Nicholas Nixon

Nicholas Nixon

Usually not everyone sure about what happens around them. For that purpose, Photography is used as a medium to reach out to others. Photography is used to choose how we represent ourselves and how others see what is being portrayed. You can take a simple thing that has occurred in your life and share with others. But you have to also take into consideration about being truthful to the viewers. You can’t manipulate the image to for your own bias. No bias should be included, just straight forward accuracy. You can consider that documentary photography. This genre of photography has the most relevance to our society as these are actually events that are happening and they might have some impact to our lives.



As humans, we respond more to photos than words. When we hear about a certain event, we get a general idea. When we see a picture, we actually know what is happening. You can prove something with credible evidence. You can’t believe someone if they say that several million people died from the actions of the Srebrenica genocide, where there were plans to exterminate the Muslim population in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Everyone’s jaws dropped when they actually witness photos and footage of the massacre. It just goes to show that we might believe in the word of mouth but we will certainly believe in it if we see proof of it. Documentary plays a big part in spreading social issues. There are always opinion here and there and there is a need to document accurately which basically playoff the photographers integrity to be honest with the viewer, to let viewers make an opinion not give them their own opinion.



When we look at the past, we see all o0f the issues that society faced then and is certainly part of history. Documentary photography has helped preserve and share photographs of back then and show society how the things that they faced. This brings to the brilliant work of Walker Evans. He was a man of perseverance and tremendous integrity. He was one of many photographers that documented society’s state during the depression. The depression period showed how vulnerable that people can be but also, from the historical standpoint; it helped future generations the hardships people that had to go through. Evans documented it from the social issue standpoint with the intention of helping the people affected. To sum it up, Evans documented the social landscape during that time and focused on the hope that people on making their lives better given the fact that they were facing such hardships.



Walker Evans has played a big role in documentary photography and he has influenced many photographers. The influence of Evans’ appears in many of Nicholas Nixon’s work. Nicholas Nixon follows the same ideal of documenting as Evans and his subjects were people and society. Looking at Nixon’s work, you could understand the social issues people face fact. This is similar to Evans’ work since they goal was capture the issues that society face but as well, give viewers what is happening around them. Nixon’s images are compelling and consist of people having hope or no hope.



America is considered the land of opportunities and Nixon’s portrayal of all types of people and how they live their lives. It is quite resounding to just see him exploring social issues, especially into racism and aids. There are stereotypes associated with both of them and his portrayal of people showed what they went through but also the optimism that they felt. We are all humans and we expect to be treated equally but there is always social injustice and people are always let down.



Nicholas Nixon has definitely made huge impact with his photography. His photographer has helped people open up their eyes to what America had become and how far it has come to become a country of its reputable magnitude. America is considered the land of the free where people chase their dreams. His work allowed to show what people were doing and how they could live with themselves and with others in society. He has same perseverance as Walker Evans for his generation but he also used Evans’ influence to help the public but also make a name for the work he has done.

http://www.leegallery.com/evans.html
http://www.nyip.com/ezine/techtips/spotlight-nicholasnixon.html
http://www.artnet.com/awc/nicholas-nixon.html

Feed the Truth

Feed the Truth

Viewers want to simply know the truth, not the half truth. When images are altered in journalism, the integrity diminishes. There is a responsibility owed to the viewers and altering the images just will make the viewers think about bias which will make them question about the real truth. Photography is used to preserve memories and in photojournalism, it does as well within the historical context. There images taken used to preserve historical moments. During the communist era, images were altered in order to appeal people relating to the regime’s propaganda. In this case of the communist regime, they altered people out of the image which showed certain bias that the regime believes in.

Alerting photographs made an impact on photo journalism for that use as they alienated viewers with propaganda and didn’t provide the real truth. They definitely had something to hide and altering the images prevented the views from knowing the truth. When we look at newspapers and see images, we expect them to be accurate according to the photo journalists’ code of ethics. Code of ethics is making a positive impact as the photojournalist’s provides accurate and unbiased photograph then the viewers is subjected to their own opinion. Altering photographs is definitely unacceptable because we don’t know both sides of the stories when we see it. But when we know do both sides of the issues, we can have all of the opinion as much as we want. Having bias is acceptable, just not in photojournalism. Photographers can have images relating to a certain event but they have a responsibility to alert the viewers and having bias just doesn’t fit in the photojournalism category. Their own interpretation will just lead to forms of art and they can use photos to express their opinion. But in photojournalism, the opinion of the journalism shouldn’t be there and it has made an impact since we question ourselves day to day about the truth.

http://msphotojournalist.com/photojournalism/
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/

Art and Journalism

Art and Journalism

There is a certain belief that all photographers have a definite purpose when it comes to taking a photograph. They want general public/viewers want to know about event/occurrence that they think is important for viewers/general public. Photojournalism is the photographical evidence of journalism. Viewers are the most interested in news when they see photographers. Kertesz, Bresson, Smith and Salgado had one thing in common, the passion for their profession to help the viewers and their subjects. They wanted the word about what appealed to them and they used photography to get the word out.

 

In the case of Eugene Smith, he was taken away by the passing of a certain individual in Spanish Wake. There was deal of grief and emotions in that work. Eugene Smith brings something to the table with being able to use light to enhance his photographs. He used careful planning to achieve what was in mind to get the photo that he wanted to get. Smith was taken away by the emotion and it was if he was part of the family grieving for the individual. He got himself involved in the event and the viewers can this by the tone of the photograph.

