[Leica] As Usual, At the End of the Day Joseph Conrad Has It Right

[buzz.hausner at verizon.net (Buzz Hausner)]

...and to paraphrase Joseph Conrad, "Senor Korda, he dead."  This thread
is interesting in that I detect that many people are searching to make
the photograph most significant to them the most significant ever.  Yes,
the Grateful Dead created the greatest music ever.  My father who fought
in World War II probably thought that the picture of Betty Grable
looking back over her shoulder was the greatest photograph ever taken.

I submit for everyone's consideration that discussing the most
significant photograph ever taken is nonsense, but discussing the
photograph that was most significant to you and why is a worthy endeavor
in your photographic education.

	Buzz Hausner

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+buzz.hausner=verizon.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+buzz.hausner=verizon.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf
Of TTAbrahams@aol.com
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 6:00 PM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: Re: [Leica] Best known photo ?

 In my estimation the best known and most reproduced photo is Korda's
shot of 
Che Guevara. Shot with a M2 and a 90/2,8 Elmarit. The mage is heavily 
cropped. Every student room in the 60's and the 70's had one of those
posters 
thumbtacked to the wall! According to Korda Che's slightly stunned look
is due to a 
bit of stagefright and also to a pending asthma attack. There is a
little known 
fact about Che, he made his living for a while as a photographer, using
Nikon 
rangefinder cameras. The "other" Cuban photographer Raoul Corralles has 
pictures of Che with a Nikon S2 and a 5cm f1,1 lens. Raoul said that "I
am a better 
photographer, but Korda took the picture that everyone knows and good
for 
him".
 The Nick Ut shot of the napalmed girl has an interesting subset. Both
Nick 
ut and the girl left Vietnam and Nick Ut now lives in California and the
girl 
lives in Ontario, Canada and is married with kids. The Eddie Adams shot
of the 
killing of the prisoner and Nick's shot of the girl probably did more to

create resistance to the US involvement in Vietnam than any other
coverage.
 HCB's most well known shot is probably "Man jumping over the puddle".
In the 
US the kid with the wine-bottles is very well known, but in Europe and
the 
rest of the world it is mostly the "jumper" that is shown as an example
of HCB's 
prowess. It could be that a kid carrying the family dinner wine is not a
big 
deal in France. Happens all the time.
 A more modern icon is also the picture of the man with the shopping
bags 
facing down the chinese army tank at Tienaman Square.
 In the 60's there were two schools of student lodging decorations (at
least 
in Europe). If you were a left leaning, anti Vietnam war adherent, you 
thumbtacked the Korda Che shot to the wall. If you had aspirations of
more 
intellectual reputation, you stuck Youssuf Karsh shot of Albert Einstein
up instead. It 
also stopped parental complains of hair care fairly effectively.
Tom A
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