RE: [Leica] Formalism vs. narrative

[tedgrant@islandnet.com (Ted Grant)]

Kevin Hoffberg wrote:
 <<<<<<The pictures I've taken over the last year that I go back to over
and over again are the ones that do both.  Perhaps it is also suggestive of
the need to parse your image to the elements that are truly necessary to do
both so that what is suggestive is in balance with what is objective, what
is implicit is in balance with what is explicit.

>Love to hear other comments on this one.>>>>>>

Hi Kevin,

Regarding "Formalism vs. narrative" I wondered if this description of a
photograph does both without seeing the picture itself?

It's taken from a book, published (1993) by the National Archives of
Canada, "Treasures of the National Archives of Canada," containing a
photograph taken at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, with
the following:

"Ted Grant's image of Ben Johnson's victory gesture epitomizes the
photojournalist as consummate thief, stealing for posterity a fleeting
moment in time and space.  It was not a matter of luck and motor drive to
record the moment of victory of a race that lasted less than ten seconds.
Grant studied the track during the heats the day before the final, then
claimed a vantage point on a low wall near the finish line five hours
before the race began. With the eye of an artist, the concentration of a
surgeon, and the reflexes of a cat, Grant produced this quintessential
portrait of what, for at least a short time, was a proud moment in Canadian
sport."

I did not write it and was surprised when I read it as a description of my
photograph, seen through the eyes of another looking at it in a formal way
and yet it's a narrative picture.
ted



Ted Grant
This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler.
http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant