Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado - Essay Example

20 March Comparing the Work of Photojournalists Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson were two photojournalists who seemed to have an approach of taking photographs using methods where the subject in their photographs were less obvious. Kertesz often took photos that were like capturing life naturally and using them as a documentation. Cartier-Bresson’s work was more candid. Their photos appear to be much more natural rather than posed. In several of each photojournalists’s photographs, it appears that their subject, never even knew they were there.

Alternatively, Sebastio Salgado and Eugene Smith were much different, looking for ways to ensure that the subject of their photographs were very involved and noticeable. Salgado and Smith’s photographs seemed to always appear a little bit more obvious, like portraits. The photos are more scripted and it appears that they manipulate their subjects so that they could enhance their photographs to better tell the story. However, in the sense of journalism, it is questionable whether or not it is ethical to tell a story through photographs in methods that are ‘staged’ to be a little bit different than real life.

All four photographers were able to capture a story and display a type of emotion with their subject. After evaluating the techniques, if these photographers were photojournalists, it is more ethical to capture a moment as it happens when true emotion is elicited and showing how something really is as it happens. Cartier-Bresson and Kertesz were better at this method because Salgado and Smith’s photography seemed to be too fake or staged rather than capturing a moment truly as it is.