Lo1 P1 report about three Photographers

Steve Mc curry, born in 1950 is an American photographer who is most known for documenting nature, war and also picturing portraits of people from developing countries. Showing the effects of war of natural life, As well as human life. His most famous picture 'Afghan Girl' is a portrait of a young girl with piercing green eyes taken during 1980 war time in the Afghanistan. Lot of his photos use the their location to their advantage. Steve has been using Nikon equipment such as the D700 and a Hasselblad Medium format camera. For his printing nowadays, he uses an Epson printer and is considered an Epson Pro. He has mentioned that his favourite printer has been an Epson large format printer.

In 1984, Steve McCurry was commissioned by National Geographic to take photographs of refugee camps along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. When there, he was able to take many pictures of civilians and refugees who were fleeing from the recent conflict that had risen in Afghanistan during earlier years. The picture below captures the damage that war can create to urban infrastructure, and the people that live there. The man, who looks sad, tired and depressed, is seen standing just infant of a burning building. Most of McCurry's images have a depressing tone worked into them, and each one is heavily crafted so that it can perfectly document what he was trying to convey. One way he was able to achieve this sombre, depressing tone was by taking the photo on site in Kabul Afghanistan, in front of a burning building in a rundown area. I think this was done as it allowed many people in the western region of the world see the effects that conflict can have on the people living there. I could not find what critics thought of this image alone. However, I was able to find a critique from Teju Cole, writing for The New York Times, who stated that his pictures as a whole were. “boring, but extremely popular”. Personally, I do not believe this. His is eye catching and portrayed an interesting and intriguing story in each piece. His constant use of saturating the image is able to make the foreground and background standout within each other, allowing you to gain information able the situation wherever you look. The calmness that the man stood infront of the building shows how desesitised people can become through being in war and similar positions. In 1984, technology had not yet progressed into what it is today, so a lot of people were not as desesitised to footage like this as people would be now, so during this time, this image could have been seen as very jarring and scary for people living calmly in there suburban house. It brings to life the horrors' of what war can do to the human mind and how its effects can change peoples personalities.

This picture, called Australia, features a split in colours. The left side of the landscape image is very bright a features very bright yellows and oranges, the other half is features more blue and greys. These both contrast with each other, but also work to blend the image. The image is a documented piece that focuses on nature. This of course being the sea, and the trees in the background. I have chosen this one because it is very simple and unique. This piece isn't about war, but it still contains that very depressing style that is prevalent in a lot of his work. I really like this piece as it contrast in colours make the image flow together and makes the landscape seen very open and empty. They used the golden ration within this image which helps it create a perfect, balanced design that allows the image to flow and look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. This is heightened by the wide perspective that make the image feel large and open, allowing it to create a sense of scale in the large empty beach.

His photo 'Afghan Girl' was taken in 1984. Digital editing wasn't available until the early 1990s, so he had to achieve the saturation through unconventional means. This photo is a portrait of a young girl from Afghanistan, and it documents a lot of the sadness that many civilians portrayed throughout this time. He has tuned the aperture in order to achieve a shallow depth of field which makes the young girl in the foreground stand out and contrast the background. This photo is known as being 'Iconic' but also highly 'disturbing' due to its story and infamous model. In this he ustilised the golden ration to make the focus point of the picture the bright colourful eyes. These stand out straight away to the viewer and lead the viewer further into the image of the young girl. 

Annie Leibovitz

-Annie focusses on portraits of celebrities, politicians, and people from around the world. Some of her pieces feature the model in awkward or quirky positions. This can be seen as a metaphor for Visual Culture. She highly edits her images  to highlight the whimsical nature of it All her photography comments on her time and its people, whether a fantasy shoot for Vogue Magazine, political portraiture for Barak Obama, or images of war-torn Sarajevo. 

