Photo One: A child’s eyes
My first photo is taken of my niece dressed up as a dinosaur. I used shadows to draw attention to her big beautiful eyes and was lucky enough to catch a smile. This reminded me of Kertesz’s photos of a young boy and a sheep lying on the ground where the boy was laughing. The joy in the expressions of the children felt like the most important of the photograph to me.
To me, Kertesz was different from all other photo journalists because he seemed to capture his photos for their feeling rather than to just document the event. Kertesz valued the thought an image provoked or the light in the subjects eyes. This photo was not documenting the great boy-sheep war but a young boy playing with an animal and having a great time of it.
Photo Two: In Stride
The second photo is of a woman’s legs while she is mid –stride. The reason I chose to shoot this is I feel Kertesz’s photos empower women and depict them as confident powerful individuals. I feel capturing a woman walking with purpose would show something similar. The image is again in black and white and slightly blurred which I would normally not like but I think it adds feeling and shows she is on the move so I liked the blur in the end. I got down to floor level to capture the photo straight on.
When you read how Andre Kertesz spoke in his interviews and then looked at his images you could tell he was a very unique man. He had a different view of what to capture and what is important. He wasn't frantic when he couldn't photograph a riot, he was content taking in his surroundings and fighting for his freedom. People would ask why he photographed friends or family or just people living their daily life where there was no breaking news story and his response was simply, "why not them too?" and that was indeed his true question, why not? he captured images that he felt had an impact and those images need not be from war or pain but sometimes just the beauty and confidence radiating from a woman.
Photo Three: Shadow and pride
In my third image I took a photo of myself standing near my Toronto Maple Leafs scarf to be similar to the image Shadow and Lion by Kertesz. I caught my profile facing the scarf which I feel represents pride which to me is what a lion symbolizes. I used a candle behind myself to cast the shadow on the wall and zoomed into the wall to capture my profile without my arm interfering. I was actually very happy with the end result because the focus was actually on my profile rather than on the other object, in this case the scarf.
Shadow and Lion
This photo reminds me of how instinctual Andre Kertesz really was. There is no telling what he was actually doing in this situation or how he actually came to be in this position but he captured the photo and it in turn will now stimulate thought in so many people wondering the same things and I think that is something he knew is people would always wonder about his photos.. the who what when where why and how. and unlike other photo journalists his photos did not always show these answers. It was a mystery.
Photo Four: Burning Flame
My fourth photo is of a candle burning and the light it illuminates across the room. I took this to mimic the photos Kertesz took of inanimate objects. I tried to use the shadows to my advantage by turning my flash off and letting the flame give the image its own life. This is the photo I am most pleased with because I feel the candle and the candle holder both look romantic and inviting and really make you wonder where the candle was lit, what it was lit for and what may have happened with it. These are feelings I get from many of Kertesz photos.
This photo of mine reminds me of many of Kertesz's photos but in particular I'd like to compare it to the glasses and the pipe photo. There is no specific reason for this photo it is just a candle but the shadows and the flame create a wonder. I emphasize this because it just makes me feel more and more that though Kertesz didnt stage his photos that he was more of an artist than a journalist.
Photo Five: Eternally Alive
My final photo is of dried roses from numerous occasions that my boyfriend gave me. I took the photo of them to show the life in death as Andre Kertesz does in Melancholic Tulip. I feel that the message behind the image was that though the tulip looks dead it in fact is in clean water and is alive. Or is it dead? And the water and petals just seem alive. I wanted to make the roses seem like they were still alive as they are for me because they are alive with memories. I used a very bright flash from above the roses and turned all the other lights off.
This is Kertesz at his finest. This photo brings the unknown to life and it tests your beliefs. What is real? what is not? what is bad? what is good? are these flowers dead or alive? is the glass half empty or half full? I think that this is why I like Kertesz as a photographer so much. He always seems to push to bring something more. For an image not to be cut and dry but to have to read between the lines. He seems like he was a true intellect.
Capturing these images in the image of Andre Kertesz was quite difficult because I could not edit them and I decided that even though I find it ethical to edit photographs in terms of brightening or sharpening or cropping I decided to take them the best I could with my own lighting and candles. I know that these pictures are not as beautiful and intricate as Kertesz's photos but I am quite proud of the end results.
Sources Cited:
Google Image Search : Andre Kertesz Works Icevska, Gordana. "Week 10 Readings." Weblog post. Photography Shooting the Truth. George Brown College, 9 Jan. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
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