Elliott Erwitt

Elliott Erwitt is an advertising and documentary photographer known for his black and white candid shots of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings. I was inspired the way he framed the subject matter. By mainly focusing on the mirror and defocusing on the background, he made a good decision to give a massage to the audience by using the water in the background. Water always represents pure, relaxation, life. Overall, the picture seems much more romantic. Based on my understanding, the massage of the picture is "pure love".

"Joanna Laughing, Hotel Paris, 1999" Nan Goldin

As a teenager in Boston in the 1960s, then in New York starting in the 1970s, Nan Goldin has taken intensely personal, spontaneous, sexual, and transgressive photographs of her family, friends, and lovers. The picture of “Joanna Laughing, Hotel Paris, 1999” was inspired me to comment about. She basically used lighting sources to make the picture more interesting. By putting the forces straight Joanna’s face, the photographer tried show the big laugh from Joanna’s face. The background texture was much more amazed to me and I believe it make the picture much more colorful. The pictures gives a massage about smokers. By showing a big laugh, the photographer trying to show that smoking makes you happy. 

"President Kennedy"-Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman was an American photographer, noted for his "environmental portraits" of artists and politicians. He was also known for his carefully composed abstract still life images. The picture of “John F Kennedy” is the one I was inspired to comment about this great photographer. I basically interested about those diagonal element that he used in the background to make the picture more interesting. Second thing I realized was the light source that he used. The light comes above the right top corner of the picture and it makes the picture more appropriate with President Kennedy. 

Susan Sontag

"Photography is the only major art in which professional training and years of experience do not confer an insuperable advantage over the untrained an inexperienced"P.24

"We want the photographer to be a spy in the house of love and of death, and those being photographed to be unaware of

the camera, "off guard." No sophisticated sense of what photography is or can be will ever weaken the satisfactions of a picture of an unexpected event seized in mid-action by an alert photographer."P.44

"To aim at the perpetuation of memories means, inevitably, that one has undertaken the task of continually renewing, of creating, memories—aided, above all, by the impress of iconic photographs."P.69

Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark is an American photographer known for her photojournalism, portraiture, and advertising photography. This picture seems to me like an inspirational one in her collection. Picture is mainly focused on the men with the cigarette. It does not have any objectives in the background to distract the image. Also, she is trying to give a massage through the picture. Based on what i understood, men in the picture is addicted to smoke and he suffers from it. By closing his eye express that it the sad emotional behind the seen. Making the picture black and white seems more appropriate here, if it was a colored one, it would have been a typical picture.  

Michael Kenna- "Death Gate"

Michael Kenna (born 1953) is an English photographer best known for his black & white landscapes. This picture seems to me an inspiring one because the techniques that he used. He titled the picture as “SS Guard House, (Death Gate), Birkenau, Poland, 1992”.  I found out that he used wide angle to get this picture. Also he centered the main subject matter in the picture to identify the massage it gives to the audience. Making the picture black and white seems more appropriate here. Next big thing is lighting here. He captured the seen in a cloudy time in a day. 

Ernst Haas-Pedestrians Crossing a New York Street

Ernst Haas (March 2, 1921 – September 12, 1986) was a photojournalist and a pioneering color photographer. During his 40-year career, the Austrian-born artist bridged the gap between photojournalism and the use of photography as a medium for expression and creativity.

                The picture “Pedestrians crossing a New York street in winter time cast long shadows, 1980.” Is much more focused about pedestrians. Their cloths express that the season of the year. Its winter and the smoke represent that how cold it is in the outside. The main thing that the picture looks more appropriate is lightning. The sunlight comes from the top right corner of the picture and the shadows make it much more interesting to see. The yellow taxi represents that the vehicle belongs to NYC. As I feel about the picture, people in the picture are looking at the yellow taxi and there must be something wrong with the way of taxi driver came in to the pedestrian walk. In conclusion, I could say that this is a nice way of using lights and shadows in appropriate occasions. 

Alex Webb Photography

Alex Webb is an American-born photographer who has been member of Magnum Agency since 1979. He defines himself as a street photographer. The picture here is the one I mostly prefer in his collection. The picture has rule of third composition techniques to make it more appropriate with the background. There are two subjects in this picture. World trade center collapse and the mother with a child. The picture represents so many massages. There are hundreds of people who died after the attack. Also there are innocent kids who lost their children and parents after 9/11. The child doesn't know about anything that has happened in the outside but he was crying after the distraction. A mother is trying to hide the pain in front of her child pretending that there was no such a big thing happened in the outside. The picture seems an impressive one to me and it delivers a great massage to the society. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. The picture here seems to me like an inspiring one. It is more focused about the massage that the picture gives. At the same time, it has a good composition technique. the picture seems well focused on the people in the front. He was more considered about taking out irrelevant objects from the picture and cropped it well. Apart from the main focus, the background is well subjectively taken for the picture and it seems more appropriate here.

Based on my understanding about the picture, the picture has an  interesting angle of view. it is a wide angle of view to avoid other subjects from the main subject which is the kid in the middle. I believe the photographer has used abstract objectives like the road to represent that the life is long and the kid has to walk a long distance to be successful in the future. Also the picture has cropped to a certain size to avoid unnecessary  objectives.

A Veteran Returns Home

I was going through some pictures on the internet and i suddenly found this one and it reminds me the troupes in my country Sri Lanka. The picture tells you how much the war can affect for these little kids. Some times they miss them a lot and sometimes lose their parents forever.

Talking about the photographer, he used nice way of composing the picture with the colors in the background. The photographer was more forced about the kid and the post she has on her hand. because of that the background seems blurred an it makes to realize the massage of the picture so well.

Enjoying the Life at New York University

 i walked along streets and avenues to find out how cool New York city during the winter. I found this innocent squirrel right in-front of New York University. He was almost ready for the picture while i was trying to remove the lens cap from my camera. 

Camera  :-NIKON D3000
Data    :-23/11/2012
Location:-New York University