Main Entry:

pho·tog·ra·phy 

Pronunciation:

\fə-ˈtä-grə-fē\

Function:

noun

Date:

1839

: the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface (as film or a CCD chip)

Photographyis so much more than an entry into a dictionary.  The art of photography touches almost everyone.  It gives people a chance to look back upon times and events that they might not remember otherwise. Good times, bad times, and everything in between, pictures capture moments for an enternity. However, what makes a picture a good, or even great, picture?  What turns a mediocre shot into something to be remembered for years to come? Every famous photographer is famous for a reason.  They have captured something that others are not able to do.  They have captured occurences or even nature and its beauty and made it accessible to others.  The event, angle, light, and expressions all come together to create the perfect picture. 

Memories.

   If asked, almost anyone living in the 60’s could tell you that this picture is the first man on the moon.  Some pictures have the ability to take the viewer back in time to remember exactly what they were doing at that moment in history.  This picture does exactly that.  Never before had America witnessed such a sight and NASA had managed to capture it on film! 

 

 

 

The flag raising at Iwo Jima is the most reproduced picture of all time.  Taken by Joe Rosenthal, this picture is not only famous for its quality photography, but also for the triumph and emotions brought forth with such an image.  In the middle of war, Americans needed something to encourage them and raise morale.  The image of “their boys” raising the American flag helped do just that.                                                   

 

 

Pictures capture a moment in time.   They allow others to participate in the excitement of the event, the triumph of the day, the emotions of those portrayed.

 

 ”The Kiss” by Alfred Eisenstaedt, is just one more picture that has been and will continue to be remembered by Americans for years to come.  This picture was of a sailor who had just returned from World War II.  Although the sailor was kissing every woman he encountered in Times Square that day, this particular kiss earned him not only this picture, but also a slap from the nurse.  Eisenstaedt had not only skill, but also luck to capture this image.
                                                          

Every single photograph was taken for a reason.  These pictures offer a glipse into the momentary bond between the photographer and the photographed.  This photograph by Neil Leifer, captures a different sort of victory.  Here, Muhammad Ali is pictured standing above Sonny Liston on May 25, 1965.  The two battled in Lewiston Maine and Ali emerged the victor. The expression of adrenaline and excitement in Ali’s face make this a truly breathtaking picture and clearly something that could never be recreated or posed.

Feelings.

Photo by Dorothea Lange

Each photograph conveys a feeling, an idea, an emotion.

Dorothea Lange is most famous for her Depression-era photography.  This photography captured a truly human side of those photographed.  Lange captured both the beautiful and the difficult.  As seen in “Migrant Mother,” Lange was able to capture the idea of the hard life that the mother lived during these times while caring for her children.  The worry and stress is clearly show in the mother’s face as her children hold on to her for comfort and support. 

In 1960, Lange spoke about her experience taking the photograph:

I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.

Stories.

Photo by Steve McCurry

Pictures tell a story.

 

This picture was taken of a young girl in a Pakistani refugee camp after fleeing her homeland of Afghanistan.  The eyes and expression of the girl are what make this picture pop.  Her eyes look haunted, as if she is running from something still and the serious expression on her face make the viewer contemplate her situation.  The lighting and the colors in the picture also play key roles in what makes this picture successful.  McCurry took an arresting situation and story and turned it into an arresting picture.

Photography.

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving.  What you have caught on film is captured forever…it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” -Aaron Siskind