Guang Niu, China
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=2040&Itemid=292&bandwidth=high
Press photography is a story described within a single photo, yet without a single word spoken or read. Pictures within press photography is a moment in time that tells us exactly what is happening. It is a story, a news, a lifestyle that we can read just by glancing. Press photography fills in the voids and questions that we ask ourselves when we hear or read something in the news such as “Who was the victim?” or “What happened to the victim?”. Photojournalists brings world news to our attention through photographs that have been captured within the moment. Through these photographers' passion, we are able to be at the exact time and place the news had occurred. It is so important that these photographers go unnoticed so as to not disturb the scene so that we, as viewers, will see the exact moment captured in life. “In whatever picture-story we try to do, we are bound to arrive as intruders. It’s essential, therefore, to approach the subject on tiptoe-even if the subject is still-life. A velvet hand, a hawk’s eye – these we should all have…Unless a photographer observes such conditions as these, he may become an intolerably aggressive character” (Cartier-Bresson, 1952).
Péter Lakatos, Hungary
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=2030&Itemid=292&bandwidth=high
To alter Press photography is to tell a lie. It is unethical to alter a press photograph unless it was to enhance the image. To remove and object or person or to change it would be like stating that the current President of America is George Bush, not Obama in world news. The ethics of photojournalism remains the same approach towards manipulations of the photo. To improve the quality of the photograph is acceptable but to change the context/fact on the photograph is to go against all ethics. Even if the photographer had missed the perfect shot or had forced the photo to become what he had hoped it to be, it would be going against what photojournalism is truly about. "Life is once; forever" - Henri Cartier Bresson, "The Decisive Moment".
Art Photography: “From today painting is dead”
Nina Pak
http://www.ninapak.com/
The question we ask ourselves with photography is whether it is an art or it is to capture reality. Art photography is the beauty expressed within ourselves through the manipulations and work that we do on captured photos. As expressed by Charles Caffin, there are two ways we may take when taking photographs. One is to capture reality and the other is to express beauty. “There are two distinct roads in photography - the utilitarian and the aesthetic: the goal of the one being a record of facts, and the other an expression of beauty.” - Charles Caffin
Pictorialism was a photographic movement which started at around 1885. It describes the need for art photographs to emulate the painting and etching of the time. Pictorialism is the personal artistic expression in which artists take their photographs and manipulate them through the tone, sharpness, filters and lens coatings. This leading movement called Pictorialism was lead by Alfriend Stieglitz in promotion of photography as art. In a sense, photographers who use photography as an art are painters, using their cameras as the paintbrush.
Erik Johansson
http://www.fubiz.net/2009/06/12/erik-johansson/
The similarities of press photography and art photography is presented through the work of the artist. Press photography tells the news and events that occurs around the world and is expressed through a single shot. Art photography tells the art expression and the beauty that is expressed through the artist's mind and thoughts of his work and his photograph. The difference between both styles of photography is that manipulation in press photography is unethical while manipulation through art photography is expressed as art itself. While both will bring us into perspective, they will also leave us curious and wondering about the work.
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