Dorothea Lange

he documentary photographer Dorothea Lange was born on May 26 1895 in Hoboken, New Jersey where she grew up with her parents and her brother in a middle class family. The social unrest caused by the Great Depression led her to capture the suffering of the poor people. With her photography she wanted to effect a social change in the United States. Dorothea Lange thought of the camera as “an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

Additionally she believed that “[the viewer] is not a bystander” and that he has to be included “in your thought” “to increase his perceptions and conceptions.” One of her main techniques was the usage of dramatic angles and dynamic compositions as in the modernism to produce alarmingly and stridently images of her subjects. Nevertheless she saw herself as a journalist and not as an artist which led her to make sure that her pictures do not overwhelm their viewers.

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Annie Leibovitz

he portrait-photographer Annie Leibovitz was born as one of six children in Waterbury, Connecticut, on October 2, 1949. Her father, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force was stationed on the Philippines during the Vietnam War where she began taking photographs. A trip to Japan with her mother aroused her interest in photography and she was influenced by photographers such as Robert

Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson.One of Annie Leibovitz techniques was to use ambient light with a strobe so the background of the picture becomes smooth. She took photos and portraits of celebrities like John Lennon, Mick Jagger and the pregnant Demi Moore.She states her philosophy as “I’m more interested in being good than being famous.”

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he photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California where he was raised by his father, who was a businessman, and his mother. Early he found joy in nature as proved by taking long walks in the sand dunes near his home. His interest in photography was born when his family tramped to the Yosemite National Park where he took lots of black and white

photographs. Talking about his trip Ansel said that “the splendor of Yosemite burst upon us and it was glorious.” Because he was interested in environmental issues related to national parks and the preservation of wilderness he joined the Sierra Club and spent his vacation in national parks taking pictures.Ansel Adams stated his philosophy as “”I believe in beauty. I believe in stones and water, air and soil, people and future and their fate”.”

Ansel Adams

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Margaret Bourke-White

orn on June 14, 1904 in Bronx, New York, the documentary photographer opened her own studio in 1927 in Cleveland after she attended Columbia University. She focused on the effects of modern industry on the land and its people of which she took black and white photographs.After returning from a trip to communist Russia as the first Western photographer where

she took many pictures of the industrialization she began to create visual narratives recognizing that “it is more and more important to reflect the life that goes on behind these photographs.” In the 20th century she captured social issues including German concentration camps after their liberation and Mahatma Gandhi after he was released from prison.

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Robert Capa

he photojournalist and war photographer Robert Capa, born Endre Friedmann in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, on October 22, 1913, actually wanted to become a writer but began to love photography during his work in Berlin. Since he was a Jew he had to flee because of the rise of Nazism and changed his name to Robert Capa. Between 1936 and 1939 he took photographs of the Spanish Civil War before he moved to

the United States.In the Spanish Civil War he took one of his most famous pictures, called the “Death of a Loyalist”, and developed his philosophy stated as “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t good enough.”When taking pictures Robert Capa often used diagonals for his shots placing his subject considering the imaginary diagonal. He also liked to work with contrasts to make sure the viewer focusses on one subject.

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Steve McCurry

he photojournalist Steve McCurry was born on February 24, 1950 in Newton Square, Pennsylvania. He studied film history, cinematography and filmmaking at Penn State and worked on the college paper taking photographs and found that this was his true calling. He traveled to India as a self-

employed artist and improved his skill to wait for the perfect shot. Steve McCurry captured conflicts in the Middle East for example the Iran-Iraq war and the Russian invasion in Afghanistan. When taking pictures of these conflicts he focused on the influences they have on human and human faces.

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URL Citehttp://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/dorothea-lange http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lange-dorothea.htm http://stevemccurry.com/biography http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/McCurry__Steve.html http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-steve-mccurry/ http://photography.about.com/od/famousphotographers/a/stevemccurrybiography.htm http://vault.sierraclub.org/history/ansel-adams/ http://www.anseladams.com/ansel-adams-information/ansel-adams-biography/ http://www.gallerym.com/pages/margaret-bourke-white-biography http://www.phillipscollection.org/research/american_art/bios/bourkewhite-bio.htm http://www.myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=margaret_bourke-white http://www.leegallery.com/robert-capa/robert-capa-biography http://www.lomography.com/magazine/tipster/2011/12/20/mimicking-the-masters-robert-capa http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/annie-leibovitz/life-through-a-lens/16/ http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/anna-lou-leibovitz-736.php http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/annie_leibovitz.html http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/celebrity-photography-techniques-with-annie-leibovitz/