Miles - Style Writing

Steve McCurry is a contemporary American photographer. He studied theater arts at The Pennsylvania State University where he began photographing for one of the school newspapers which spurred his career. McCurry is known for his photo journalism work abroad in the east. McCurry has used both film and digital cameras but ultimately has changed to digital for editing convivence. He travels all over the world to find interesting subjects to photograph. He has followed war paths through the middle east in an effort to show how a specific moment looked. McCurry wants the world to see the results of war and various societies found across the world and how they differ. His work is centered around people and their expressions with perfectly complimenting colors to emphasize that feeling. His work consists of purposeful snapshots of moments he wants to share. Staging these moments “seems” to be impossible. There has been controversy over his work as a photo journalist but nothing takes away from his work as a photographer. His work captures a single moment in places most people have never been with subjects that fuel our imaginations about what the world really is like away from our industrial cities or suburban towns. His work never becomes boring, there is always something that catches your eye that you didn’t recognize the first time you saw it. As someone who is more drawn to documentary photography I love to look at his work but after reading about how his images were edited and seeing the difference I think some of his credibility as a reporter is lost but nothing is taken away from his ability to capture interesting work. 

Yvonne De Rosa is contemporary photographer from Italy. De Rosa originally photographed in film but seems to have switched to digital. She released her first book, “crazy god” which is focused on an abandoned behavioral hospital that she used to volunteer. De Rosa wanted to bring attention to the poor care of the facility even years after its closing. Many behavioral hospitals are not well maintained and De Rosa’s images emphasized that. More recently she traveled to photograph people who have no documentation in the country they live. My assumption is that they are mainly refugees seeking asylum. Her images of these people focus on the improper care they have been provided. A theme to De Rosa’s images is her desire to bring attention to the less fortunate and to things that may not be high on a government’s agenda. De Rosa uses neutral colors in all of her work to emphasis their one subject and the emptiness that comes along with them. A lot of her images use dirt and grime on the faces of children or in the halls of the hospital as a cry for action. De Rosa studied political science while in school which gives us some kind of an explanation as to why she is so focused on activism. Her pictures use a wide range of depths but almost all of them feel very enclosed to one specific spot. I do not like the blandness of her work, from someone who has photographed inside of behavioral hospitals before, I found these images to be boring and un-motivational for a viewer. The blur and lack of contrast attempt to make the images sad but did not succeed in doing so. 

George Tice is an American, contemporary photographer. Tice spent the majority of his career photographing “Urban Landscapes”, a book displaying images of average America and industrial towns. Tice began using 35 mm cameras to take family portraits but eventually graduated to using a 4x5 and 8x10 view cameras. He used silver gelatin film his entire career. Tice was began photographing areas around him but then started traveling around the country following things that changed over time. Rather than focusing on the new and upcoming modernization of the country, he focused on the forgotten things and the small towns. Tice shows images of old ideas being over shadowed by the new representing the societal change. Tice traveled all over New Jersey finding interesting things to photograph. His work is clear black and white film images displaying no people, or distractions. All of his work is centered around one thing whether it’s one building or multiple, he makes it clear what he wants the viewer to see and reminisce about. His work is something that people will be able to pick up today, 5 years from now or 20 years from then and be able to remember a simpler time and what life looked like before mass industrialization of the suburbs and cities. His work depicts high contrast and deep depth of field views of stepping stones for the US. His work displays a mastery of simplicity and light. By using the black and white film the contrast between colors make it easy to look at and nullify the background greys. His work is something I have tried and will try to emulate, it’s a breath of fresh air in the common day high speed, vibrant, ever changing society.