Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/11/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]No, Gary, give up in the sense of thinking that the media - print or photo - can make any difference at all. I have long believed that documentary photography has VERY little impact on anything except other photographers. We've had this discussion on the LUG before, but I would argue that other than about three photos from the Vietnam period, and some from the Civil Rights era, very very few photos really matter - they serve as illustration for written news stories. That doesn't mean that I don't admire those who shoot them, and don't admire the photos. What it means is that I think that,by and large, those who do documentary work and serious photo journalism are 'speaking' to other photographers. Think about it - who buys photo books? Other photographers and 'fans' of photography. What photo books sell? Inferno? Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue? Or Anne Gedes pictures of babies as vegetables and flowers, and AnnieL's pictures of rock stars and pop figures? What I was refering to is the whole concept of 'truth,' as far as it can be known and told, in journalism of any kind... 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 Gary Williams Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 9:42 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: RE: [Leica] re: The Decisive Moment is gone No, Tina, you're not being naive - you're sticking up for some very important principles. And when people stop sticking up for them photographs will no longer have any value as anything other than eye candy and propagand. It's bad enough that today the single most biased electronic media outlet declares itself to be "fair and balanced," but the day we start accepting the idea that it doesn't matter if we pose "news" and "documentary" photographs because, after all, we have a story to tell and posing helps us tell the story, we might as well all give up. B. D. Give up what? Today, do you actually think a photograph can have a significant impact on popular culture the way it did in the 1960's? I work at a fine arts college and the rage (well one rage) today is "multi-media"---captures altered with processes ranging from digital manipulation to oil paint to found objects. But even discounting the arts crowd (easy to do), with the availability of digital capture to even the photographic neophyte, the notion that a photograph can have any unassailable integrity or to use your term to be "fair and balanced" is utter nonsense. There's a multitude of shifting (and shiftable) variables available to the photographer---hell, to the snap shooter. Further, to attempt to apply a standard one must first define the standard. Is there even any such thing? <Five minutes later> I could go on, but am entirely too jaded on this subject matter. Gary - -- 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