Mood board

Contribution to MAGNUM Photo Agency

Two years after the apocalypse that was called the Second World War ended, Magnum Photos was founded. The world’s most prestigious photographic agency was formed by four photographers – Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David “Chim” Seymour – who had been very much scarred by the conflict and were motivated both by a sense of relief that the world had somehow survived and the curiosity to see what was still there. They created Magnum in 1947 to reflect their independent natures as both people and photographers – the idiosyncratic mix of reporter and artist that continues to define Magnum, emphasizing not only what is seen but also the way one sees it.

Candid portraits are when the person who is the main subject of the photo is unaware that they are being photographed, the idea of a candid portrait is to capture people acting naturally. The reason why they have to be unaware that they are being photographed is because when they do become aware their behaviour in front of the camera changes and they become aware of what they’re doing.

Photo Shoot

Street Photography

Street photography is a genre of photography which focuses on recording everyday life in a public place, street photography relates to candid portraits as the street photographs may include people who are unaware they’re being photographed.

These images above are my best colourful abstract photographs and I have selected them to be in my final piece of the abstract unit as for there high quality , eye catching liveliness. They relate to each other in the sense that they all come from something living such as the flowers and the fruit which would have originated from a plant. These images with a little amount of editing such as increasing the vibrancy level on the colours and changing the levels with the highlights and shadows formed in the photographs , they are all displayed in a gallery (photoshopped).

For my next selection of images used I have chosen a more street work style of photography and I have displayed my work on billboards in a city. The images selected relate to abstract photography as for the blurred backgrounds/foregrounds and the reflection work. They are effective in black and white in this scene to blend with alley ways in towns and cities and simply look better.

These black and white abstract photographs are all placed in a gallery with a more of a modern style of photography to them. They relate with the abstract work as for the tonal range of dark to light can be noticed almost instantly. With minimal editing these photos where the ones that caught my eye.

These last images I have chosen simply link with the abstract unit as for the repetition of the object that I have photographed. These images have been displayed in a sketchbook as photos. The black and white colour of the images creates a more abstract feel as there is a larger focus on the shapes of the objects as the colour is not apparent.

A portrait photograph may be important for historic preservation, personal branding or for personal pleasure,  it is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Portrait photographers are able to capture the personality and emotion of people around them.

Portrait photos look best if the eyes are in sharp focus, this improves the sense of eye contact between the subject and viewer, creating a powerful and engaging photo. When shooting portraits with a shallow depth of field, it is important to set your focus point carefully.

Examples of Portrait Photography

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Contemporary Portrait Photography

Contemporary portrait photography could be described as a photograph from our own time, compared to an image from a much earlier period. Instead, it is a reference to an image created that reflects our values, challenges and perceptions today or, in reference to a contemporaneous period for that image.

Examining photographic portraits has been a way we practice critical thinking about identities, how images relate to social, historical and cultural contexts and how ideas, feelings and meanings are portrayed through portrait photography and ultimately how they shape our history.

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Contemporary photography encapsulates or reflects back to us an opinion about our world today. Values, societies, philosophy, standards for living, technology, politics and geopolitical realities constantly change.

For the photograph to be “contemporary” it does not have to ignore a prior historical context, or that it is influenced by the work of others in the past, or by other current artists. The photographer may have combined previously taken images from any prior point in time giving that image a contemporary re-birth. 

Lee Jeffries

Lee Jeffries is a British street photographer, who resides near Manchester, England. He focuses on homeless people in England and all around the world. Lee‘s images were published in many prestigious magazines and newspapers, photography came into his life by accident when he was 35 years old.

Jeffries’ relationship with street portraits began in 2008 when he took his camera and went out. The main reason he went to shoot people out, was that he felt lonely inside and being surrounded by people helped to change that feeling. According to him, the more relationships he created with homeless people, the less lonely he felt, so his photographing activity at some point was not giving something away, but take something back too.

By making portraits of homeless persons, Lee wanted to dig a little bit deeper and get to know them at first, create a connection with them and maybe even help them to change their complicated situation. According to him, if you respect a person no matter what is his social status, he will respect you back and that is a key of trust with which you can create a certain atmosphere for making a good portrait.

What i like about Jeffries’ photographs is the deep emotion each picture presents. This photograph is filled with distress, trouble, sorrow and sadness, his images are very powerful and make the viewer feel sympathy towards the person in the photograph as the people in Jeffries’ images are homeless and express negative emotions, showing they aren’t happy with their lives.

What catches my eye the most about this photo is the deep contrast between the black and white tones and the detail in her skin, i like how the highlights bounce off of her skin from the natural light and instead of trying to hide her age, Jeffries expresses their age by capturing each small detail in her skin.

