Walker Evans
(November 3, 1903 - April 10, 1975)
Walker Evans was an American photographer best known for his work portraying the effects of the great depression. His goal as a photographer was to make photographs that were “literate, authoritative, transcendent”. Evans photographed every day objects and every day people altering the way we see ourselves and the world around us. He photographed abandoned buildings, storefronts, street signs, portraits of working people, poor areas, and other anonymous objects with a straight forward, realistic, and clear style. He avoided the popular artistic and creative styles of many photographers at the time. With great thought, sharpness of vision, and outstanding technical skills, Evans transformed ordinary pictures through his personal vision. Evans shot in black and white and most of his photographs are shot horizontally. His mission as a photographer was to define his subjects with simplicity and structure bringing his photographers of anonymous, flat objects to life.
Sample Great Works:
Henri Cartier-Bresson
(August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004)
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer. He was considered to be a leading modern photojournalist and a master in candid photography. Cartier-Bresson was a ‘street photographer’ with an unbelievable eye and hand allowing him to capture events by moving carefully. Cartier-Bresson raised the level of snap photography to art. He photographed with a small camera with fast black and white films and sharp lenses. He never photographed with flash, and he didn’t believe in composing his pictures in a dark room. Nearly all his photographs were printed only at full frame. Cartier-Bresson worked in black and white. He averted from any type of publicity and was known to be a very shy man with a modest method of work. He believed that the smallest thing could be a great subject for his photographs. He photographed the streets in France, events in the Second World War, portraits of notable people… His photographs were realistic and relaxed. They were concerned with human details, emotions, and character. Each one of his photographs captured the essence of each of his subjects. As a journalist, he had the desire to communicate what he thought about what he saw. His pictures were often subtle and told a story. Each picture was taken with a sense of love and understanding. Through his work we can find beauty and reality in places we would have never guessed.
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Websites of Research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bressonhttp://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/bresson.htm
