The Distortions of Kertész

...Henri Cartier-Bresson once stated on behalf of himself, Robert Capa, and Brassaï, “Whatever we have done, Kertész did first.” 

 

Distortion #70

I wanted to do something my way—with my conception—without complications. I took the dancers along and photographed them on a children’s playground dancing. Some children were playing hide-and-seek and the dancers started to mix with the children. Look at the adoration of the children in the picture. This was a fantastic moment captured in a photo. The dancer, which is the glamour, and the children. the publicity manager sent the photos over to Life magazine. They came back to one and a half years later: “We do not find a place for using them.”

- André Kertész, Kertész on Kertész

 

 Distortion #40

 

 Distortion #140

 Distortion #41

One day my mother said, “If you want to go to Paris, go.” This was a great moment in my life. It was 1925. Arriving late at night, I and two other Hungarian boys took a room in a hotel. We were very tired, but next morning I looked out of the window and say my first subject. I knew no one in Paris, but I soon made friends.

- André Kertész, Kertész on Kertész

 

  Distortion #172

 Distortion #78

  Distortion #23

  Distortion #80

A Hungarian friend of mine introduced me to the editor of the magazine “Le Sourire,” a very French sort of magazine–satiric, risqué. Many artists worked for this publication. They had never published photos before. The editor asked me to do something. I bought two distorting mirrors in the flea market–the kind of thing you find in amusement parks. With existing light and an old lens invented by Hugo Meyer, I achieved amusing impressions. Some images like sculptures, others grotesque and frightening. I took about 140 photographs in a month, working two or three times a week. “Le Sourire” published a couple of them, and we planned a book, but it had to wait forty years to be published–but that is another story.

- André Kertész, Kertész on Kertész

 

 

 

 Robert Doisneau and André Kertész in Arles, France, 1975 © Wolfgang H. Wögerer

Chasing Light » André Kertész

 

Andre Kertesz at Photography-Now.net - The International Artist Index

 

The Great Bresson!

 "The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality."

( Henri Cartier-Bresson)

ROMANIA. In a train. 1975.

MEXICO. Mexico City. 1934.

GREAT BRITAIN. England. London. Hyde Park in the grey drizzle. 1937. 

 

SPAIN. Valencia. 1933.

 CHINA. Shanghai. December 1948-January 1949. As the value of the paper money sank, the Kuomintang decided to distribute 40 grams of gold per person. With the gold rush.

 SPAIN. Andalucia. Seville. 1933.

 "It seems dangerous to be a portrait artist who does commissions for clients because everyone wants to be flattered, so they pose in such a way that there’s nothing left of truth."

( Henri Cartier-Bresson)

 SPAIN. Barcelona. Barrio Chino. 1933.

 

 USA. New York City. Manhattan. Downtown. 1947.

 FRANCE. Paris. 14th arrondissement. Rue d'Alésia. Swiss painter and sculptor, Alberto GIACOMETTI. 1961.

 GREAT BRITAIN. London. Coronation of King George VI. 12 May 1937.

 "They . . . asked me:
"How do you make your pictures?' I was puzzled . . .
"I said, 'I don't know, it's not important."

( Henri Cartier-Bresson)

 Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 - 2004)

Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

Henri Cartier-Bresson - Magnum Photos Photographer Portfolio

 

Henri Cartier-Bresson - A French Photographer - The Father of ...

 

Masters Jury: Tim Flach

"My work is shaped by my studio experiences and advertising background. I studied painting, not photography—Cézanne and Picasso were my first mentors."

(Tim Flach) 

 

Tim Flach is a photographer best known for his highly conceptual portraits of animals, particularly horses. 

His work has been exhibited in Britain, the United States and the Far East. He also frequently lectures on photography in various countries and has received such international awards.

 

horse #1

 

horse #2

 

horse #3

"For a photo shoot with animals to succeed, you need to ask the right questions of the people who know them best. It also helps to have an interest in animal behavior.

For example, with horses, you don’t want to make sudden or unfamiliar movements or go around back because they need to have a sense of what’s going on. Surprisingly, flash lighting is less disruptive than you would imagine."  

(Tim Flach)

 

@ Tim Flach

 

@ Tim Flach

"Less Is More! I have a passion for animals and a fascination with our tendency to project human values upon them. We have a unique partnership with horses, which is what makes them a great subject to explore."

(Tim Flach)

 anatomika #1

 anatomika #2

anatomika #3

Tim Flach

 

Tim Flach - Hasselblad

 

 

Dreaming Deep

We usually think of Hurricane Katrina as a destructive force. But it’s inspired many acts of creation, including Scott Rhea’s stunning photo series An Inevitable Consequence.

 

 

 Introduced to photography in eighth grade by his aunt and uncle, who owned a camera store, Rhea is primarily self-taught. In the 1990s he worked as an advertising and editorial photographer in Zurich, Hamburg and Athens, but he became jaded by commercial photography and turned to fine art and personal projects.

Today Rhea is most interested in spiritual and emotional growth as an artist. He often isolates himself from any outside media, including television and print publications, that might influence his creative process. While it’s easy to make an aesthetically pleasing image, he explains, “the real magic comes from having a great idea.”

scott rhea director/photographer

 

SCOTT RHEA underwater installation for FLUX on Vimeo

 

Scott Rhea | American Photo

Portraits of Portraits

Tim Mantoani's Capturing the visionaries behind great photographs:

Nick Ut

With his famous Vietnam photo of a young girl after a napalm strike at Trang Bang Village

 

Rodney Smith 
hides behind his image.

