Digital Photography 11 (Paul C): February 2015

1. Paul Strand

- Paul Strand was a photographer who respected what was in front of him.
- He traveled a lot to Mexico, taking photos of landscape, architecture, folk art, and people. He later made a film about fisherman for the Mexican government.
- Strand had developed an interest for photography and enrolled in the Ethical Culture School at the age of 17.
- He visited galleries frequently, and in Europe, he saw paintings of Picasso, and many other artists.
- Strand served in the Army during World War One, and was introduced to X-ray photos.
- Strand was a humanist with wide-ranged sympathies. He and other filmmakers organized a non-profit company, to produce a series of pro-labor and anti-Fascist movies.

I think he was inspired by the X-ray scans he'd seen, then became highly intrigued in all shapes and forms of shadows.

2. Lewis Hine

- Lewis Hine was Paul Strand's teacher at the Ethical Culture School in New York. He received a camera from the school there.
- Hine was a sociologist and used his camera for social reform.
- Hine portrayed immigrants on Ellis Island (New York), and the tenements and sweatshops where the immigrants were forced to live and work.
- Hine was enlisted by the National Child Labot Committee to get their message out.
- Late in World War One, Lewis Hine served as a photographer for the Red Cross. Even when the war had stopped, he remained with the Red Cross.
- When Hine returned to America, he was asked to take pictures of the Empire State Building being built.

I think Lewis Hine is somebody important to learn about, as he was the teacher of Paul Strand, whom I found interesting.

3. Henry Fox Talbot

A positive from what may be the oldest negative in existence.

- (William) Henry Fox Talbot was an inventor, chemist, linguist, archaeologist, and photography pioneer.
- Talbot was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College (in Cambridge), and published articles in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and physics.
- Talbot was also briefly a member of Parliament.
- Talbot invented the Calotype (also known as Talbotype) process, a technique in which paper coated with Silver Chloride was exposed to light.
- Talbot was reluctant to share his knowledge with others, which lost him friends and thus, information.
- Talbot received a medal from the British Royal Society for his experiments with the calotype.

I think this man is a brilliant and well-recognized person in the photography society, as he is the person who invented the way of making negatives, allowing the possibility to create copies of a photo.

4. Henri Cartier-Bresson

- Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer, who was considered to be the father of photo journalism.
- Cartier-Bresson preferred taking shots rather than making prints and showing his work.
- Cartier-Bresson was the oldest of five children. His family was wealthy, though later on he joked about feeling his family seeming poor, due to his parents' frugal ways.
- Cartier-Bresson befriended another photographer, Paul Strand, in New York. He became inspired by his experiments with film, so he abandoned photography and became an assistant with a French filmmaker.
- When France was invaded during World War Two, Cartier-Bresson was captured by German forces and became a Prisoner of War. He later escaped and immediately went back to photography and film work.
- Cartier-Bresson created a photo department for the resistance, and when the war ended the U.S. commissioned him to direct a documnetary about the return of French prisoners.

I can relate to him saying that "in photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject." It is so true, because there is a huge difference between something that is not focused, and something that is extremely focused and pops out.

5. Ansel Adams

- Adams was an environmentalist and mostly took pictures of landscape; he sometimes took detailed close-ups of nature (plants, etc).
- Adams played the piano at a young age, and was thinking about going into music as a profession. He suddenly became interested in photography when he and his family first visited Yosemite National Park. His father gifted him a camera, and Adams visited the Yosemite National Park frequently later on.
- Adams had a warm relationship with his father, but had an uncomfortable bonding with his mother as she disapproved of his interest in photography.
- The father of Adams' wife was the proprietor of a studio, which Adams took charge over when the father-in-law died.
- Adams spent time in New Mexico expanding his repertoire. He met other artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Paul Strand. Later on, Adams joined Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans in their commitment to affecting social and political change through art. Adams' first cause was the protection of wilderness areas, including Yosemite.
- After the internment of Japanese people during World War Two, Adams photographed life in the camps for a photo essay on wartime injustice.

Adams had a strong love for nature. He loved to take landscape shots and was well-known for them. He joined causes in order to preserve wilderness.