UNIT 57 Photography- Assignment 2- Research of Photographers styles.

Research of Documentary photographers

Marcus Bleasdale

Marcus Bleasdale is a documentary photographer who has spent the past 15 years using his images as part of his campaigning against human rights abuses around the world. He has photographed some of the most brutal wars that have occurred in Africa in recent years. He has been documenting these events for Humans rights watch and National geographic, which shows that his work has the ability to reach huge audiences.

Bleasdale uses his photography in order to put the messages behind them right in front of the intended viewer of the image. What Bleasdale especially tries to do is to capture the smaller details such as the fact that it might be a young boy within the image who can barely reach the pedals of a bike that he has possibly stolen or to capture the facial expressions of locals who have just lost someone in a recent conflict that has occurred as part of a civil war they are fighting in.

Examples of His work

This image shows a child soldier, no more than 10 years old during a conflict involving fighting between tribes for natural resources, more specifically gold deposits. With this image being edited to be in black and white it makes it seem as if this was an event that occurred decades ago however it is something that was incredibly recent. Also by having this image being void of colours, we are not drawn away from the subject which is supposed to be the boy. if we were to have green trees or a yellow/brown ground it might take away from what we are supposed to be looking at.

For me with this image I find that the angle that the image was taken at is relatively important. It is taken from waist level upwards, making it seem as if the viewer is within the image with these people, almost watching this even take place. The focus of the image was supposed to be on the complete despair of the locals within the image and we can clearly see the impact of whatever event has taken place has had on the surrounding people. There is a large depth of field being used within this image due to the fact that we are supposed to see how everyone is effected rather than just the people at the front.

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is an iconic contemporary documentary photographer who has been around for more than 30 years photographing global events. One of the biggest events that he was a part of was the Russian invasion of Afghanistan where had to get smuggled into the country just as the Soviet Union were closing the borders to Western Journalists. On top of this McCurry has travelled the world documenting different cultures in different countries. His work includes conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture. His most famous image is probably the ‘Afghan Girl’.

One thing that Steve McCurry used to use before production of it ended was Kodachrome which is a film developed by kodak that allowed photographers to capture rich and saturated colour. Since McCurry's photographs are very colour heavy, this was something that he used to enhance his images. From ver early on also, McCurry began using digital photography as an essential tool for his photographs as he would be able to edit them using programs like photoshop to increase colour saturation or simply to enhance the images.

Examples of his work

Afghan girl is probably his most iconic image, which appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985. One thing that stands out to me within this image is just how colourful it actually is. With the Afghan girl being covered in red we have no other choice but to be drawn to her. Specifically her face within this image stands out compared to everything else, her green eyes in particular which seem to have been made to be the dominating feature of this image. The staging of thus image is also significant in the fact that there is nothing in the background so therefore she is the only thing that we are supposed to be looking at. The focal point is the girl so therefore a smaller depth of field would be used as we do not need the background to be in focus. Therefore a larger aperture is being used here.

This image from the day of the 9/11 attack shows how empty and desolate one of the buildings during the day of the attacks was. The image shown here looks as if it was taken when the sun was setting and therefore the beams of sunlight can be seen coming through the window from the left side of the image which highlights the scene within the image. It is possible that an orange tint was used to represent the flames that could have been seen on that day. Since the walls and the columns within the building are white, the orange light clearly helps to highlight the building as well as the debris that is within the image. I think that the sunsetting is a representation that there is about to be a new day and that this day is being put behind them.

Tim Hetherington

Tim Hetherington is another documentary photographer who worked and lived in Africa exploring the consequences of conflict. He began documenting conflict itself in order to better understand the causes of the violence that was taking place. He took up photography and began using visual media as a tool to explore and communicate different ideas and topics that fascinated him. One major thing that Hetherington documented was American troops in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008.

Hetherington really tried to capture the emotion of the subjects he worked with whether that was with victims of national conflict such as civil war or with the soldiers he had the pleasure of working with during the Afghanistan war. He does try to do so in order so that the viewer can sympathise with the person who is in the image as well as the even that is taking place.

Examples of his work

Within this image of a soldier there is a slightly darker exposure meaning that a faster shutter speed would have been used. The effect that this has on the image is telling us how the subject might be feeling. By the scenery being darker, it might show that the person in the image is not feeling very 'light' and happy because of the situation that he is in. The staging of this image, with it being in the soldiers quarters is significant here by showing us the soldier in his downtime. Whereas this soldier could have been shown in combat, he is in fact shown during his downtime which lets the viewer know what soldiers are like during their downtime. As people who do not experience war we do not think about soldiers when they do not have to fight and simply think of them in combat. This image allows us to see the other side of combat.

This image comes from a project that Hetherington produced called Liberia Graffiti which documented graffiti drawn in Liberia which had be left after the Civil War had ended. The description of the project says that the graffiti and the photography represents “the scars left by the trauma inflicted on a nation”. Rather than showing us any physical scars on people who were affected by this conflict we get these pieces of graffiti, which serve as a reminder of the events that have taken place. This image in particular is empty apart from the wall with the AK47 rifle drawn on the war. The fact that there is nothing apart form a symbol of war shows that the lives of the people affected by this conflict had nothing in their lives but war. This image is representative of the people from Liberia and shows that war is all they knew. The lighting whether it be natural or artificial comes in from the left side to highlight this wall with the AK47 drawn on to show that this is to be the focal point of the image. I think this image has a higher exposure than the original setting in order for this wall to be highlighted.