RE: [Leica] Re: E.Adams & Vietnam Photo

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

And similarly, the shot taken by Nick Ut (right name) of the naked napalmed
little girl running down a road toward the camera. I believe - maybe wrong -
there was also video/film of that. But as you note with the Gen. Loan photo,
the single instant has far more impact than the instant in the context of
the minute or minutes surrounding it.

Let's hear it for still photography, which, claims of the Dirk Halsteads of
the world not withstanding, will always have more impact than "moving
pictures."

B. D.

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Eric Welch
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 1999 5:54 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us; leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: E.Adams & Vietnam Photo


At 01:14 PM 9/12/99 -0400, Paul Schiemer wrote:
>My questions are this; I've see moving picture footage of the very same
>vantage point, where the entire sequence is played out in horrific detail.
>Am I to understand that Mr. Adams AND a motion picture cameraman were
>standing side by side at that moment? Is the single fame we all attribute
to
>Mr. Adams (and a Leica) actually a frame taken from a motion picture
camera?
>Does anyone know about the 'real time' segment I am referring to? Has
anyone
>else seen it? Did E. Adams photo earn a Pulitzer as I am led to believe?
>(and what year was that awarded?)
>Did the 'real time' footage gain equal acclaim?

No, it's not a frame grab. It wouldn't be nearly the same image quality if
it had been from the movie camera.

Yes, Adams did win the Pulitzer, which would have had to be the following
year. They Pulitzer is only given for pictures from the previous year.

No, the real time footage did not win equal acclaim. And for one very good
reason. It's not a decisive moment like Adams' picture is. His is a moment
frozen it time. You can hold it in your hands and look at it for an
extended period of time. You see the grimace on his face as the gun is
going off. You see the calm face of Gen. Loan.

A movie/video isn't the same, and doesn't have the same impact, for this
kind of "moment." It zips by, as quickly as the man fell to the ground.
Blood spurting out of his head in a fountain. That has impact, for sure,
but it's not the same kind of impact. There are strengths that movies and
video do hat that are greater than stills, but in this case, the still
photo is the one that helped turn America against the war.

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO

http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

I don't get no respect. I called a suicide prevention line and they tried
to talk me into it.  -- Rodney Dangerfield