The Decisive Moment - Henri Cartier-Bresson

In this clip Cartier-Bresson talks about how he views photograpy.
He sees it as "a means of drawing "- saying that

"It is an immediate sketch – done with intuition – you can’t correct it -

 If you have to correct it – it’s the next picture"

" Life is once - Forever

His view is simplified as

" The Desive Moment"

 A young Belgian woman and former Gestapo informer, being identified as she tried to hide in the crowd © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photo

Ref:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlUWznm1ufU

Ref: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/features/ICONS_OF_PHOTOGRAPHY

A very informal wedding

I was invited to a friends wedding which was taking place in early October and asked if it would be OK to take my camera ( a Fuji S5000) along to capture some informal images of the day.  I decided to take some shots in colour but to concentrate mainly on black and white. I wanted to capture all the unseen moments that go on by the guests so that the new married couple could look back and see what they had missed!

 As the day was going to be busy I made sure that my camera was safely packed.  Throughout the day I checked that there was nothing hanging out of my bag that could get caught or that little fingers could pull on and that my camera bag was stowed away when not in use. 

 The first of a few beers to steady the nerves.......
Although this photo is busy, I like that the focal points are slightly higher so that they still stand out against the backgound of the building.

Those shoes weren't made for walking in....  I like the almost black and white feel to this as it makes the skin tone and hair colour stand out but the focal point is still the fastening of the shoe.

 The formal v's the informal....... I think that the plain black and red cravat beside the candy stripe shirt work so well.  This picture has colour, tones, patterns and texture in the background and it still works.

Jokes to steady the nerves........  I'm not sure that this works too well as there are too many angles behind the heads of the subjects but I do like the sun just lighting the chimney and the shadow it creates.

The serious chat.......  I think this works very well in Black and white, the brick work creates a good background for the silhouettes.

'He had to go and spoil it!'  They were the comments of my friend when she saw this photo.  I tried this photo in different tones but I liked it best in sepia.

Elegant exit? .........  This photo works well with the three main colours, with the focal point being pink. I like how the shadow falls over the ladies face - therefore keeping her identity (and dignity!) a secret.

Swept away in the moment.......  Love this totally natural shot.  There is movement created with her hair and the colour of her dress add impact.

Captivated........  This young boy was captivated by the whole event and couldn't take his eyes off the bride.

With this ring.......  This image works well and I like the way the light is filtering through the brides veil.

Just Married........

Colour co-ordinated............  I took this shot as I loved the contrast of colours, shapes, lines, patterns, texture and form.

The first pint as a married man - and it tasted good!   

Can I play too?........ This little group captured my attention and I took this shot to capture the little girls expression.  The balloons add another focal point and balance the picture.

Cut the CAKE dear........

My Daddy, my hero.........

Am I doing this right?........  I like how this turned out with the colour and patterns.

Nah - You are having a laugh............  Love this candid shot.  I think it works very well in the tonal shades and there are lots of shapes too which add to the picture. 

The lone dancer..........   The straight lines of the table and chairs and the lines on the wallpaper give the person a perspective of falling forwards.

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Although I don't try to emulate anybody's style when I'm taking photographs, I can see that I look at the taking shots in a very similar way to Martin Kikulis in as much as the photographs are not posed, are informal and are fun!  

First time in the studio - 06.10.2011

We were taken into the studio - my first time ever - and shown the equipment available i.e soft light, hard light, ight covers, bulbs, backgrounds, cables, cones to mention just a few!  We were also told all the relevant health and safety.
I took photos of the session with my own camera to blog it on here.  I used my camera in auto as I couldn't get my head round how to use ISO/Aperture/Shutter Speed in manual on my camera.  I did try and ended up with black photos! (and also deleted all the photos I had taken by mistake!)

We were asked to take portrait shots of each other using one light, to light the shot.
These are some of the shots I took.  When I seemed to get the settings somewhere close to what was giving an acceptable picture I noticed that the hat was casting shadows over the eyes and I wondered how to overcome this - Steve was called in to advise how to resolve this......

He added another light from a different angle which meant we had to change the settings again on the camera.  Two lights now to contend with and I hadn't mastered one!  

After much deliberation the settings were changed and here are the results.

While we had both lights we decided to continue with the challenge of shadow so Stuart volunteered (arm tightly up his back) to sit while we carried on trying to understand using studio lighting.

Stuart put his hood up to create a shadow round his face.  After a few shots and subsequent adjustments we seemed to have got his face out of shadow but now had washed out the colour of his hoodie - more complications!  A few more adjustments later and we had cracked it - well as far as we could go at the moment with out limited knowledge :-).

While taking part in the studio session it made me realise just how difficult it is, working with lights and backgrounds etc.  I personally felt too restricted with having the camera fixed on the tripod as I enjoy taking photos from different angles and aspects but it is an area that I would like to look at more.

Henri Cartier Bresson - The father of modern photojournalism

I had never heard of Henri Cartier Bresson until Steve told me to look at his work as part of the research we have to do for the course.
When I started to look I saw that Bresson was a photographer that hated to be photographed - knowing how that feels - I read on..........

