This episode is about the rise of photojournalism, particularly in WW2. The episode majors on Ross, Vacarro and Capa as photographers in the war, with a section on Eugene Smith near the end.
Right place, right time
Cartier Besson was godfather of photo journalism. Considered himself a painter but his decisive moments transformed photography. Right place, right time. Was a big game hunter so used to waiting for moment to arrive.
Behind the Gare Saint Lazare is best known image. Philip Jones Griffiths considers this to be the greatest photograph of 20th century. Picture of man jumping over a puddle symbolises Europe jumping into the unknown? (my note, is this rather overdone, the idea of Cartier Besson as the 1930s Nostradamus?).
Required Leica instant camera, the new revolution.
Capa also used Leica for decisive moments. His maxim was first get close, then get closer still.
Tony Vaccaro photographed as GI. Issue camera was huge Speed Graphic so needed something lighter so used Argus C3. See Vemmerden.
Capa went on D Day. Only 11 images survived. Vaccaro developed his own photographs in soldier's helmets.
Photography in WW2 was good at effects but bad at causes.
Alternative to being in right place at right time
More reflective photographs taken after the event.
Fenton's picture The Valley of the Shadow of Death taken year after the Charge of the Light Brigade evokes much of the feeling of war. He had only detritus of cannonballs to deal with but the shot evokes the thoughts of what went before.
In aftermath of WW2 photography was used to take images if Nazi horrors.
In Lodz Henryk Ross kept record of what happened in the ghetto. Ross became propogandist for Germans but also took pictures from a house to document the gradually declining conditions for Jews.Took great risk photographing deportations. Included every day life images from ghetto. His pictures challenge notion that there was no joy in the ghetto. Cannot but know that virtually all the people in them would be dead soon after the photographs were taken.
Japan struggled with images of WW2. Cities burnt out by incendiary devices. US images ignored the human tragedy of A bomb so little post war photography taken. In early 1960s Tomatsu started to take post 45 images of Nagasaki. Took images of bomb victims. Photographed items such as watch that stopped at time bomb dropped and melted bottles. Like the Valley of the Shadow of Death this was photography reflecting on what had happened before.
The Family of Man was exhibition over 9 years was most visited exhibition of all time (9m visitors).
Magnum formed in 1947. James Eugene Smith joined. He became famous photo essayist. In mid 1950s moved from Life to Magnum. He took 21000 photographs of Pittsburgh over 3 years. Believed he could change social behaviour by his photography. Took amphetamines, workaholic.
Eugene Smith sent Magnum almost to bankruptcy. Failed to publish the 2,000 images from Pittsburgh project.
Meyerowitz took images of aftermath of 9/11 in Ground Zero. Was told to stop photographing as it was a crime scene.
My thoughts: Good episode – punchy and informative. By implication, deals again with the question of what photography is. Were the featured people:
· photographers,
· journalists,
· photographers who wanted to be journalists,
· journalists who wanted to be photographers,
· none of the above?
Does it matter? Yes, I think it does because it says a lot about whether photography is a real discipline in itself or just an adjunct to another profession. Here we see photography as a TOOL, a means to an end, the end being the graphical and true description of what is happening on the ground. Powerful images but powerful by virtue of context – they were the ONLY images taken and therefore the photographers were bound to be taken notice of. They were pioneers.