This photo is a portrait of the artist Kendrick Lamar, I really like this image. It has Kendrick placed in the middle of the image, he looks very small compared to the background and this was purposely done to represent how people may recognise Kendrick's appearance as a rapper, but will not recognise the person behind the stage name. Showing how Hendricks identity as a rapper may have taken over his true identity as a person. This image seems to have been taken within a studio, and it seems that it has been heavily edited after shooting to achieve the overlapping of images that is present. She mostly used digital cameras when shooting photos. This is because it makes the process of shooting and sharing the media easier than older methods such as using film. It makes the process cheaper and allows you to edit the photo to your liking. She may have edited this photo by sharpening the image and desaturating it. She may have done this to make Kendrick seem less flashy and more down to earth than other Artists such as Kanye West. These methods were used to make him seem more humble, so that people could relate to him more as a regular person. This correlate's with his music which is also very humble and down to earth, as he is known for talking about the struggles that face black people living in America and other social issue. 

This image of Kanye West and his Ex wife Kim Kardashian (while they were together). This image has been set up to achieve its themes and message. Firstly, she has made both celebrities hole the iPod and iPhone, while also holding their child. This was set up to parody how social media has taken over the lives of these people. As both celebrities have a huge online presence. The setting seems to be their house, specifically their Childs bedroom, This was probably chosen to highlight the materialism that celebrities like Kanye represent in their media. This is because they have a huge bedroom just for one child, and Annie used this to present how fake and empty their life may seem in real life, compared to how it is represented on their social media. The image is a portrait of both Kanye and Kim, who are both also taking portrait pictures of themselves, which again parodies how fake celebrity life can be. Kim's posing and make-up are used to parody here actual photo shoots in which she is shown to be very glamorous. Annie has also posed her next to her child to further emphasize this façade and show how fake celebrity life is shown n social media. I appreciate this image but I do believe that it is less ambitious than the one featuring Kendrick Lamar. However, I do believe the message that this piece represents is interesting, and the way its presented is almost comical. Kanye's stance makes him seem very awkward and uninterested which is humorous considering Kanye's infamous presence on social media. She most likely shot this photo on a digital camera and may have been photocopied to edit out any imperfections in the shot, which is something that happens regularly in Kim Kardashian photos. Also, it seems as if the photography has used rules of three within the shot, and placed Kim forefront in the center. Possibly playing into the idea that she believes the world revolves around her.

This image of of two legendary actors seems to have been set up in a studio being a darkly lit background. She has used a dim backlight to make both actors stand out more in the camera. Plus, she has used the costumes and posing to make the characters seem flashy and important. I like this image as it almost looks like a painted portrait of the duo, and it looks very extravagant and classy.

 

David Bailey 

-He takes portrait images in black and white of mainly celebrities. His shot accompany nothing apart from the celebrity and he uses white backgrounds so that they are completely in the fore frame for the viewer. 

This photo has used simple expressions and shading to present the Queen to be a nice old lady. He has done this to show here as being modest and friendly, which is what she is known as being. The clothing used in the video is formal, but not too flashy or expensive. I think the photo was taken this way to present the queen similar to you grandparents, so that she an be seen as more relatable and sweet. I don't really like this style, as its seems very boring and doesn't have the ambition that some of Annie Leibovitz.

This portrait of the actor Jack Nicholson focuses on his expression and his sinister laugh or smile. This could be referencing his Iconic role as Jack in The Shining, and using this to make the shot more noticeable and iconic. It uses the fact that his character was insane in that film to create a creepy photo that seems to show sinister undertones. The shading highlights this, as he specifically uses a lot more darker shading in the piece to highlight that darker side to his character and reference the psychotic character he is most known for playing. In this image, the actor is slightly off center. This could have been purposefully done by using the golden ration.

This image of Pharrell Williams and his Girlfriend has been shot to show how loving and soft he is. It subverts the stereotype of a rapper being very gangster and hard. He has achieved this by posing Pharrell behind the women, with his head over her should, hugging her from behind, showing his sensitive side. This also does link to how he portrays himself in his music.