Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry was born in Philadelphia in 1950. After graduating from university and then working at a newspaper for 2 years he left to freelance in India. Here he learned and homed his skills such as the need for patience- to wait for the right moment. Hard work- taking 20 shots to get 1 good one and even coming back to the same place the next day and doing it all over again.
His style is documentary and his photo-journalism has covered many of the wars and conflicts of the last 30 years. His work has been featured in every major magazine in the world.

He is most famous for the picture of the Afghan Girl. It is a photograph which shows sadness,fear,poverty but at the same time beauty and colour. He captures these contrasts in much of his work where he has taken close ups of people.

This picture shows men at work- fishing. It is beautifully composed and looks like it could be scene out of a film.Mccurry's use of colour in his shots makes them outstanding. This is someyhing i would like to study further.

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Werner Bischof

Werner Bischof  started his career working as an independent photographer for various magazines. His coverage of the destruction of post-world war 2 established him as one of the foremost photojournalist of his time. Was the sixth person to join Magnum Photos. He was sent to cover the famine in India in 1951 and to Japan to cover the damage to the country after the war. The images he produced are amazing. The composition is fantastic, use of natural light, shadows, angles, balance and focus is excellent. All his work was in black and white and i think it works beautifully. He doesn't try to be too clever with his shots but manages to capture the right moment. This is a style and skill that i would like to learn.

I really like this image, the silhouette of a man observing the destruction of buildings during the second world war. Maybe one of them was his home. The focus on the buildings and use of shadows works really well.

This photograph of a railway track in India takes you right into it, looking at all the detail such as the person crossing the track and the smoke.It's an excellent use of lines.

Use of Filters in Photoshop

The filters used for the photo above were Artistic- fresco, Brush Strokes-accented edges,Distort-ocean ripple,Stylize-glowing edges,Sketch-stamp and Artistic-film grain.

The filters used for the photograph above were Artistic-neon glow, Brush Strokes-ink outline, Distort-wave, Sketch-graphic pen, Texture-craquelure and Render-lighting effects. 

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is a documentary photographer and photo journalist. Is biggest influence was his grandfather. His style of photography is social documentary. His approach is intimate, anthropological (study of human behaviour) and satirical. He says he likes to give people space to expose there lives and values. I think he does this perfectly. The people in most of his photographs are just doing their usual thing,not posing for the shot. He has travelled the world capturing these wonderful shots. He likes to document modern society as it truly is, its different levels of wealth and poverty and to get people to debate such issues. His work is viewed in mainly magazines and newspapers although he says this is getting more difficult with the media and public's fascination with celebrity.

Although i don't think his photographs are great as far as composition is concerned they do take you right in and stare. This picture illustrates the wealth of the high society in Russia and shows a side of the country the rest of the world doesn't see. In my opinion the topic and message of the photograph is more important to Parr than composition. I like his work for being different and for making me think when i look at it.

This photograph illustrates perfectly his style. It looks like someones holiday snap. Having studied his style though i can see that he doesn't go for the cliched shots, which in this case would have been of people sunbathing in perfect poses. The woman at the front, looking completely out of place but obviously not concerned by her surroundings, is clearly his focus in this picture. It captures the human behaviour and satire he likes to portray.

light writing

Eve Arnold

Eve Arnold is an American photojournalist. Her interest in photography came when she started working for a photo finishing plant in New York in 1946. Her talent eventually led her to become the first female photographer to work for Magnum photos.The photographs Eve takes are intimate shots of people, and she is best known for her images of Marilyn Monroe. She also took photographs of some of the most famous film stars and public figures of the time, people like Queen Elizabeth II and Malcolm X. The photographs taken were black and white and taken in portraiture and close up style. The images she takes of Marilyn Monroe are  mostly of her doing normal things, for example relaxing on a bed, reading a book etc. although she also did some studio shots of her. I like this style and would like to explore it more. Her work makes Monroe look human,which i think was the aim, rather than the Goddess like image that had been created by the film studios. She says to achieve great shots the person being photographed has to work with you and trust you.

My 4 photographs-morning, noon, evening and night

This was taken at 8am

sunset

Frame within a Frame

Lines

I've tried to create the lines that draws you right into the photo but am not sure if i have managed to take you into it enough.

Patterns/Textures

Reflections,Shadows and Rule of Thirds

I took these photographs at about 6-30pm and feel i'ts an ideal time to capture several different compositions in one-Reflections,Shadows and Rule of Thirds. I'm going to take the same photo in daylight and compare. I think there will be more detail but will lose the shadows.

Angle-Tilted

Balance-Rule of Thirds

I took these photographs at different times of the day and they show how important light is and the great effect you can achieve with different levels of natural light. I think i've managed to get the Balance right.  

Idea's for theme

The idea's for the theme of my photographs are
Sport
The colour blue
Different Emotions
Weather
Around the home

I've decided to go with different emotions and weather and will be uploading my example photos soon.

Level 1 Certificate in Specialist Photography

I have chosen to do the Certificate in Specialist Photography (people). Also Digital image manipulation. I hope to gain the neccasary knowledge and skills to achieve my goals. The assignment will consist of the following tasks.

Task 1a is to prepare and use a camera to capture images of people. The skills we will be learning are use of camera functions and accessories, use camera controls and modes for image capture of people, composition, use of lenses and taking into account environmental and lighting conditions.

Task 1b is to produce 6 thematic images of people. A written account of the preparation undertaken, the equipment used to capture and process images, image quality checks and how the final images relate to the theme must be included.

Digital manipulation
We have to select and manipulate 4 images the final images must relate to each other thematically and be displayed with the unmodified images. A written account of the image modification software actions used, qualitiy checks carried out, how the final images relate to the theme and legal and ethical considerations must be included.