Photographer: Thomas Hoepker

Photographer: Thomas Hoepker

Title: September 11, 2001. New York, Brooklyn

Year: 2001

This photo is said to have been taken by Thomas Hoepker on the 11^th of September 2001. The photo shows a group of New Yorkers relaxing in the sun in a park with clear blue water behind them and in the background the dust and smoke coming from the area in which the world trade center once stood. In 2001 when this photo was take, Hoepker refused to publish it as it didn’t seem an appropriate image when such a serious disaster had occurred.

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This image was eventually published in 2006 and caused a lot of controversy as some people felt that the photo portrayed Americans in a way that even though a horrible disaster that has killed thousands of people had happened that there was no need for people to change or reform as an united nation.

However others felt that the photo captured a historical moment which shows that regardless of what terror attack or war is going on, life doesn’t stop it goes on.

This photo 13 years on from the date of the disaster is one of the defining photographs from 9/11.

Image source:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL5351FG

Photographer: Eve Arnold

Title: Childbirth, a baby’s first 5 minutes

Year: 1959

From The Series: First five minutes of a baby’s life

The subject of the photograph is a baby who has just been brought into the world and captures the first 5 minutes of the baby’s life. The image manipulates our emotions by drawing us to the subject through the use of an extended depth of field.

The rule of thirds applies to this photo with the mother in the bottom of the image with the baby in the centre and the doctor who has delivered the baby at the top of the image. There is an intense light behind the doctor, which gives a sense of an angelic / holy person; this makes you think that the baby is a gift from a higher presence.

When Eve Arnold decided she wanted to become a photographer, she showed her mother some of her photographs, which happened to be photos that documented the first five minutes of a baby’s life.

Her mother never seen the potential of her daughter’s photographs even though her work led to numerous awards, first female member of Magnum and respect from peers and fellow photographers but despite this, she wanted approval from her parents. She did eventually get approval from her mother but it did not come easily.

At the time this photograph was taken, the Nikon F camera, Nikon’s first SLR was introduced. This was one of the most advanced cameras that contained all of the concepts that had previously been introduced but combined them all in one camera. AGFA also introduced the first fully automatic camera.

Image Source: https://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&STID=2S5RYDIET7XL

Photographer: W. Eugene Smith

Title: Dr. Ernest Guy Ceriani going to visit patients

Year: 1948

From the Series: Country Doctor

This portrait shows a country doctor, Dr. Ernest Guy Ceriani (aged 32), going to visit his patients in their remote villages. The ‘Country Doctor’ series was W. Eugene Smith’s 1948 feature for LIFE magazine. He spent 23 days in Kremmling, Colorado following GP Ernest Ceriani. His images capture the emotional and physical challenges faced by the doctor and also the reality.

This portrait is very dramatic as the image is in black and white and is intensified by the large dark cloud that is above the doctor. The black cloud could suggest the doctor may be on his way to deliver bad news to a patient but captures him in a natural way. The doctor is in the centre of the image with the focus being mainly on him but the fence to the right of the image is a bit distracting. The viewer is instantly drawn to the subject due to his dominance in the frame.

Image source: http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2TYRYDDWML5P

Photographer: Marilyn Silverstone

Title: Mask room at the Pemayangtse Monastery

Year: 1967

Marilyn Rita Silverstonewas an accomplished photo-journalist and ordainedBuddhistnun. She spent a lot of time travelling around Europe, Middle East & Africa and ended up having a lifetime love of India.

This photo makes me feel a bit weary because of the amount of masks hanging, the bizarre appearance of the masks and also the way in which Silverstone has shot the photo.

The masks are in the darkness and the two young boys in the lower corner are In the light, this creates a feeling off demons in the shadows.

The ferocious masks are a preview of the visions of the after-death state, presented so that the viewer may recognise them in future as reflections of one’s own mind”

The expressions on the young boys’ faces suggest that the boys aren’t sure of the masks and may be scared of them.

Image Source:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL535FI3

Photographer: Bill Brandt

Title: Nude, Hampstead, London

Year: 1952

This is a photo of a person’s feet taken whilst facing the soles of the feet. The person would appear to be lying on the floor of an empty room with two doors in the background

The picture has been printed with high contrast and the tonal values of the image play an important part. A wide angle has been used, which has caused an unusual perspective in the picture. The feet take up a large part of the frame and appear to almost touch the celling.

