Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> what did he "lie" about? We count on journalists, whether print or photo, to tell us "What it was like?"? This photographer's contest photo answers that question with a lie. In the contest photo (http://bit.ly/bYEjtq), the photographer consciously employs the gritty black and white visual language of boxing and equally consciously evokes the ritual of taping the hands--think "On the Waterfront" and "Raging Bull"--to establish a mood and feel. He's linking his subject to the macho romance and danger of the ring.? He's telling us that in some essential way his subject is like boxing, a working-class sport that chews up young men, a sport where death is ever-present, a sport in which the chance of brain damage over the course of a career is 100%. The contest photo says "Damon Runyon."? The reality of the actual event was "Family Circus."? And that is a gross misrepresentation.? It is a lie. Sure, all photos lie.? It's a favorite cliche and one that I pull out in my teaching all the time.? What we're really saying is that some degree of subjectivity is inevitable.? That's why we have standards to keep things under control. --John ****************************** John Edwin Mason, Photography: http://www.JohnEdwinMason.com Charlottesville and Cape Town