Assignment #2-Press Photography versus Art Photography

Press Photography versus Art Photography

Press photography tells a real story or showcases a real life event as it takes place or that has occurred within history in a journalistic fashion. Art photography on the other hand is a creative expression of an artist trying to convey a message, or simply trying to evoke an emotional response from the viewer, or doesn't necessarily have any story at all, it may have just been created to make you think.

Press Photography

The first piece of press photography that I chose was taken by Meged Gozani. This picture captures

a Jewish settler running over Palestinian rock throwers in the neighborhood of Silwan, east Jerusalem.

 The second piece of press photography that I chose was taken by Adam Dean. This picture captures

two US  soldiers wounded in an IED blast. They are consoling eachother as they are treated on board a medical evacuation helicopter from Charlie Company, Sixth Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment near Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Both of these pictures were taken from "The Best of Photojournalism" website. This website encourages press photographers to compete for the best press photographs. The panel of judges for BOP are some of the best photographers, editors and educators in the field of journalism. Guided by the NPPA guidlelines, BOP is responsible for some of the most dynamic photos in the field of journalism.

Some similarities I found with these photos is that they both capture real life situations. The photographers were upclose and personal when it came to both of these situations. They also both capture raw emotion. The top photo captures anger from both the stone throwers and the driver of the vehicle ( driven by political and religious warfare) and the bottom photo captures intense pain and agony as well as compassion. These photos are very effective at evoking an emotion from the viewer.

Some differences in the photos are the message that they are trying to send, the top photo is showing the viewer what happens in war torn countries during chaotic times, and also shows the viewer just how young the people affected by war are. The bottom photo represents  the aftermath of war and the distress associated with it.

Art Photography

This picture was taken by Tim Walker who is a professional art photographer. Some of his credits include prominent fashion magazines such as Vogue. This is art photography because it is not a real life event, it was staged and edited to the photographers desire.

This photo was taken by Cole Thompson, a New York Photographer specializing in black and white photos.This is also defined as art because it was manipulated and staged to the photographers desire.

The similarities between Tim's photo and Cole's photo is that they have both been manipulated to create an effect. Tim's photo of the swan was enlarged to create an unrealistic fairy-tale look, and in Cole's photo, the image was distorted and shadows were added to the background to create a dark a effect.

The differences in these photos was mainly in the artists vision. Tim wanted to create an unrealistic photo  aimed at shock value and being different and innovative. Cole's photo stops and makes you think about what the man is doing, why he is there and is a little more thought provoking than Tim's fun fantasy photo.

Is it ethical to alter photos?
To alter press photographs would be unjust to the viewer. When creating press photography, there is a certain code of conduct the photographer must follow. The photographer must maintain the integrity of the photo, therefore any alterations made during the development and publication of the photo would be a misrepresentation of the actual situation and therefore would not be documenting the real truth but yet a bias. The situation also must be real and not manufactured by the photographer. Finally the photographer cannot be influenced by any external parties to take a certain picture a certain way, day or time. This would also affect the credibility/intergrity of the story being told.

Art photography is a different story altogether. Since it is a creative expression of an artist, there are no rules with alterations. The photographer has free range when deciding to manipulate their photos. It is up to them how much or how little they would like to alter in order to obtain the final image that they wanted to create; as long as in the end they are satisfied with their piece of art and it conveys what they wanted it to convey.

Works Cited
Cole Thompson Photography. July 20 2011.http://www.colethompsonphotography.com/

The Best of Photojournalism. July 20 2011. http://bop.nppa.org/2011/

Tim Walker Photography. July 20 2011. http://www.timwalkerphotography.com/recent_work.php?offset=69