Ryszard Horowitz

Holding his photo "Egg Head"



“Most of them were just doing their job. They didn’t realize that their work would have the significance it has today.”

Karen Kuehn

Holding: "Legs"

Dan Kramer

With his portrait of Bob Dylan

Douglas Kirkland

With his photo of Marilyn Monroe

Tim Mantoani's Portraits of Portraits | American Photo

Commercial Advertising Photographer/Tim Mantoani

 

 

 

Perjalanan & Perhentian

Perjalanan & Perhentian: Foto perjalanan Banten-Flores

Oleh: Tommas Titus

1. Jogja

6. Banten

15. Bali

Perjalanan dan Perhentian

Merenung Singkat Bersama Foto-foto Tommas Titus Kurniawan 

Hidup bisa dimaknai sebagai perjalanan. Dari awal sampai akhir, kita bergerak. Kadang, dalam perjalanan itu kita berhenti, seolah mengungkapkan naluri yang tertanam sedemikian dalam pada alam bawah sadar kita, bahwa kelak kita akan benar-benar berhenti. Perhentian-perhentian kecil dalam perjalanan hidup memberi kepada kita kesempatan untuk berefleksi guna memaknai perjalanan yang telah ditempuh dan meneguhkan hati untuk melanjutkan sisa perjalanan yang masih harus ditempuh. 

Kedengarannya, hidup sebagai perjalanan, juga perhentian-perhentian kecil yang mewarnainya sangatlah serius. Memang. Sebab, bukankah ini soal pemaknaan hidup dan dengan demikian sarat dengan rona eksistensial? Tapi perhentian-perhentian kecil dalam rangka refleksi tidak harus mengambil bentuk yang serius. Bisa juga santai.

Teman saya Mas Tommas senang jalan-jalan. Piknik. Mungkin itulah saat-saat baginya untuk melakukan perhentian kecil di tengah perjalanan hidup yang berliku dan panjang – dan melelahkan. Potret-potret keseharian, yang nampak biasa, dari para abdi dalem yang sedang mengaso (foto 2) sampai bocah kecil yang sedang memegang parang (foto 5). Ada juga foto komodo (foto 26-29), juga “sekadar” kaki bersandal di atas pasir putih (foto 47). Semua diambil dalam suasana yang santai, cerah, dan sumringah, yang dinikmatinya dari Banten sampai Flores. Tapi siapa bilang yang biasa, santai, cerah, dan sumringah di saat-saat perhentian kecil tidak memberikan makna apa-apa? Siapa bisa menyangka bahwa justru dalam suasana santai dan wajah cerah sumringah justru di situlah refleksi menjadi begitu hidup, karena mengafirmasi perjalanan yang telah dilalui bukan tanpa arti dan perjalanan yang masih harus ditempuh menjanjikan makna baru sehingga hari-hari ke depan lebih mempesona dan menggairahkan?

Lanjutkan perjalanan hidup Anda, Mas Tom, dengan menikmati setiap perhentian kecil di sepanjang jalan!

Temanmu,

Rudolfus Antonius

Padepokan, April 2012

27. Pulau Komodo

34. Pulau Rinca

41. Lombok

250 Foto Perjalanan Banten-Flores akan dibagikan Gratis di 5 Kota,

Semoga ini kota anda: 
Kendal, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Trenggalek & Denpasar., :)

Poster

Jump Philippe!!!

'Of the thousands of people, celebrated and unknown, who have sat before my camera, I am often asked who was the most difficult subject, or the easiest, or which picture is my favorite. This last question is like asking a mother which child she likes the most.'

(Philippe Halsman, 1906-1979)

 

Professor J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1958

Dali with three girls, 1949

 Philippe Halsman was born in Riga, Latvia and began his photographic career in Paris. In 1934 he opened a portrait studio in Montparnasse, where he photographed many well-known artists and writers -- including Andre Gide, Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, and Andre Malraux, using an innovative twin-lens reflex camera that he designed himself.

Halsman began a thirty-seven year collaboration with Salvador Dali in 1941 which resulted in a stream of unusual “photographs of ideas,” including “Dali Atomicus” and the “Dali’s Mustache” series. In the early 1950s, Halsman began to ask his subjects to jump for his camera at the conclusion of each sitting. These uniquely witty and energetic images have become an important part of his photographic legacy.

Duke & Dutchess of Windsor, 1956

Edward Steichen, 1955

Richard Nixon, 1955

Jump was born in 1952, Halsman said, after an arduous session photographing the Ford automobile family to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. As he relaxed with a drink offered by Mrs. Edsel Ford, the photographer was shocked to hear himself asking one of the grandest of Grosse Pointe’s grande dames if she would jump for his camera. “With my high heels?” she asked. But she gave it a try, unshod—after which her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Ford II, wanted to jump too.

For the next six years, Halsman ended his portrait sessions by asking sitters to jump. It is a tribute to his powers of persuasion that Richard Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Judge Learned Hand (in his mid-80s at the time) and other figures not known for spontaneity could be talked into rising to the challenge of…well, rising to the challenge. He called the resulting pictures his hobby, and in Philippe Halsman’s Jump Book, a collection published in 1959, he claimed in the mock-academic text that they were studies in “jumpology.”

Brigitte

 "Most people stiffen with self-consciousness when they pose for a photograph. Lighting and fine camera equipment are useless if the photographer cannot make them drop the mask, at least for a moment, so he can capture on his film their real, undistorted personality and character. "

 (Philippe Halsman, 1906-1979)

Philippe Halsman died in New York City on 25 June 1979.

Philippe Halsman

 

The Photography Post : JUMP with PHILIPPE !!!