A Line from Linda: 35 mm camera

Showing posts with label 35 mm camera. Show all posts

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Capa's Camera Captures Conflict

"The desire for any war photographer is to be put out of business."
(Robert Capa)

Robert Capa courtesy www.warchronicle.com.

Andre Friedmann was born in Austria-Hungary in 1913 to Jewish parents. Capa fled political repression in Hungary as a teenager and settled in Berlin. He always wanted to be a writer, but with the invention of the 35 mm camera, he seized the opportunity to become a photographer when it presented itself. Combining his love for writing and his eye for photography, he embraced the relatively new occupation of photojournalist, specializing in war photography. In 1933, with the rise of Hitler and the persecution of Jews, Friedmann fled Germany to France. He changed his name to the more Christian sounding Robert Capa to avoid religious discrimination common in France at the time, ensuring that he was not turned down for jobs. While visiting his mother and brother who had fled to New York City in 1937, Capa signed a contract with Life magazine as a war photographer. He covered five conflicts: the Spanish Civil War, the second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the 1948 Arab Israeli War and the First Indochina War. Capa was always where the action was: at the American invasion of Sicily in 1943: at Omaha Beach on D-Day 1944; and at the site of the last fatality of the Second World War's European Theatre in 1945. General Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Capa the Medal of Freedom in 1947 for his contribution to the war effort. Robert Capa was killed by a landmine while covering the Indochina War in 1954. Here are some of his haunting photographs from World War II.

1. D-Day Landings (1944)

www.blogspot.com

2. Chartres, 1944

liekewoermans.com

3. Boy on Tank, Chartres, 1944

tumblr.com

4. Allied Entry Into Paris

https://www.pinterest.com/rockflores/paris-1944/

5. Sicilian Peasant

tumblr.com

6. Frenchman Crying

www.ralphmag.org

7. London Bombed

blogspot.com

8. Nazi Train (1938)

blogspot.com

9. D-Day

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/europe/d-day-fast-facts/

10. Last Man to Die, Leipzig, Germany, 1945

http://www.metafilter.com/131225/20-Historic-Black-and-White-Photos-Colorized

Saturday, 14 March 2015

The Rise & Fall of Photojournalism

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

"Only 5% of readers read the entire article but almost all photos get noticed," according to photographer Juha Kivekas (see "It's All About the Images" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2015/02/its-all-about-images.html).

Photojournalism employs images to tell a story. The photographs are the predominant medium for imparting information. Roger Fenton is considered the first war photojournalist, capturing images on the battlefield of the Crimean War.

In the 1870's, John Thomson pioneered the social documentary by photographing haunting images of Victorian London in his book Street Life in London. His photographs were essentially engravings

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomson_%28photographer%29).

John Thomson's photograph "The Crawlers" courtesy en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism#/media/File:Thomson,_The_crawlers.jpg.

In 1880, The Daily Graphic debuted the first halftone photographs. Seven years later, flash powder was employed, enabling photographers to capture their subjects indoors. Jacob Riis used this technology in his photographs for How the Other Half Lives.

Photo of children sleeping on Mulberry St., New York City circa 1890 taken by Jacob Riis courtesy

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/history/pioneering-social-reformer-jacob-riis-revealed-how-other-half-lives-america-180951546/.

From 1880 to 1910, French agencies Rol, Branger and Chausseau-Flaviens syndicated photos worldwide. Yet many photographers still used engravings until as late as 1927.

By 1921, the invention of the wire photo enabled photographers to transmit pictures as quickly as news.

The appearance of the 35 mm camera in 1925 ushered in the Golden Age of Photojournalism. Flash bulbs gave photographers more flexibility by the late 1920's.

News magazines debuted the photo essay including Germany's Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, followed by France's Vu, the United States' Life and Look; newspapers followed suit like Britain's Picture Post and Daily Mirror, and New York's Daily News.

Life magazine cover from September 2, 1940 on the occasion of the first communion of the Dionne Quintuplets courtesy http://www.lifemagazineconnection.com/images/9-2-40.jpg.

With the photo essay came the official photojournalist. Henri Cartier Bresson is considered to be the father of modern journalism. Others followed in his footsteps: Robert Capa, Romano Cagnom, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Marg Bourke-White and Dorothea Lange.

Robert Capa, a war photographer, captured pivotal images on Omaha Beach on D-Day. See my post "Capa's Camera Captures Conflict" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2013/09/september-24.html.

One of Robert Capa's haunting D-Day images courtesy http://i2.wp.com/www.fleamarketinsiders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/D-Day-1944-Robert-Capa.jpg?resize=512%2C384.

Dorothy Lange's Migrant Mother photo became the seminal image of the Great Depression. Read Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits (http://www.amazon.com/Dorothea-Lange-Life-Beyond-Limits/dp/039333905X).

Dorothea Lange's Depression-era Migrant Mother courtesy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism#/media/File:Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg.

The magazine that became the "standard by which the public judged photography" debuted in 1936. Life featured oversize 11 x 14 pages with fine engraving screens, high quality inks and glossy paper. Its photographers often achieved near-celebrity status. Alfred Eisenstaedt captured a famous image of a woman and child sitting in a desolate Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped in 1945. For more of Eisenstaedt's work, visit http://time.com/3491299/unforgettable-eisenstaedt-22-amazing-photos-by-a-master/.

Alfred Eisenstaedt's surreal image of a woman and child in a desolate Hiroshima after the dropping of the atom bomb circa December 1945 courtesy http://life.time.com/history/wasteland-mother-and-child-hiroshima-1945/#1.

With the invention of digital photography. taking and sending photos has become faster and easier than ever before. Photographers are no longer limited by a roll of film; a single memory card can hold thousands of images. With the help of a phone or a laptop, a photographer can send a digital image across the continent in seconds.

The decline of photojournalism came when the magazines could not compete with other media for ad revenue to sustain their high costs. Read "Lament for a Dying Field: Photojournalism" at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/business/media/10photo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. However, the public had received a strong message from the photojournalists: the power of still images cannot be denied.

Mother and child in war torn Chechen capital circa 1996 taken by Laurent Van Der Stockt courtesy http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/business/media/10photo.html?pagewanted=all.

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Capa's Camera Captures Conflict

"The desire for any war photographer is to be put out of business."
(Robert Capa)

Robert Capa courtesy www.warchronicle.com.

Andre Friedmann was born in Austria-Hungary in 1913 to Jewish parents. Capa fled political repression in Hungary as a teenager and settled in Berlin. He always wanted to be a writer, but with the invention of the 35 mm camer, he seized the opportunity to become a photographer when it presented itself. Combining his love for writing and his eye for photography, he embraced the relatively new occupation of photojournalist, specializing in war photography. In 1933, with the rise of Hitler and the persecution of Jews, Friedmann fled Germany to France. He changed his name to the more Christian sounding Robert Capa to avoid religious discrimination common in France at the time, ensuring that he was not turned down for jobs. While visiting his mother and brother who had fled to New York City in 1937, Capa signed a contract with Life magazine as a war photographer. He covered five conflicts: the Spanish Civil War, the second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the 1948 Arab Israeli War and the First Indochina War. Capa was always where the action was: at the American invasion of Sicily in 1943: at Omaha Beach on D-Day 1944; and at the site of the last fatality of the Second World War's European Theatre in 1945. General Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Capa the Medal of Freedom in 1947 for his contribution to the war effort. Robert Capa was killed by a landmine while covering the Indochina War in 1954. Here are some of his haunting photographs from World War II.

1. D-Day Landings (1944)