DB 6 - Documenting the great depression

why the project has significant impact on the society?

The project has significant impact on the society because documentary photography represents the reality of issues and it reflect certain events. However, "the Great Depression brought a new wave of documentary, both of rural and urban conditions" in the 1930s. (Wikipedia.com,n.d).  The project includes the period of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II. Through the photograph, it shows ordeal of American including poor surroundings and workplace.  It indicate a significant impact on American society and thus it brought public interest and attention.

What was the role of Migrant Mother photograph in the period or great depression and what is it nowadays? 

Migrant Mother represents the mother in nowadays. In the photographs, we can see a woman who looks exhausted and worn out with kids. Those pictures was taken by Dorothea Lange. She intended to show poverty migrant mother's life during the great depression. After publishing these, many people were moved by these and the public could understand their life indirectly. Moreover, these days we also can have indirect experience by understanding their life and learning the past.

DB 5 - From Robert Fenton's combat photographs to Robert Capa's war photography

Look at the photos of Fenton, Brady, Gardner and Capa, read about their work and try to find/see similarities and differences and explain how and why is Capa different than others. 

The photographers , Fenton, Brady, Gardner and Capa, main interested to take a senesce of relation of war and combat moment. they spend time in the battle field even though the places were dangerous and not easy to take picture atmosphere. However, the photographers had different aspects and view of pictures. Fenton, Brady and Gardner took posed shots such as still frame scenes however, Robert capa interested and took a action shoots. He was middle of war and battle field therefore he face death and violence in the photographs.

DB 4 - From Alfred Stieglitz and Minor White to Man Ray and Laszlo Moholy- Nagy

1) What was the main Stieglitz's interest?

Alfred Stieglitz's main concern was promote photography to define as art. Stieglitz's was one of pioneer of a movement that is Pictorialism. Photography was treated as an advance of science, not art before his movement. However, his movement and the concern affected photography. the people changed and considered photograph as art. Stieglitz and other Pictorialists agreed photography could be an art when they used a camera as  equipment like a brush for drawing or painting. Naturalism was the based on of Pictorialism. The main interest of Naturalism is that main subject and scenes should be more focused than secondary subject and scenes.

2) What was White's impact on photography as a medium? What do you see on his photographs?

Minor White was focus on a textural photographer such as his pictures of items such as a bush, a tree, cracks in the road, or even a rusted up car. moreover, one of the greatest American photographers. He does not worry about try to new thing and different things. He was a very religious and spiritual person through this things, many kind of his photography indecated from moment scens such as "No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer It has chosen". He want to take to picture about spirit therefore, people can view of relative feeling inside. One of his photography "Pacific Devils Side". Through this picture I can feel loneliness, darkness, and silence emotions.

3) What do you see on Man Ray's photos? Are they similar or absolutely different than Steiglitz's photos?

Man Ray was American modernist photographer and artist who live of his career in Paris, France. He made main works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known in the art world for his avant-garde photography, and he was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. In my opinion Man Ray and Steiglitz have some similarity and different.  The similarity two artist try to make photography as a art by their characteristics. The difference is Man Ray's are symbolical, feminine feeling but Alfred Stieglitz photos are more concentrate of main object and scenes. Therefore, viewer can feel through Man Ray's photos derive more imagination and Steiglitz's photos explained more objective. 

4) What do you see on Moholo-Nagy's photographs?

László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts. In my opinion his pictures are innovative, modern and an original idea inside. László Moholy-Nagy brought his imagination into action and photography.

5) Are these photographers painters? Do they all paint with their cameras or maybe only some of them?

In my opinion, They were all painters, The photographers were great artists and their photographs were also an art. even though photography was not art that time. however, they were develop new fields of photography such as explore with light, shadow, item and many kind of technique to express their characteristic and imagination in to photography. They were using camera as a paint and brush.