The surroundings of her face are dark and plain and all your focus gets taken to her detailed face and towards the emotions shes feeling.

Harry Callahan was an American photographer and educator. His first solo exhibition was at the art institute of Chicago in 1951. Some of his works include Lake Michigan (1953), Chicago (1949) and La Salle Street, Chicago (1953).

Contact Sheets

Filtered Down Contact Sheets

Best Images and Edits

My Best Image

I believe the image showing the fern leaf is the best. First of all i believe it really shows how complicated nature is and fits with the idea of natural lines as there is many lines that connect other lines etc. Also i believe it really shows natural lines as the leaf isn’t perfect and is missing some of the small leaves showing that nature is not perfect. To create the very green and natural image, i edited the original image so that the edge of the leaf had some darker borders. Secondly, I made the fern leaf have a more natural and green colour that brighten and make the fern more vibrant.

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), arguably the most significant photographer of the twentieth-century, was one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos in 1947 and champion of the “decisive moment”. He brought a new aesthetic and practice to photography, initiated modern photojournalism, and influenced countless followers. Henri Cartier-Bresson has intuitively chronicled decisive moments of human life around the world with poetic documentary style. His photographs impart spontaneous instances with meaning, mystery, and humor in terms of precise visual organization, and his work, although tremendously difficult to imitate, has influenced many other photographers. His photographs may be summed up through a phrase of his own: “the decisive moment,” the magical instant when the world falls into apparent order and meaning, and may be apprehended by a gifted photographer.

The decisive moment: widely considered to be one of the most important photo books of the twentieth century. Pioneering for its emphasis on the photograph itself as a unique narrative form. Originally titled Images à la Sauvette (“images on the run”) in the French, the book was published in English with a new title, The Decisive Moment, which unintentionally imposed the motto which would define Cartier-Bresson’s work. The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself.

Key Images

This image has been taken outside in natural lighting. This image is very bright with contrasting tones of dark grays and blacks. The focal point of this image is the children in the foreground of this image. This image was taken at the Berlin wall in 1962. The children appear to be playing in the streets. This image is a whole contrast in itself as the Berlin wall was seen as a bad thing as it separated the east and west of Berlin (from 1961-1989) leaving people from each side unable to see family members and stopped people from being able to work . However the children are playing next to it which is seen as a happy positive thing.

Magnum Photography

Through 1944 and 1945, Cartier-Bresson photographed the occupation of France and its liberation. In 1947 he co-founded the Magnum agency with Robert Capa, Chim (David Seymour), and George Rodger and he spent the next twenty years traveling around the world. Magnum is one of the first photographic cooperatives, owned and administered entirely by members. The staff serve a support role for the photographers, who retain all copyrights to their own work. In 1966 he left Magnum, which remained his agent, and devoted himself to drawing.

Compare and Contrast

Henri Cartier-Bresson and William Klein

Both Cartier-Bresson and William Klein’s images are solely in black and white. The above image (William Klein’s) is very dark toned with lots of blacks and grays and the below image is more bright and white toned even though both images look to have been taken outside in natural lighting. The subjects of both images also appear to know in someway that they are being photographed, whether they were told or spotted the camera themselves they are both engaging and interacting with the camera. The above image has the focal point of the two children as they are extremely close to the camera leaving very little background space. However in the image below the foreground is of the children but they are very low in the frame leaving a lot of background of the wall behind them.

Henri Cartier-Bresson and Alex Webb

Both of these images have been taken in natural lighting of people who are unaware they are being photographed. The above image (Cartier-Bresson’s) is very dull and grey toned whereas the below image is full of various colours. Both images have been taken in the streets however in the first image the frame is full of people who look like they are at some form of event and in the second image the frame only has 3 people in it. Two of those people are in the foreground of the image and are slightly out of focus whereas the man in the background is fully in focus like the rest of the image. In Cartier Bresson’s image this contrasts the below image as the foreground of the people is in focus and the background of the buildings are slightly blurred.

With my final images that I found were most effective I open each image in photoshop and copied them on to an empty gallery room where I distorted the images to get them to fit on the walls and aligning them to the ground. Edit > transform > distort. I then put a light drop shadow behind each photo to give them the affect that they’re on the wall.

The word PORTRAIT is defined as a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, of the face or head and shoulders. A portrait is designed to capture someone in there own self such as there personality , lifestyle , glamour ect. In modern day this is can be done by using high tech lighting equipment , backdrops, poses by the models themselves and of course Photoshop where editing skills can change a photo. The first portrait ever to be taken was in 1839 were an American photographer , Robert Cornelius , took the first ever portrait photograph of a person. He removed the lens cap, ran into the frame and stood still for ten minutes, before returning the cap to its position.

