Sunday, March 14, 2010

Todays post is going to be about two great photographers whose names are well known a bit everywhere in the world. In their special way, they changed photography and give it a whole other sense and meaning. The first photograph is Annie Leibovitz. She is an American portrait photographer, and her style is marked with the connection she is making between the photographer and the subject. Annie spends a lot of time understanding her subjects to reflect their true feelings through the photo. She would talk with her subjects, spend time with them, do whatever it took to feel like she was "one of them". For example, if she went to a concert tour, she would any activites her subjects would engage in, if they drank she drank, if they did drugs she would do drugs as well. There was nothign she wouldn't do to feel closer to her subjects. I feel like this dedication shows in her photos as you are able to understand the true feelings of the characters in her photos. Her feelings on the camera itself are actualy interesting as well, she claims that she feels free when carrying her camera, as she never knows what she will be able to capture with her camera. Her camera is her license to the world, she even goes so far as to say it is her duty to capture the world around her.
Often her subjects included celebrities, and many of her portraits are very well known such as her photoshoots of shows like The Sopranos and of the model Natalie Vodianova in the role of Alice in Alice In Wonderland.



The next photographer is in stark contrast to Annie Leibovitz. James Nachtwey is also an American photojournalist but unlike Leibovitz he is a war photographer. He is all the time taking pictures from places where the famine, the poverty, the war is striking. He once was injured by a grenade at Baghdad. He is a very dark individual, most likely because he has to work in such desolate environments where he is forced to see a lot of suffering. Along with the victims of war, he deals with the families of the victims and their grief. He travels from country to country, from war to war, to capture his subjects. Unlike Annie, who often focuses mainly on the colors and the lighting, James prefers that his photos be in black and white, to show the intensity of the suffering. Annie directs her subject, while James prefers to be in the background, and show how cruel the situation is without interferring. His pictures are powerful because they show the truth in what is going on in parts of the world. Even though James does not interact with his subjects in the way that Annie does, he is still accepted by them because he is very respectful. Here are a few examples of his work:

This picture shows an example of famine and war.


Here is a picture of a family that James stayed with, who are forced to live on the railroad tracks because of the poverty in the country. The father is handicapped because he lost his arm and leg in a train accident. Despite this hardship, he continues to be a good father to his children.

Both Annie and James are talented photographers with very different styles. I believe both are amazing in their own way.