Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/08/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]His use of the darkroom was also a kind of drugged fixation - I'm sure he would have been a power user of photoshop if it had been available then. His work is pretty amazing, but on the whole his self-indulgent (and often self-pitying) exaltation of his mission as a PJ was quite off-putting. I remember seeing a huge retro at the Hayward in the mid-eighties, and while I was moved at the time (I'm always easily moved!) looking back, I'd say it was a giant paean to a bloated adolescent. In the end, they're just pictures. I wouldn't take anything photographic - or any photographer - as seriously as WES took himself and his own work. The stories were worth doing, sure. R. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "bennett" <3bennett@wanadoo.fr> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 12:26 PM Subject: RE: [Leica] Eugene Smiths problems > > > I agree that WES was a phenomenal photographer, and his ability to see the > shot, get it, and then produce what for the most part were stunning prints > is incredible. The tragedy, as I see it, was his complete inability to > carry his own projects through to completion, the Pittsburgh project being > the most glaring example of his failure in this area. This kind of thing > happened not only with Life, but with many organizations and publications, > and the Hughes biography is replete with stories of WES breaking promises > to get the job done on time (or at all). > > That said, IMO he is one of the most compelling photographers in the > history of the craft. His notion that the photographer/artist/journalist > must strive for truth, his recognition that truth (not to mention > photography) cannot be objective, and his drive to use his subjective > vision and talent to shape the message conveyed by the images he produced > displaces the problematics that underlie his work from the field of > photojournalism strictly speaking into the realm of art and philosophy. > > A fascinating photographer, and an equally fascinating body of work. > > Guy > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html