A dramatic look has been created by using a wide angle lens and the use of light adds a variety of attractive tones on the subject. The empty room gives a sense of being alone.

Brandt is considered one of the 20^th century ’s greatest British photographers. He originally had a very documentary approach to his work and this changed over time to focusing on the nude form and making images appear more poetic.

Image source:

http://chloe328.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/bill-brandt-feet.jpg

Photographer: Annie Leibovitz

Title: A portrait of the Queen

Year: 2007

This photo is a beautiful portrait of Queen Elizabeth II seated in an unlit room in Buckingham Palace.

The natural light coming through the window creates Rembrandt lighting and Leibovitz has balanced the exposure from the outside with the available light within the room.

The light casts a wonderful silvery light on her white dress and fur creating a fairy-tale regality.

The placing of the Queen makes the photo more aesthetically pleasing on the eye. The queen has her crown on in this photo which shows power but at the same time the use of space shows a sense of loneliness.

Image source:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/05/02/leibovitz460.jpg

Photographer: Daido Moriyama

Title: Stray dog, Misawa

Year: 1971

Moriyama almost always shoots in black and white with very high contrast. He uses a technique he calls are-bure-bokeh which basically means rough, blurry and out of focus.

Instead of using a large single reflex camera, Moriyama prefers to use a small compact camera which allows him to be more spontaneous. He was influenced by his friend Yukio Mishima to add existential darkness to his subjects.

This picture shows a stray dog which fills the frame. The dog is black against a white background with some white highlights where the light touches the dogs ear, side and back leg. Moriyama has taken this photo from behind the dog and to the left

Image Source: http://www.worldphoto.org/_assets/images/DaidoMoriyama_Misawa.jpg

Photographer: Olivia Arthur

Title: Shopping at a mall in Jeddah

Year: 2010

Olivia Arthur is a uk photographer who began working as a photographer in 2003. She has been working on a series about women and the East-West cultural divide. This work has taken her to the border between Europe and Asia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

This photograph shows a female dressed in a black abaya facing a male dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt who is handing her some cosmetics. All shop keepers are males in Saudi Arabia. You can see the difference between the sexes in Saudi Arabia, females must wear an abaya if they go out which shows only their hands and eyes unlike men who can wear what they want.

The female is the main focus in this image, they tall black figure catches the viewers attention instantly and without her the photo wouldn’t tell a story.

Image source:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL535OLY

Photographer: Richard Mosse

Title: Come Out (1966)

Year: 2011

Richard Mosse is a photographer who is more documentary than photo-journalistic. He has spent time in areas of conflict including the Congo which is the subject of his Infra series.

Mosse has used Kodak aerochrome film which is an infrared sensitive film normally used to survey vegetation and camouflage detection. By using this, the vegetation in the photos appear pink adding interesting elements to the photos.

This is a photograph of a small grass hut surrounded by a pink hue of palm trees and other foliage. The hut is at the bottom of the photo and centered. Behind the pink trees there is a grey misty sky.

Image Source: http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/

Photographer: Gueorgui Pinkhassov

Title: Cock of the walk

Year: 1992

Gueorgui Pinkhassov was originally a set photographer but after meeting Tarkovsky he changed direction and became a photo-journalist as Tarkovsky had advised him that Russia was a a closed society, but that things would change soon and that photojournalists were needed.

Pinkhassov used Kodachrome 200 ASA film which produced high contrast photos and reproduces reds very well which helped make the cockerel stand out from the dark shadows.

He has said that he never considered the composition of the image as he had a very tight timeframe to capture the cockerel poking its head out. The background is other cockerels and people hidden in the shadows reducing any unwanted details.

Image Source:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZVNE

Photographer: Moises Saman

Title: Marja’s new district chief meets with local elders in Marja’s district center.

Year: 2010

Moises Saman is a photojournalist who regularly works in some of the most conflicted places in the world.

