Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson versus Smith and Salgado

Henri Cartier is known as the father of modern photojournalism and considered a master of candid photography. Cartier-Bresson famously captured pivotal moments of the 20th. He was a French photographer who was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the "street photography" or "real life reportage" style that has influenced many generations of photographers who followed and this is one of his photographs. André Kertész was one of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century; he was a quiet but important influence on the coming of age of photojournalism and the art of photography. He also discovered and demonstrated the special aesthetic of the small camera. Eugene Smith was perhaps the photographer who tried most heroically to make the magazine photo story meet the standards of coherence, intensity, and personal accountability that one expects of a work of art. He was an unquestioned leader of the photo story experiment. Smith was fanatically dedicated to his mission as a photographer so he was a figure universally admired as an artist. Sebastião Salgado was a Brazilian photographer and he is one of the most respected photojournalists working today. He has dedicated himself to chronicling the lives of the world’s dispossessed.

What are the main differences and similarities?

All of these photographers are capturing the truth in their eyes and sending the viewers their own message. The difference between thedifferent types of photographers is that Andre Kertesz and Henri Cartier are both “invisible” while taking photos, they both try to stay low while they’re shooting, the way their presence will not influence what they were photographing. They also believed that to capture the right photo you had to use your intuition and that everything had its right moment. Where as Eugene Smith and Sebastiao Salgado are “visible”. They alert their shooting subject and developing a close relation with them. They believe that you must be a visible photographer and that the best photos came from interacting with your subjects. We can also define them as one side is shooting a truth image and the other side as fake image or far from truth image. So the visibility of these photographers is one of the differences but they both still capture real life scenes of people, places, events or subjects.

What’s the better journalistic approach?

Every photographer has his or her own different techniques of shooting the truth. Journalism is a way to report and discuss events, issues and trends to an audience. I believe that the photo journalist plays a major role in journalism. Each photograph taken by a photo journalist captures a moment in time that tells a story. Just by looking at the picture people become aware of the information (ie. Who, what, where, etc). Reading a story in the news paper or watching the news without any photographs or videos will loose the connection of the viewers. By having pictures and videos it gives the audience a greater connection being able to see and hear the actual emotion behind the story being told.


Natasha Koo
Danielle Hall
Nicole Dicistofaro