[Leica] World Press Photo, Leica Photography

["Sander van Hulsenbeek" <vanhulsenbeek@wxs.nl>]

Dear LUGgers,

Last week I visited the World Press Photo exhibition, which is held
in Amsterdam since 1956. This year's show is an extraordinairy event, as
much
as because of prize winner Claus Bjorn Larsen's pictures as well as for the
1965-2000
retrospect.

They have a, slow, webpage: see bottom of this mail.

I was extremely moved by Larsen's B&W pictures of Kosovo. The best are the
close-ups of people, like the prize winning picture itself. A strong sense
of movement,
very graphical and full of emotion. Captivating!

In his commentary Larsen tells that in Kosovo there were so may
photographers
that he had to do something to stand apart with his pictures. What he did is
change
over to B&W, leave behind what he calls his tigh tech, and use " simple
standard
gear". Go very close to the people, talk with them, see in there eyes.

Needless to see he used a Leica M6 with lenses between 24 and 50 mm, and
so produced some great example of what we call street photography.

The retrospect exhibition is extremely interesting because it shows the
changes in press photography in those 45 years. From B& W, rather stand
offish and
formal work in the early years, to the cluttered and sometimes banal color
work of the
years 80 and 90, and then back to B&W in the present time, close up to the
subject,
lots of concern, but also very graphical.

It is also interesting to see that some photographers, like Salgado with his
moving
but also elegant Ethiopean drought refugees, heralded the present trend
already in 1984.
And perhaps so did Eddie Adams in 1968 with his picture of General Nguyen
Loan
shooting the Vietcong on the street.

One could say, also seeing this years exhibition, that B&W is more suited to
convey emotion and a sense of involvment, and color works better for
pictures
of art, science and nature.

See the World Press Photo webpage for more information:
http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/

Sander van Hulsenbeek
Amsterdam
Holland