Questions raised in viewing the documentary 'The Genius of Photography-Documents for Artists':
1. What is described as "one of the most familiar concepts of photography"?
2. Should you trust photography?
3. What was revolutionary about the Leica in 1925?
4. What did George Bernard Shaw say about all the paintings of Christ?
5. Why were Tony Vaccaro's negatives destroyed by the army censors?
6. Who was Henryk Ross and what was his job?
7. Which show was a "sticking plaster for the wounds of the war", how many people saw it and what "cliché" photograph did it end on?
8. Why did Joel Meyerowitz photograph Ground Zero in colour?
(1.) French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson first coined the term 'the decisive moment', ever since this has been one of the most familiar concepts of photography. Just as the name itself suggests, this decisive moment in photography was when a photographer had a moment of inspiration. What was captured in this moment was something that was a once in a life time moment, something that happened in a split second, something that would lead to something. Cartier-Bresson believed these moments were brief and that you had one chance to take them, like a moving car or bicycle or a man jumping over a puddle. If you captured the moment the man hits the ground it tells less of a story as to capturing the moment he is jumping up over the puddle, the man cannot freeze in the air to wait for the photograph to be taken; the photographer must have a decisive moment and capture the man in the middle of this action. With taking a photograph in a decisive moment it must be considered that timing is crucial, as opportunities to take the perfect photograph can flash before your eyes and be gone forever.
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| Photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson |
(2.) In this documentary many photojournalists urge that you can not always trust or believe photography. In the documentary a photographer said how "trusting the photograph was a huge mistake". For example at the time of the war photography was a huge part of propaganda, therefore making it hard to trust.
(3.) The Leica was a lightweight, compact and more importantly quiet camera which was first released in Germany in 1925. What was revolutionary about this camera was that it finally allowed for the photographer to see the scene or image before their eyes instead of the camera blocking both eyes. Another good quality of this camera was that it allowed for more artistic photography to be created.
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| The revolutionary Leica camera |
(4.) In the documentary photographer George Bernard Shaw mentioned how he would trade every single painting of Christ in return for just one photograph as photographs are more powerful and effective than paintings.
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| George Bernard Shaw |
(5.) Tony Vaccaro was a war photographer during and after WWII. What was unusual about Vaccaro was that he was both a photographer and soldier during the time of WWII. Once he captured his photograph in battle he would let the camera, which was strapped around his neck, drop and he would move on to the next. Vaccaro's negatives were confiscated and destroyed by military censors as they contained photographs of the bloody deceased soldier, which they felt was too harsh for the eyes of the world.
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| Photograph by Tony Vaccaro |
(6.) Henryk Ross was a Polish-Jewish photojournalist who was used by the Nazis for his photography skills. Ross had no choice but to do as the Nazis wished and he went about documenting the life of the Jews in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. He was appointed by the Nazis to take photographs of the Jews in the ghetto to portray happiness within the camp. He was to take photographs of happy families, well fed children, happy workers, religious ceremonies and weddings. As this was not the case in reality, Ross took a great risk and took many photographs documenting the real truth of the ghettos; the workers who were slowly being worked to death, the starving men, women and children, the disobedient people who were executed.
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| Photograph by Henryk Ross |
(7.) The exhibition which was a sticking plaster for the wounds of the war was called The Family of Man. It was curated by Edward Steichen and first shown at the Musuem of Modern Art in New York in 1955. The show displayed 503 photographs from 68 countries representing 273 photographers. From the time of its first showing the exhibition has attracted over 10 million visitors. The closing photograph for the exhibition was that of W. Eugene Smith with his photograph 'The Walk to Paradise Garden'. This cliche photograph chosen for the end depicts Smith's two children walking into the light of a clearing in the woods. This photograph symbolises the hope and brightness of the children's future.
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| Photograph by William Eugene Smith |
(8.) Ground Zero was photographed by Joel Meyerowitz in colour as, since it was during the aftermath of the 9/11 attack in New York, he didn't want it to look like too much of a tragedy as it would if it was in black and white.
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| Photograph by Joel Meyerowitz |
