Photojournalism Part 2

Robert Capa

Robert Capa was born October 22nd 1913 and died may 25th 1954, he was a Hungarian photojournalist who took the most famous pictures of the decisive moment. Capa's pictures brought fame, reality and an understanding of the war, people were shocked to see that a photographer would risk his life just to get a good picture. Capa unlike Tony Vaccaro could drop in and out of conflict.

This is one of Capa's most famous pictures, the death of a spanish soldier in the civil war. Capa caught this picture exactly in the decisive moment when the soldier was being shot, he captured the drama and horrific secens of being in the war.



Tony Vaccaro 

Tony Vaccaro was born 20th december 1922. He was a soldier in WW2 but also took pictures of the war in progress, he took the best pictures of the war, some were very graphic but would have been sensored before reaching the public. Vaccaro took the best pictures of WW2 because he was so close to the action, even more close then Capa would have been. He always had his camera on him as well as the standard army equipment for instance; a gun. Unlike Henri Cartier-Bresson, Vaccaro couldnt offord a leica camera so used and argos C4 however towards the end of the war he was able to get a cheap leica. Vaccaro  found the ruins of an old camera store and found some of the chemicals used when developing pictures, he decided that he was going to develop his own pictures. He did all the neccisary steps and then hung the pictures on a nearby tree, went to sleep and the next morning they had appeard.

Both Photographers captured important close up and personal pictures. They realise that there is more then meets the eye and you can not trust pictures as they don't show the truth. However Rodger Fenton showed that there is an alternative to being in the right place at the right time. There was no dead bodies or shoting soldiers in his picture but it still shows the devistation of the war.

Photojournalism part 1

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was born August 22nd 1908 and died August 3rd 2004, he was considered the godfather of photojournalism. The french photographer saw himself as a painter before turning to the camera. He is known for influencing other photographers from his best and well known photo Behind the Gare St. Lazare. 

This image is one of Cartier-Bresson's most famous pictures, he caught this picture at the perfect time 'the decisive moment', some people say that he would wait for the right time to take the picture and would stand around for ages to get an amazing picture like this one. "His pictures were about being at the right place at the right time", "he had an act for it", these are just a couple of quotes about Henri Cartier-Bresson spoken by some photographers themselves.


The Decisive Moment

The decisive moment is a moment when the picture (composition) comes together. For example in Henri Cartier-Bresson's picture of the guy jumping over the puddle is a very good examle of the decisive moment, he caught the guy in mid air which is the perfect moment, if it was earlier he would have had him still walking on the ground towards the puddle, and if he clicked later then he would of either had a splash from where he hit the puddle or of him walking away from the puddle. Catching the guy in mid air gives the picture drama, it gives it a sense of excitment as you do not know weather he makes the puddle or not, this is because it is a still image.

The Leica Camera

The leica camera was mainly used for street photography, espeshially within the mid-to-late 20th century. The first camera Henri Cartier-Bresson used was the leica camera which he described as an extention of his eye. Henri used to wrap black tape around the body of the camera to make it less conspicuous.