Photographs of Sebastiao Salgado
My Photographs
My Virtual Essay
First I will give some background on my photographs and how they relate to the course. I used photographs I had taken in 2012 during a course called Understanding America, also an elective offered by George Brown College. At the end of the course we were required to submit a journal in any format of our choosing. And my documentary was a photographic journal where I used key photographs and notes to represent the progress of our journey For my blog none of the photographs were edited for the purpose of keeping a journalistic approach.
These photographs are of my own technique which I developed however the rules of photography that I was devoted to were based on my past photography professor Felix Russo's teachings in the fall of 2010 to winter of 2011.
For this assignment I am choosing Sebastiao Salgado to compare my work to. In my opinion Sebastiao Salgado’s photographs are designed to portray a bizarre twist in reality with a feel of nature’s touch. For this reason I choose my own photographs with a completely different style. In the examples of Sebastiao Salgado’s photographs that I posted, there are no people, as well as my own eight photographs that I posted. One could say that Sebastiao Salgado could see something others could not, but what? Observing his photographs I realized that he had a knack for capturing nature. When I continue to observe the photographs I notice a that Sebastiao wasn’t just photographing what was in front of him. He was capturing a scene not common or visually natural to an ordinary person; For example the elephants looks like its being drawn into the light by an unseen force.
With photography as art as opposed to photo journalism; I think that Sebastiao Salgado’s photographs leaned towards a more artistic style but contained the truth of the world out there. Truth as in what people are unaware of, what they look for but cannot see, the truth of photography.
The similarities I see in Sebastiao’s photographs compared to my eight photographs are that they were captured for the purpose of documenting a moment in time, the capturing of a view unseen by others and the general exploration of nature. Explaining the similarities starting with the general exploration of nature; it is very basic that in these photographs, there are natural environments with no direct interference of man, and opinion wise I love these kind of photographs, hence the examples of Sebastian's work with no human subjects in the compositions. What do I mean by the my photographs and Sebastiao’s being similar when referring to them as documenting a moment in time? As I said earlier my photographs were designed for a journalistic approach where notes were taken along during the progress of my journey in 2012. Using the same example of Sebastiao’s photographs; the elephant being drawn in by the light signifies that the photograph was taken at a special and important moment as well, perhaps a mid day or when the sun was at a high point, taking lighting into account.
The differences I see in Sebastiao’s photographs compared to my eight photographs are that they were taken in a different time period and with a different idea in mind. Explaining the difference of idea’s; Before Sebastiao Salgado became a photographer he studied economics, taking this into account, I believe his photographs were influenced mainly by culture and how humans live with the environment. As apposed to my idea of photography, my photograph’s were influence by the first program I studied containing a photography course “Art and Design Foundation.”
To conclude, my photograph’s were influenced mainly by my past teacher Professor Felix Russo but they were also influenced by design and my experience with fine art. However for the purpose of the journal I strictly focused on a realistic journal approach to reflect on.
For this assignment I am choosing Sebastiao Salgado to compare my work to. In my opinion Sebastiao Salgado’s photographs are designed to portray a bizarre twist in reality with a feel of nature’s touch. For this reason I choose my own photographs with a completely different style. In the examples of Sebastiao Salgado’s photographs that I posted, there are no people, as well as my own eight photographs that I posted. One could say that Sebastiao Salgado could see something others could not, but what? Observing his photographs I realized that he had a knack for capturing nature. When I continue to observe the photographs I notice a that Sebastiao wasn’t just photographing what was in front of him. He was capturing a scene not common or visually natural to an ordinary person; For example the elephants looks like its being drawn into the light by an unseen force.
With photography as art as opposed to photo journalism; I think that Sebastiao Salgado’s photographs leaned towards a more artistic style but contained the truth of the world out there. Truth as in what people are unaware of, what they look for but cannot see, the truth of photography.
The similarities I see in Sebastiao’s photographs compared to my eight photographs are that they were captured for the purpose of documenting a moment in time, the capturing of a view unseen by others and the general exploration of nature. Explaining the similarities starting with the general exploration of nature; it is very basic that in these photographs, there are natural environments with no direct interference of man, and opinion wise I love these kind of photographs, hence the examples of Sebastian's work with no human subjects in the compositions. What do I mean by the my photographs and Sebastiao’s being similar when referring to them as documenting a moment in time? As I said earlier my photographs were designed for a journalistic approach where notes were taken along during the progress of my journey in 2012. Using the same example of Sebastiao’s photographs; the elephant being drawn in by the light signifies that the photograph was taken at a special and important moment as well, perhaps a mid day or when the sun was at a high point, taking lighting into account.
The differences I see in Sebastiao’s photographs compared to my eight photographs are that they were taken in a different time period and with a different idea in mind. Explaining the difference of idea’s; Before Sebastiao Salgado became a photographer he studied economics, taking this into account, I believe his photographs were influenced mainly by culture and how humans live with the environment. As apposed to my idea of photography, my photograph’s were influence by the first program I studied containing a photography course “Art and Design Foundation.”
To conclude, my photograph’s were influenced mainly by my past teacher Professor Felix Russo but they were also influenced by design and my experience with fine art. However for the purpose of the journal I strictly focused on a realistic journal approach to reflect on.
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