Research for People Unaware.

Henri Cartier-Bresson is perhaps one of the most well known reportage photographers and he coined the phrase 'the decisive moment' to describe this key quality in a photograph. His ' Behind the Gare SSaint Lazare' 1932 is perhaps the most famous of his decisive moments shots.

Below left is another 'decisive moment ' taken by Cartier-Bresson but one that is also full of compassion for the boy. In the right hand image he has caught the cyclist at the perfect moment - just when he is in full view and the only point in the frame when it would be possible. The cyclist is also slightly blurred thus giving an impression of movement.

I love the work of Andre Kertesz and in July went to visit his exhibition 'On Reading' at The Photographers Gallery in London. Many of the images in this exhibition are beautiful shots of people unaware. I have included three below. He sometimes has the subject small in the frame as in the first image or larger as in the second two. The second two images were obviously taken in a park and I have used them for inspiration when shooting in the Sheffield Botanical Gardens for Exercise 15.

Other photographers that I have looked at for this part of the course include W. Eugene Smith, Robert Frank and William Eggleston.

W. Eugene Smith moved to New York in 1936 where he studied under Helene Sanders and the New York Institute of Photography. He began working professionally in 1937 eventually gaining a contract with Life Magazine and later worked for the Magnum agency. Here I have included pictures taken of Albert Schweitzer in 1949 and Charlie Chaplin during the filming of 'Limelight' in 1952.

Robert Frank was born into a wealthy Swiss Jewish family and eventually emigrated to America in 1947. He worked there as a fashion photographer before leaving to travel in South America and Europe returning in 1950. He met Edward Steichen and participated in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Later he began to see America as a bleak and lonely place and this became evident in his photography. In 1955 be began a two year journey around America photographing its society at all strata. He took 28 000 images of which he chose 82 for subsequent publication in hos book 'The Americans'. I include a selection of images here.

William Eggleston's early work was inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson's book 'The Decisive Moment' and the work of Swiss photographer Robert Frank. He began working in black and white but began experimenting with colour in 1965 and 1966. He taught at Harvard in 1973 and 1974 and at this time dicovered the 'dye-transfer' process which he subsequently used when having his work printed. I am not a fan of Eggleston despite his being such a reknowned photographer. I find his work too harsh and brash; he often seems to seek out the ugly in life. I have included some of his work below.

One other photographer whose work I admire and who I have looked at in relation to this part of the course is Don McCullin. I went to see his exhibition 'In England' at the National Media Museum in September and his photographs really inspired me.

I have also looked at the work of Martin Parr. I found the images from his Machu Picchu fascinating particularly as my daughter has recently completed a trek there as part of 7 months in South America. I'm not really envious.

I also found Paul Graham's work relevant to this topic especially his series 'Beyond Caring'.