Pictures, regardless of how they are created and recreated, are intended to be looked at. This brings to the forefront not the technology of imaging, which of course is important, but rather what we might call the eyenology (seeing). - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Cartier - Bresson was a French photographer born in 1908.  He worked as a photojournalist, taking photos in their actual state with very little cropping  - trapping life as it happened.

The feeling I get with this photo is Cartier-Bresson was just walking down the stairs and came across the children sitting playing cards.  While I look at some of his pictures and think - 'was that set up?' I don't believe this photograph was.  The woman in the background is walking by - oblivious to the young gamblers sitting above her, who are taking their game very seriously.  Cartier - Bresson has used the stair well to frame the photograph which is part of his natural way of taking pictures.

The shapes and perspective on this photograph hold my eye with the focal point being the lady half way up the steps.  I like the straight lines of the buildings along with the contrasting shapes and patterns of the steps.  The branches against the wall add another point of interest with the shape and patterns they create.

I think this photograph captures this completely:
 Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

This is an image taken by Cartier - Bresson of Mahatma Gandhi shortly before his assassination.  Bresson has captured the light brilliantly, showing Ghandi as a calm serene figure.  It was his photos of Ghandi's funeral that gave him international acclaim.

This photo was taken is 1972 and shows so many aspects.  A good composition of a family that still looked to be in the early 60's but with a modern car and a medieval monastery set against mountains with the clouds rolling over.  So much light and tonal range and also managing to capture the reflection of the little boy on the bonnet of the car. Lots of shapes in the foreground with the lines of the monastery and curves of the mountains make this a well composed shot.

Ref: http://www.henricartierbresson.org/index_en.htm

Ref: http://www.photoquotes.com/ShowQuotes.aspx?id=98&name=Cartier-Bresson,Henri

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson

Ref: http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/bresson.htm

Martin Kikulis - Capturing moments from the shadows......

A friend of mine showed me some of  Martin Kikulis's work and I loved it!
Martin is an International Award Winning Photographer and very proud to be a member of The Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photo journalist Association
His photographs are very natural and he describes his style as 'capturing moments while staying in the shadow.  That is just how I like to take photos too. - only not nearly as well!

Looking at his work he takes photos in a journalistic style - not going for the pretty posed shots but to capture a shot that tells a story.

This shot is brilliant!  The image capture of the faces of the people tells the story in itself - I almost feel sorry for the man who is getting the 'talking to' :-)  The tonal range works very well with the focal point being the lady who is talking.

Taken through the window - a private moment - still kept private but captured forever........

I like the compostion of this photograph, the tones of the black and grey from inside and then the colour outside and how he has used the window shape to frame the subject.

Brilliant capture of expressions!

This picture is possibly more staged than a lot of the others but I like the composition of the water just falling away from the main subjects. It has good use of shape and texture and the patterns that the water create add more interest.

I like all the tones in this picture - the main subjects are totally unaware of being photograpged and I think it works very well in black and white. The shape of the flowers draws your eye further into the picture.

So much has been captured in this image.  The expressions of the three guests and the man standing behind them. The lady in the middle of the picture is the focal point but your eye is then drawn to the man standing behind her.  Even though he is just out of sharp focus his face and hand gesture still add to the composition of the picture.

Martin doesn't just photograph weddings - This shot was taken at  Broadmead – Bristol’s central shopping and entertainment area. The action this time was all about biking and breakdancing by 'Cirque Bijou ' I Love this shot from the look on the dancers face to the looks on the faces of the audience. Every single one is looking at one focal point.

This photo was taken in North Wales. The focal point to me is to the back of the photograph where it looks like a beam of light is coming down from the sky and illuminating just one large wave.  To the right of the photo there is a angry black cloud just coming into view.  Lovely composition. Works brilliantly in black and white while the waves breaking closer to the foreground create patterns and add 

This photograph captures two waves racing to the shore with the tops of the sea break acting as markers.  I like the compostion of this, with the waves in the foreground - are they coming in or going out? They add texture and shape.  Good use of tones.

For me, Martins photographs tell stories.  Moments in time captured.  Not posed but real.

Ref: http://martinskikulis.com/index.php?splash=1

Assignment 208- Principles of Location Photography, Theme 2, Nature

For this assignment I will be looking to capture nature in its natural habitat.
I will be photographing trees, flowers, the landscape, insects etc - as it changes through the seasons.

I want to try using macro to get detailed images of flowers and insects.

My camera is a Fuji Finepix S5000 and I have several different types of lens (   ) that I wish to try.

Although we can borrow equipment from the college for our assignments, and I intend to do this - my main purpose of this course is to use my own camera and learn how to manipulate it to get the best results.

Assignment 211 - Presenting Photo Images

I am looking to learn how to manipulate images to allow me to present photographs in various forms.

As I have very little software at home to edit photographs I have to take into consideration my position to the subject I wish to photograph and move around until I get the shot I think will work best.

My camera is a Fuji Finepix S5000 and I have several different types of lens (   ) that I wish to try.

Although we can borrow equipment from the college for our assignments, and I intend to do this - my main purpose of this course is to use my own camera and learn how to manipulate it to get the best results.