Contemporary Portrait Photography – is a photograph from our own time, compared to an image from a much earlier period. It can be described as an image that shows and reflects are values and challenges to this day.

Environmental Portraits

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These images above I cropped and edited on photoshop to bring out the best quality of them. In photoshop i simply heightened the contrast and lowered the brightness level a tad just to make the image more intriguing to look at.

These images give a range of different types of jobs and carers which make people happy in their working environment.

I feel like these photographs link to Mary Ellen Mark’s images as the majority of the people are looking straight at the camera with a relaxed mood to them. I chose an image to represent Mary’s work more and changed it into black and white to see the similar style between the two…

These two images have similarities as both men have a relaxing , no posture facial expression. This implies that their mood/personality has a slight importance to their job. Both of their body postures seem to be relaxed and confident in themselves. This can be seen as the butcher boy has his hands resting on the sides of the table which can suggest that he is proud of his job. On the other hand the actor sitting in the dressing room seems to have a more chill vibe as for his legs crossed over themselves.

Both photographs capture these men in their working environment which links to the fact that they are environmental portraits.

‘Henri Cartier–Bresson (1908-2004), arguably the most significant photographer of the twentieth-century, was one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos in 1947 and champion of the “decisive moment”. He brought a new aesthetic and practice to photography, initiated modern photojournalism, and influenced countless followers.’

Henri Cartier-Bresson is well known for his street photography, here are some of his most significant images:

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Analysis

This image was shot in natural light on a sunny day, which created strong defined shadows on the dround. This creates a large tonal range from the light whites of the highlights to the darkest blacks of the shadows. This high contrast makes the subjects and image as a while pop out. The image is also perfectly exposed with no sun glare or over whitening of surfaces. The aperture of the photo seems to be around the f.11 mark, a medium to high aperture to let most things in frame be in focus and sharp. There is a slight vignette around the edges of the image to create a more moody feel and to draw attention to the centre of the image. The shutter speed was probably above 1/120 as the subjects were moving at the time the photo was taken and the sunlight was bright. There also seems to be a slight grainy texture to the image indicating a higher iso.

The light coming from behind the people give a silhouette effect. This along with the dark shadows being cast on the brightly lit road creates an ominous and almost uneasy, moody feeling. As the people get further away from the camera and further down the road, their silhouette becomes less distinguishable from the background, creating a greater sense of depth in the image.

The peoples faces are not clearly seen. This might symbolise how each person in the image, weather they know each other or are strangers, is living their own personal life (sonder). Them being unaware of the photograph shows the natural way of living and people getting on with their daily tasks.

MAGNUM photo agency

In early 1947, Cartier-Bresson, with Robert Capa, David Seymour, William Vandivert and George Rodger founded Magnum Photos. Magnum was a cooperative picture agency and aimed to use photography in the service of humanity, and provided arresting, widely viewed images.

William Klein – comparrison

William Klein took many street photography, and ill compare the above image with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s images

Similarly to Bresson, the image has a large black and white tonal range, with no over exposure or under exposed parts of the image.

Contrasting to Bressons image, this was shot with a lower aperture, maybe about f.5. This is because the Gun that is being pointed at the camera in the foreground is blurry and out of focus, but the subjects behind it are in focus and well detailed. There is also not a vignette in this image.

There seems to be a high iso, similarly to Bressons image, because of the grainy texture.

Contrasting completely to Bressons image, there is immediately a lot of emotion and meaning in this photo. The use of a gun symbolises danger and destruction. Along with the boys emotion with shows anger and sadness. This contrasts to the unidentifiable, shadow filled faces of the subjects in Bressons image. Also, in the image the subjects are aware of the camera.

‘Street photography, also sometimes called candid photography, is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.’

I like street photography because of the natural, non staged flow of the images. It captures a second in time where everyone in the image is focused on their own thing and has not acknowledged the camera, making the image feel almost like a window into another persons life.

i particularly like this video by Pierre T Lambert, who is a photographer and videographer ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR329XWJzo8&ab_channel=PierreT.Lambert ) because he uses the rain and bad weather to his advantage to create moody and more impactful street photography images.

Here is one of the many images that he took while out in the rain.

The dark tones and reflections on the wet ground create a moody feel which i really like.

Bruce Gilden

Bruce Gilden’s street photography is in black and white which draws attention away from colour and more to the actual contents and meaning of the image. This photographs tend to have a lot of emotion in them and are usually quite busy with many people. Here are some examples: