Kevin Carter [Historical Photographer]

Most photographers take pictures for people to view, hoping that it will have some effect on them. What they don't think about is the effect it might have on themselves.

Kevin Carter was an award-winning photojournalist from South Africa. He documented many horrors including the brutality of the apartheid. His real recognition was, however, from a photograph he took in Sudan. In 1993 he found a little Sudanese toddler, dying of starvation, crawling her way to a feeding center. A few feet away was a vulture, sensing the nearness of death and watching as she crawled. Advised not to touch the children for fear of diseases, Carter snapped the photo and left, not offering help to the girl. When the photo was published he encountered a lot of criticism for not knowing what ultimately happened to the girl. Later, he won a Pulitzer Prize for that photograph. Three months after receiving the prize, at the age of 33, Carter committed suicide. The guilt he had experienced and the tragedies he had seen was too much for him to handle.

I realize this is quite a somber post. The reason I decided to write about it is that it seems easy to hide behind a camera sometimes. We must not lose sight of the reason for taking pictures. If Carter's reason was to raise awareness to help these victims of famine, he obviously lost sight of that because he did not have the will to practically help them.

Robert Dawson [Contemporary Photographer]

Robert Dawson was drawn to photography because for him, it helped explain the relationship between us and our environment and helped raise public awareness.

I was drawn to photography because I like shapes and colors.

Maybe my reason should be more intellectual, but that's just the truth. I guess that's a good reason to study various artists. I may not have initially been drawn to photography for the same reasons as them, but I can still aim to take photographs for noble use (which I am trying to accomplish in my senior sem project). I am learning that photography is very multidimensional.

Jeff Chien Hsing-Liao [Contemporary Photographer]

My eyes got wide as I stumbled upon this photographer. Maybe it was the colors, maybe the light, or maybe the amazingly wide angle lens he uses. Nevertheless the combination was astounding.

LIRR, Hunter's Point

There is something magical about this photograph. It makes me want to grab my camera and drive up to D.C. just in time for the sunset to attempt to capture the same moment. This picture tells a story. It is unsuspectingly beautiful.

I was recently commissioned (by my brother) to take pictures of a model home for the website he is creating for my parents business (home building). After doing some research on realty photography I felt well enough prepared for the task. Fortunately they weren't paying me for my services because the pictures turned out pretty poorly. I have discovered that a big part of the reason was my lens. I have a zoom lens, a standard one that came with the camera, but it is very limiting. When taking pictures of the house it was impossible to get a picture of a whole room. The lens would cut off a lot of the view, making most of my pictures useless. I have been thinking a lot about getting a wide angle or maybe a fixed lens to allow for more versatility. I think these photos might have just convined me. However, I do still need to do a lot of research about them before I spend all my money. I think a new type of lens would really help in my senior sem work because it adds a dramatic element to the picture.

I'll leave you with a few more of Liao's images.

Adventures in Antigua

I just got back on Sunday from vacation in Antigua. If you haven't heard of it, don't worry, neither had I until a few weeks ago. It is a small island in the Carribbean. We stayed at a resort on the beach. However, one day we did rent a car and drive around the island which, like most other Carribbean islands, was in fairly poor condition. It wasn't as bad as some other places I have been, but definitely bad enough to be good senior sem material. Yes, I am happy to say I did work on homework while on vacation! Most of the pictures were taken as we were driving by. Sometimes I made my dad stop the car as I ran out into the street to snap a few shots. I probably confused the natives as I was obviously a tourist taking pictures of the most broken down things. I am currently editing some of the pictures and will post them here in a bit. Subjects include mostly old, but brightly colored houses. Get excited!

James Nachtwey [Contemporary Photographer]

"A picture says a thousand words"

I'm sure we have all heard this quote at some point in our lives. Reading or hearing about things sometimes doesn't have the same effect as it would if we see them. James Nachtwey, also known as the 'war photographer' dared to venture into places where people chose not to pay attention to in order to show the world of the various tragedies happening around us.




This photo, taken in South Africa, shows an elderly lady holding innocent granddaughter who is suffering from AIDS.

Nachtwey decided to use photography to open people's eyes to the people who are being ignored.

His photographs say a lot. They speak of suffering, hurt, injustice and brokenness.

What do my photographs say?

Henri Cartier-Bresson [Historical Photographer]

Behind the Gare, St. Lazare

"I suddenly understood that photography could fix eternity in an instant."

Henri Cartier-Bresson, born in 1908, turned to photography after first being involved in painting. He liked the freedom it offered to capture a moment in an instant. He said, "I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung-up and ready to pounce, ready to 'trap' life." He saw his camera as an extension of his eye. Cartier-Bresson traveled all over the world photographing various places. When he became more popular he photographed Ghandi's funeral and several other significant historical events. Although he was most well known for his photography, at the end of his career he returned to his original love of painting and drawing. "All I care about these days is painting-photography has never been more than a way into painting, a sort of instant drawing." He retired from photography in the early 1970's and died in August 2004.

I thought it might be a good exercise for my sketchbook to paint my photographs.

Dorothea Lange [Historical Photographer]

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) had a similar vision to Walker Evans in that she documented a lot of the Great Depression. She was employed by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) after they saw her photographs of the homeless and the unemployed. Lange has a rough childhood with her father's abandonment when she was 12 and a victim of Polio at 7. She knew what suffering was. This might have helped her to sympathize with the migrant workers in the Great Depression. Probably her most famous photograph shows suffering.

Migrant Mother, 1936

Unlike some of the more common photographs from the Great Depression, this one does not include any American streets or scenery. All it is is three people, a mother and her two children. The emotion captured on the mother's face shows her worry and suffering. The children's faces are hidden in their mother's shoulders. She is all they have. They are obviously tired and hungry. Lange wasn't afraid to get involved with people. She took photographs for reasons other than the advancement of her career. These Great Depression photos were distributed for free in newspapers around the country in order to raise awareness. She also documented the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans to relocation camps. Here is a picture of some of those children pledging allegiance to the American flag before the internment.

A good question for me to think about is how can I use my artwork to help others?