Sunday 1 March 2009

The photo as part of reality



I mentioned Henri Cartier Bresson last time because of his work as an artist, for his quotes and for his photojournalism. Another of his quotes is 'the photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality. I took his idea of the little human detail (a cravate and a rose from a wedding photo) and used it as a leitmotiv. I read this second quote and I found that I did not totally agree with it.

What is reality? I don't mind taking photos in black and white or sepia, but we don't have sepia vision. I don't mind straightening perspectives. If you get too close to a building then you end up with converging verticals - the sides of the building look like they are coming together. In real life, when we stand close to a building the brain accommodates for this convergence.

The camera never lies, oh yes it does. I don't want to sound too cynical but there are tabloid editors who may completely change the meaning behind a photo. There is also the change caused by artistic effect. A picture can be worth a thousand words and it is nice to think that there is a truth in photography,but I look at Cartier Bresson's background as an artist and I know that there is an artistic influence in every photo.

Happy snapping

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