Assignment 3 - Group Presentation: http://agnescamalla.blogspot.ca/
DB 11
Research summary and contribution
Background
William Eugene Smith lived December 30th, 1918 to October 15th, 1978. He was a photojournalist who refused to compromise his professional quality; and was renown for photographs of World War two, which were very unpleasant and vivid.
After graduating from Wichita North High School n 1936, Eugene started his journey by taking photographs for; The Wichita Eagle the and Beacon, which were two local newspapers. In New York he became well known for this consistent perfectionism and tough personality. In 1939 Eugene was fired from Newsweek for distinctly objecting to the use of medium format cameras and he moved on to Life Magazine.
Eugene's ambitions took him to the front lines of World War two by the appeal of Ziff-Davis Publishing and Life. He was with the American island hopping offensive against Japan, photographing U.S Marines and Japanese prisoners of war. Unfortunately on an island called Okinawa, Eugene was hit by mortar fire; however after he recovered he continued to work at Life and made his photo essay perfect during 1947 to 1954.
In 1955 Eugene worked for Magnum photo agency where he started a documentary about Pittsburgh. The project overextended from three weeks and spanned to three years. The project was too large for showing but there were sires of book length photo essays produced over time. During 1957 to 1965 Eugene took photographs recorded jazz musicians at a Manhattan loft.
An attack by Chisso Employees near Tokyo in 1972, was an attempt to stop Eugene from the further publication of the Minamata disease. He survived the attack be it left his sight deteriorate in one eye. He lived in the city of Minamata with his wife from 1971 to 1973 and too many photographs for an essay providing the details of Minamata disease caused by a Chisso factory's discharge of heavy metals into water sources.
(Eugene took amphetamines to enable his workaholic tendencies) and the long term effect of the consumption of the drugs and alcohol created complications which took his life in 1978 via stroke.
My view on Eugene's style:
He was very professional and obsessive with producing perfect photographs and photo essays. He risk is own life in the front lines to be able to capture the truth. He was stubborn to the extent of refusing to change his standards regardless of the consequences; example: (In 1939 Eugene was fired from Newsweek for objecting to the use of medium format cameras)
Research:
Background
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Eugene_Smith
(1945) photograph in which Marines blow up a Japanese cave on Iwo Jima.
http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_demolition_full.html
(1944) photograph in which a wounded infant is found by an American soldier on Saipan
http://www.alderart.com/secondarypic/w%20%20eugene%20smith.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Kertész
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson
Andre Kertesz's photographs are similar to Henri Cartier Bresson's in the subject of photo manipulation. They used similar techniques to create distortion effects and from viewing their photographs you can see a more artistic approach in their style.
Andre Kertesz's and Henri's photographs versus Eugene and Sebastio Salgado's photographs - Key elements that distinguish Andre's photographic style from Sebastio's photo's are abstraction, and the composition of the ratio of people.
Abstraction: in many of Andre's and Henri's photographs for example Distortion from 1933; he manipulates the photographs and cause a distortion this distortion gives his photographs a look and feel of an abstract nature. In a press or journalistic approach at the time, such photographs would not be the norm.
From an art point of view, in some photographs it would seem that both Andre, Henri and Sebastio's and Eugene's photographs are trying to show a bizarre twist of reality however their styles are very different. Andre and Eugene- little manipulation compared to Sebastio.
Composition of the ratio of people: in many of Andre's and Henri's photograph's the main subject seems to be some image or figure not so obvious to the eye. Even the photographs where there are groups of people in the composition their focus seems to be on the motion or actions of these people rather than their goal or numbers. In Eugene and Sebastio's photograph's the focus leads more towards a documentary approach rather than autistic approach; where the photo's capture the story of the moment that the people are expressing and a photo essay might be necessary to explain the situation.
Besides the abundance of military personnel in the photographs; these photographs also share photos with large background environments to show that the country or the place in which the event taking place is just as important.
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