Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado

The only similarity between the works of Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson when compared to Eugene Smith and Sebastio Salgado is the purpose for the creation of their photographs: to reveal a story or moment that they wanted to express in their photographs; either by slight manipulation or not. They wanted to secure this ‘story’ in a photograph that had the ability to re-tell the story to their audience. This was of great importance to each photographer.

Upon studying the photography methods of each photographer there were apparent differences in the active philosophy and technique in Kertesz’s and Cartier-Bresson’s work versus Smith’s and Salgado’s. Here is a quote from Cartier-Bresson speaking about his work, ‘Sometimes a picture disappears, and there’s nothing you can do, you cant tell the person, “Oh, please smile again, do that gesture again”, life is once, forever.’ It is safe to say that Cartier-Bresson and Kertesz both feel that a great photograph is born from its most natural moment, the decisive moment. Bresson and Kertesz felt they had to be invisible, as if they weren’t physically present, so that they didn’t accidently influence the moment they were trying to capture.

Smith and Salgado had quite a different approach, quite opposite actually. Instead of acting ‘invisible’ they interfered with the moment they were trying to capture. Why you ask? They were compelled to have their photographs influenced by their interpretations and opinions; allow their photographs to tell ‘their’ story. You could refer to this as presenting a biased approach to photography. 

These photographers both have interesting methods, but one group’s method is quite questionable in my eyes. Of course, each photographer’s effectiveness will be different in different scenarios. In the case of major news stories, Smtih’s and Salgado’s approach versus Kertesz’s and Cartier-Bresson’s approach is ludicrous because they would defy the morals of journalism. Instead of delivering the true, natural, un-touched news story, like expected by the public, they would deliver photographs that present a bias and possibly put the news story out of context. On another note, if a simple news story were to be represented, like a town fair, or street festival, using Smith’s and Salgado’s approach to photography would be ideal because they would most likely provide more fun, creative photography for their audiences.

Sources:

1. KerteszCartier-BressonFromShootingTheTruthGordanaIccevska.pdf - on Oct 29, 2009 5:53 PM by Gordana Icevska  http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzaG9vdGluZ3RoZXRydXRofGd4OjRmNDAzZGZlNjZmMDhkYmE

2. SmithSalgadoShootingTheTruthIcevska.pdf - on Nov 4, 2009 6:50 PM by Gordana Icevska http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzaG9vdGluZ3RoZXRydXRofGd4OjM4ZmFkYjVhZDIwNjYyZjQ