Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/05

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] LIFE....
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 17:28:39 -0500

At 05:39 PM 7/5/98 -0400, you wrote:

>Lets not forget that Gene Smith quit LIFE over editorial and layout
>issues. And that was when LIFE was actually good.

Gene Smith was a drug-addicted, boozer of epic proportions. He was an
idealist and in that combination, never was one to fit into the corporate
mind.

And reading the Magnum book by Russell, you'll find that LIFE magazine was
often the mouthpiece for conservative, anti-communist, and took on some
slants that probably wouldn't be today regardless. The frustration back
then was that editorial content wasn't balanced enough for the left. So
what? It was Henry Luce's magazine. But the thing that distinguished them
as great for photojournalism was they gave it space to prove itself. 

Gene Smith was just too "epic" for even LIFE. He needed a web page. :-)
- -- 

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

 A modernfleet of ships does not so much make use of the sea as expoit a
highway. - Joseph Conrad