Re: [Leica] Powerful image

["Bryan Willman" <bryanwi@seanet.com>]

Actually, the few landscapes I've
seen that I would call powerful were
by Adams.  Part of it was that after
seeming them in books, when I 
got to see the images full size
in person, they were stunning.
Still stunning that a B&W image
can take you to another place
and give you a real sense of it.

bmw

- -----Original Message-----
From: Harrison McClary <harrison@jnlcom.com>
To: LUG <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Tuesday, June 02, 1998 11:44 AM
Subject: RE: [Leica] Powerful image


>Francesco,
>
>Landscapes, nudes no I don't think they can be "powerful".  Beautiful, 
>moving, provocative, or other terms yes.  
>
>To me Powerful connotes an image that immediately makes an impression in 
>the mind of the viewers and has the ability to effect some kind of 
>change, or captures some universal feeling.  Children at play can, on 
>occasion, catch this if the emotion and "universally" appealing moment is 
>present.  
>
>Think of the photos I mentioned earlier.  The Eddie Adams photo I am sure 
>once seen you never forget.
>
>Eisse captured the mood of the entire nation with his "Kiss" photo.
>
>Eugene Smith caught the dogged hours and determination of a rural doctor, 
>as well as documenting the emotions of his patients and a way of life 
>that has all but disappeared.  
>
>The photos transcend the "moment" to become icons of an era.
>
>While Ansel Adams landscapes are beautiful they do not create, in me at 
>least, power of the moment.  I can look at the afore mentioned photos (as 
>well as many others) and experience the Joy, pain, desperation, hopes and 
>joys depicted there in.  This is to me what makes a powerful image.
>
>I guess what I am getting at, for me at least, powerful images are packed 
>with emotion.  The composition and lighting take second seat to the 
>emotion in the photo.  I do not think the photos have to be famous, heck 
>some powerful images that I have seen are never seen by very many people 
>at all, but they must convey the emotions, and evoke emotions as well as 
>communicate something about either the event or subject matter to be 
>powerful.  That is a lot to do in photography and is the reason I keep 
>plugging away with my Leicas.  The few really good images are few and far 
>between - for me at least, but when I get them I feel I have accomplished 
>something.
>
>
>Five Senses Productions wrote
>
>>So are you implying that a powerful image can only be of a serious,
>>dramatic, or emotional life experience?  Does this mean landscapes,
>>nudes, or photos of children at play cannot be powerful?
>
>
>Harrison McClary
>http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto
>
>