Photography has been described as the ‘spark of chance’ in which particular moments, events and places are captured by the photographer. It is the power of this medium to make visible a fleeting

moment, which secures photography a place as a key form of modern art.

Noun: If there is a chance of something happening, it is possible that it will happen. Adjective: A chance meeting or event is one that is not planned or expected.

Verb: If you chance to do something or chance on something, you do it or find it although you had not planned or tried to.

Something that happens by chance was not planned by anyone. You can use by any chance when you are asking questions in order to find out

whether something that you think might be true is actually true. When you take a chance, you try to do something although there is a large risk of danger or

failure.

Sourced: Google Dictionary

CHANCEFortuitous, Accidental, Random, Occur, Opportunity

What does chance mean to you?

VCE Art Unit 3 Area of Study 1

Students use the analytical frameworks to interpret and analyse the meanings &

messages of artworks

WAR & CONFLICT

Pre 1970Robert Capa

Margaret Bourke-White

Post 1970Nick Ut

James Nachtwey

Photography has been described as the ‘spark of chance’ in which particular moments, events and places are captured by the photographer. It is the power of this

medium to make visible a fleeting moment, which secures photography a place as a key form of modern art.

Margaret Bourke-White•Born 1904 in New York•Attended several universities throughout the US while pursing a degree in Herpetology (study of reptiles)

•Bourke-White studied photography as a hobby from a young age

•One of the first female photojournalists and first western photographers allowed into the Soviet Union

•Worked for Fortune and Life Magazines•Deeply influenced by the impact of the Depression- which fueled her interest in politics

•Wrote about & publicly demonstrated her commitment to social causes

•Died in 1971 of Parkinson's disease

Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1945- German civilians tour Buchenwald Camp

Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1945- The Living Dead of Buchenwald

Robert Capa•Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1913•1931 studied Journalism in Berlin•Recorded 5 wars: Spanish Civil War (1936-39), Japanese invasion of China (1938), WW2 (1941-45), Israeli- Arab War (1948) and Indochina (1954)

•Was twice a refugee- from Hungary & Nazi Germany• Capa has written 4 books that capture his involvement in the wars

• His images often recorded the plight of displaced people• Capa’s images reveal not only the mastery of the medium, but his empathy and feeling of solidarity with the people he photographed

•He was killed by the very thing that he despised, yet lived for: War. He was killed by a land mine in Indochina in 1954

Chartres, France, 1944- Liberation of the town: French woman who had a baby with a German soldier has her head shaved as punishment

Cerro Muriano, Cordoba front, 1936- Spanish Republican militiaman Federico Borrell Garcia falling to his death

Nick Ut (Ut Cong Huynh)

•Born in Vietnam•Oldest brother, My Thanh Huynh, was an AP (Associated Press) Photographer

•Ut began career with AP in Saigon in 1966 and covered the rest of the Vietnam War

•Wounded 3 times•Famous for the image of Kim Phuc running down Route 1, after a misdirected napalm bomb was dropped on her family home.

Vietnam 1972- Kim Phuc running along Route 1 after she and her village were doused by Napalm

James Nachtwey•American Photojournalist•Studied History & Political Science at Dartmouth College (1966-70)

•Images from Vietnam War & American Civil rights movement had a powerful effect on Nachtwey- influencing him to become a photographer

•Began as a newspaper photographer•First foreign assignment 1981 in Northern Ireland covering the IRA hunger strike

•Since then he has devoted himself to documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues

•Nachtwey has photographed in Afghanistan, Romania, Bosnia, South Africa, Rwanda, Indonesia and many more locations

Rwanda, 1994 - Survivor of Hutu death camp

Sudan, 1993 - Famine victim in a feeding center

http://www.ted.com/talks/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war.html

Preparation for Essay

Using the Comparative Handout:Select ONE photograph pre 1970 and ONE photograph post 1970COMPARE & CONTRAST the two imagesAnalyse the photographs according to the MEANINGS & MESSAGESUse the analytical frameworks: FORMAL, CULTURAL, CONTEMPORARY, PERSONALEssay Length 1000-1500 wordsHOMEWORK complete the short answer questions to prepare for essay