 

The same can be said about Sebastião Salgado, he took more of artistic approach of painting when it came taking photographs. Everyone knows that when it comes to painting, there is careful planning into achieve whatever the painted had in his mind. It could be said about Salgado that he carefully composed his photographs and many say that he is "opinion writer" in the field of photography. He lets himself get involved in his work and he gets himself involved in his work and his intentions is insert his own views into his work to appeal to the viewers. His photograph depicting oil wells working in Iraq depicts the resilience of the workers and the pain they have to go to get the job done. Salgado's intentions were to show how he felt about the great pain that they went and how they are heroes because they put their lives at risk every time that they go to work.

 

Kertesz and Bresson are the figures of straightforward photojournalism and they don't let themselves get involved in their work and provide bias free news to the viewers. They follow along the lines of the codes of ethics for photo journalism. There is an trust issue in photojournalism in terms of accuracy because viewers of the photographs can't be influenced by bias because they should given facts and why the events are occurring and then make the connection of what they want to do. Photojournalists' main purpose is to help viewers make decision not pass on their own opinion to make the decisions. I believe that Kertesz and Bresson's approach is best suitable for photojournalism since it follows along the lines of accurate reporting and bias free journalism that helps viewers know about the truth and not let opinions get in the. They said it best, the photojournalists job is to be invisible when it comes to reporting news.

Art is not Press

Art is not Press

Press photography has a responsibility to the viewer to provide unbiased views. Art photography is different since there are limitless possibilities. Press photography is the polar opposite of art photography since the photographer is bound by the code of ethics to provide views in a accurate manner. Whereas in art photography, the photographer their own interpretation can be seen in the photographs. It is easy to say that art photography is bound to have bias since it isn’t subjected to any bias. Viewers want to know what is happening around them and photography is the best medium for them to know but also they want to know truthful and don’t want the truth to be manipulated since it will mislead the viewers. Art photography is not subjected to any accuracy but the intended message can appeal to the vast number of viewers. Photo manipulation is certainly forbidden in press photography since it will alienate the viewers from knowing the truth but also will destroy the credibility of the photography and damage their career.

We live in a society plagued by wars and tragedies. It is a awful occurrence but everyone accepts the reality that it is. Adam Ferguson took photographs when he followed the American troops in Wardak,Afghanistan. I believe that Adam was able to show the hardships that soldiers have to face in Afghanistan in order to make that country better place to live. I believe that there is no need for a war and I believe that there shouldn’t be any bias in favour of war just to show what is actually going on. This photograph shows soldiers making their way through Wardak, scouting to see if there is anything wrong where ever they go. In comparison to the second picture, I have spent my childhood watching movies, especially Star Wars. As a child I knew whatever happened in movies never actually happened in real life. Cedric Delsaux came up with the vision of bringing the characters from Star Wars come to life. He released a collection of photographs depicted what the characters would do if they lived in today's society. The whole point of Star Wars is to fight off evil villains and do good for the world. This is certainly an post-modern approach to photography since Cedric juxtaposed unlikely characters in today’s society but also makes the viewers question themselves, what would the storm troopers would do? Cedric`s photograph depicts the same kind of activity that is shown happening in Afghanistan but his photograph is under art photography since he is showing his own interpretation of what would happen if the soldiers where replaced by storm troopers.

Recently, The G20 summit brought the world leaders to Toronto and much anticipation to the summit brought mass protests and demonstration. It was two days filled with havoc that put Toronto in negative light. All the leaders came together and help solve some of the world’s problems. The photograph captures the essence of the summit with all of the leaders being optimistic. The photograph was taken by Charles Dharapak of Associated Press. The picture fits press more than the second photo by Agan Harahap which includes Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Premier Josef Stalin; in discussion to how to defeat Germany. One similarity that both of the photographs have is that they working towards to do some good for the world. But, the second photograph fits with art photography, since there is a dark contrast with inclusion of Dark Vader of Stars Wars. The inclusion of Dark Vader puts the photograph in a darker subject of matter since Dark Vader represents all evil and the three leaders are planning to defeat the once evil Germany.

Cedric

Agan Harahap

Charles Dharapak

Adam Ferguson

The ethics

The ethics

Photojournalism is the eyes compared to what journalism is for the hearing and reading. Viewers want more than just words and want visual proof of an event, situation or issue. Photojournalism further helps what journalists want their readers to read and see. The photograph has to be relevant to what's being covered, this allows for the viewers learn about what's being covered with the images being shown. Ideally, the photo has to sufficiently defend what the issue or situation that is being portrayed in the article or what the photojournalist was to express.

Photojournalist should approach everything from the ethical aspect. They should follow along the lines of appropriateness, truthfulness, fair-minded portrayal of the perspective of dealings and evidence conveyed, and responsibility to the community; based on the NPAA's code of ethics. Following the right way of getting what the photographer wants will assert high integrity in the value of photographer's work. Photo journalists need to be neutral in a situation of reporting and cant insert bias in their work because it will alienate their viewers and will ethically immoral. Photo journalists have a responsibility to get truth out to the public and jeopardizing that will just hurt reliability of the photographer. As humans we are fascinated by visual imagery and photographers have a moral responsibility to not mislead the viewers but also, provide substantial photojournalism that will get the news out and spread awareness about the issue or situation

Ethical aspect of both journalism and photo journalism isn't different. It isn't different because both have the ultimate goal to spread news and attention about the situation or event to the general public. They both have the responsibility to get accurate news out to the public and not be discriminative in the portrayal of news. Ethics on both parts helps sustain integrity of how news is being reported and not following along the lines will result in less interest in their work because people will believe in anything but they want to believe in the truth and when they lied to then there is always backlash. They can't corrupt the process because it will diminish the freedom of the press and also it will just make people report everything on their own: they'll do it accurately, and truthfully; there will be no need for these individuals.