Martin Munkácsi

Martin Munkácsi said, "Think while you shoot." He is an inspiration to us all.

Munkácsi was born in Kolozsvar, Austro-Hungary in 1896. He began his career of photography in his homeland, specializing in sports as he was a newspaper writer as well. He worked hard to meticulously compose action shots, utilizing his artistic nature and technical skill. He was noticed for these sports photographs, and started working elsewhere. His major locations were Berlin, Germany, and here in the United States. In addition to sports he was interested in airplanes and flying. He loved to photograph planes  both on the ground and in the air, and loved to capture views from the airplane that the common public might never have a chance to see; except in his photographs. During WWII, his job in Germany was terminated, and he went over to New York for  a top fashion magazine. He was good at this, but still liked to escape the indoors to shoot beaches, fields, farms, and again, airports. Munkácsi was one of the first photographers to use nude photographs in a magazine; he was good at his job. Unfortunately, he didn't receive the proper credit he deserved. Universities and Museums didn't care for his work and declined his applications, so now his archives are scattered throughout the world. But this doesn't mean he didn't influence anyone. A young ambition photographer named Henri Cartier-Bresson saw the following image of Munkácsi, and it changed his way of looking through a lens.

"Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika"

He said, "For me this photograph was the spark that ignited my enthusiasm. I suddenly realized that, by capturing the moment, photography was able to achieve eternity. It is the only photograph to have influenced me. This picture has such intensity, such joie de vivre, such a sense of wonder that it continues to fascinate me to this day." Clearly, Munkácsi influenced photographers, and changed the definition of photography.

Munkácsi likes beaches:

And sports:

And fashion:

 

And umbrellas:

 

And airplanes:

I really enjoy Munkácsi's photography. The fact that he's good at so many variations of photography prove that he has skill. He is incredible with fashion and sports; two completely different genres of photo. He dared to go outside the box with nudity, daily average life and the outdoors, so it shows that is a good thing to be an individual. His work is creative and interesting and I just love it.

Film Assignment 2 Journal

Again, I think the reason I loved this assignment was because I loved my negatives. I loved the images. I loved the people in them, and I didn't mind printing them thousands of times:) The photo of Sydney worked really well in the LCD developer. The image looked slightly antique, she was sitting on stone steps in front of a brick wall with somewhat vintage clothing on, so I thought the warm-tone side effect of the LCD would work with the picture nicely. It did. The RC was pretty good, neutral fiber even better, and the warm-tone fiber exceptional. The color and subject of the image were definitely my favorite parts. The focus and dust control need improvement-but I'll work on that. Love that last photo. The photo of Kara with a banana smile was tough. Loved the image; it still makes me laugh when I look at it. Technically, this photo was shot poorly. She isn't facing the sun, and so while her face is dark the right side of her head is blown out as is the wall behind her. Portraiture is tough because the most important thing is skin tone, and then you have to manually edit the rest. Burning was a pain.. but I finally got it. It's definitely not perfect, but it's acceptable. Again, the warm-tone fiber is by far my favorite. I think that's what we have learned from this assignment; the photographs we make on that paper is worth the extra worth and expense!

Film Assignment 1 Journal

I thoroughly enjoyed shooting whatever I pleased. I had forgotten how much I loved film until I picked up the camera again. Unfortunately, for some reason one row of negatives did not develop as planned. It just so happened to be the one row that was filled with my duplicates of the other speed roll. Luckily, I had two images in approximately the same light, so I used those two to compare 100 and 400 speed film. I loved both images; the focus was nearly there, strong composition, beautiful natural window light. I loved both my cups, and the unidentified white iron decoration. My favorite print--for both images was the little one. I have fallen in love with the giant white border, and now all I need is a negative carrier that can give me a black background. The medium and big prints were tough because the focus deteriorated, and dust exacerbated. Sigh dust was a pretty big issue here. But if I can get past my OCD and look to the technical elements of the print, and the strong elements of the image, I am pretty pleased. The three different sizes match each other pretty well. I can't really tell a big difference between the two films, and if I had two of very similar images I might've been able to complete this task more accurately. However, I am happy with my work.