David Burnett is a photographer who focuses on capturing historical moments and portraying the character and story behind his images. His photos have a theme of respect and admiration for his subjects. He takes photos from an observational perspective, as if he is just a spectator who goes unnoticed. Burnett spends significant time editing his photos in post-production to enhance colors and definition. He uses high ISO and shutter speeds to capture moving subjects and action shots without blurriness.

1. Unit 57: Photography and
Photographic Practice
Research of other photographers
work (P1, M1, D1)
Photographer: David Burnett

2. Theme or focus of images

3. I think the photographer tries to capture the story and character behind the image, I
think they are mostly focused on what is actually happening in the photo instead of
just taking the image for beauty etc. This photographer captures historical moments
and figures as almost documenting though pictures, I think this is why they aren’t still
and pose images, and they have character and more of an action shot even when
only of a person and not sport. With the Bob Marley photographs I think that he
creates a calming and happy vibe to the images, to obviously highlight his actual
personality. I think the constant theme through the images is one of respect and
admiration, either for the person, or thing that they are doing.
Composition
The way these images are took is from an observation point of view, it is simply like
he’s a spectator and they don’t notice that he is there; I think this is the beauty of the
shots as they capture the emotion and action.
It’s obvious that he spends allot of time in post-production due to the amount of
effects on the images especially on the first coloured image, as it looks almost
cartoon like, with the vibrant colours and definition.
Techniques used
I Think he uses a very high ISO to create a defined and bright image. I must have to
use a high shutter speed to capture the moving images, in his sport shots, without
them becoming blurry or distorted.
Strengths & Weaknesses
I think these images have a lot of strengths as the don’t only produce an appealing
image to the eye, but make us interested in the history and what was actually
happening. The weakness could be in the sports ones not knowing what century or
event they are from and not showing the people’s faces to capture the emotion and
action.