works that reflected a personal and emotional response to the environment. His mentor, Alexey Brodovitch, inspired Frank’s experimental work as he was encouraged to purposely distort an image by using imprecise focus and often times, using grainy film.  This can be seen in his well-known series, “The Americans.” By creating works that represented a more edgy and critical perspective, Frank paved the way for documentary photography, as we know today. Frank revolutionized the aesthetic for photographs by creating images that engaged the viewer and made them question the image, so often leaving them with more questions than answers.