This image shows a group of older men sitting on the floor whilst a man reads a document on a table. The men’s faces appear sad and show uncertainty towards the younger man who would appear to be the new district chief.

The photo could have been taken at any point in time if it wasn’t for the photo of the country’s president.

Saman has said this photo was to shows that

Leaders come and go but it’s the local people who suffer.

Image source:

http://mediastore4.magnumphotos.com/CoreXDoc/MAG/Media/TR2/c/2/7/4/NYC105993.jpg

Photographer: Hugh Hood

Series Title: Glasgow 1974

Year: 2013

This is a photograph featured in Hugh Hood’s Glasgow 1974 exhibition at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow. The exhibition features photographs of the streets of Glasgow from 1974 to 1978, during this time Glasgow’s social and architectural history was changing, half the tenements were being pulled down and the other half were being renovated or built.

This photograph shows an old abandoned tenement building which would have been demolished. The side of the building is bare and the windows throughout the tenement are smashed.

This image shows Glasgow in a past that older generations will remember and that younger generations can look at and get an understanding of how Glasgow was and how it has moved forward but also how communities and society have changed.

Image Source: http://www.streetlevelphotoworks.org/product/hugh-hood-unttitled-3-glasgow-1974

Photographer: Constantine Manos

Title: Ku Klux Klan rally

Year: 1952

Constantine Manos was a student at the University of South Carolina which was a segregated university. He wrote the first anti-segregated editorial in the university newspaper, this caused the university and Manos to receive threating phone calls. He used to sneak out to the cotton fields at night and see the Ku Klux Klan.

This image of the men is quite daunting with the background black this gives a dark feeling to the image and it also makes the man in white stand out. Staring at this image can make one feel uneasy because the figure in white has his face covered. What makes it so terrifying is that the man could be anyone a friend ,family or someone close.

The composition of the mans body is relaxed but even though his face is covered you can see within his eyes that it’s a serious and angry look that he has. The Ku Klux Klan member’s robe has a cross within a circle that contains a blood drop in the middle which is believed to represent the blood that was shed by Jesus Christ as a sacrifice.

After the American civil war, the Ku Klux Klan was formed, they were a secret society that wanted white supremacy and to do this they terrorized and intimidated people

Image Source:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZOQY

Photographer: William Eggleston

Title: Untitled

Year: 1695-1968

This is a picture of a woman sitting at a green diner booth. The photo is taken from behind and shows the woman’s greying hair that has been wrapped into a perfect beehive with no loose strands. The bobby pins used to hold her beehive hairstyle in place simulate a continuation of her spine. The male sitting opposite her is obstructed completely from the lens with only his arms visible. Eggleston’s consistently controlled gaze focuses on the attention to detail in the way the woman has styled her hair.

Eggleston’s personal documentary style is recognized worldwide along with him being the pioneer of colour photography. Since first picking up a camera over fifty years ago, Eggleston’s work is said to find ‘beauty in the everyday’. He captures the ordinary world around him and creates interest by using sharp observation, dynamic composition and great wit.

Image source: http://arttattler.com/Images/NorthAmerica/NewYork/Whitney/William Eggleston/02.-eggleston_untitled1965beehive.jpg

Photographer: Diane Arbus

Title: Patriotic Young Man with a Flag

Year: 1967

Diane Arbus was known as a ‘photographer of freaks’ as she preferred to photograph the normal within an abnormal society. She photographed dwarfs, nudists, circus performers and transgender people amongst other subjects.

Arbus had a talent for being able to relate to people which can be seen in her photos as her subjects appear to be at ease and comfortable during the experience. Arbus felt that if it wasn’t for her no one would see the true aspects of her unusual subjects.

Arbus’s photo shows a young man who is proud to be an American citizen but he doesn’t look like the kind of person a photographer would use to show this. The young man is in formal wear with his badge on his jacket and flag in his hand but has scruffy hair, bad acne on his face and a shirt with an undone collar. The light used in this photo is quite harsh and makes him look as though he has had a hard life.

When Arbus first started, she was using a 35 mm Nikon camera which produced grainy rectangular images, she swapped to a twin-lens reflex Rolleiflex camera which produced more detailed square images

Image source: http://diane-arbus-photography.com/