André Kertész
Personal Background
André Kertész was born on July 2nd, 1894 in Hungary and died on September 28th, 1985 in New York, NY. André served in the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I , during this he continued to take photos on the Eastern Front. Before and after he served in the army Kertész worked at a bank, doing photography in his free time. In 1925 Kertész moved to Paris to gain opportunities and become a freelance photographer. Kertész was married twice and had no children. In 1936 Kertész moved to New York for a job and stayed there.
Style
Kertész started by taking a lot of street photography around his home town. He took a lot of photographs of people, animals During World War II he took a lot of photographs on the front line. Kertész liked to capture moments and create stories with his photographs, he added his own emotion to the photographs. He was greatly influenced by Constructivism and Surrealism styles/principals.
Philosophy
Kertész always considered himself an amateur. He was drawn to photography because he liked the idea of capturing the life of things and the nature of different things. Kertész thought of his photographs as a diary, it was his way of expressing himself and describing his life. Kertész once said, “My photography is a visual diary…It is very much a tool, to express and describe my life, the same way poets or writers describe their life experiences."
Influences
Kertész influenced many artists including street photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï. Kertész taught photography to both and they say he is is was important influence to them. He was a great influence on photojournalism, even still today. During 1937 to 1947 Kertész didn't receive much recognition, this caused him to start changing his style. He starting taking all kinds of photographs that are now some of the biggest influences of imagery. He influenced me by inspiring me to create a deeper meaning through my photos and inspired me to try more street photography.
Toxic Rose
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With this photo I wanted to add a deeper meaning to it. I decided to put the dying roses into a non reusable plastic water bottle. I wanted to relate it to pollution, the rose is dying because it is being polluted by microplastics and toxins from the plastic.
Utensil
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I wanted to change my photo a little bit so I wasn't exactly like Kertész. I turned my fork the opposite way and positioned it in a different spot on the plate. My photo has less shadows than Kertész's, If i changed one thing I would add more shadows because I think it gives it more depths.
I like the contrast between these two photos that were taken almost 100 years apart. You can see major differences in society and technology, for example the cars are very different. My photo was taken from a higher view point but they were both taken on a rainy day.
Artist Statement
I chose to alter my photos a little to add my own meaning to them, In my Toxic Rose photograph the dying roes in a plastic water bottle because 80 years later (from when his photograph was taken) plastic is now a big problem we are trying to fix. With my photograph City High I wanted to showcase the technology in it to compare to 100 years ago. You can see how much closer the buildings are to each other and how big they are, With these photos I wanted to show how things have changed over the many years since his photographs were taken.
Sources
- britannica.com
- fotor.com
- dodho.com