Monday, March 15, 2010
Retouch Before and After
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Today we viewed two movies. The first about the shooting death of famed Canadian photo journalist Hugh O'Connor titled, "Stranger With A Camera" and the second about Appalachian-based photographer Shelby Lee Adams titled, "True Meaning of Pictures."
While documenting living conditions in Jeremiah, Letcher County, Kentucky, Hugh O'Connor was killed by Hobart Ison who objected to his presence and the on-going stereotyping and criticism by outsiders, as well as the tendency by the outsiders to show only the poor of Appalachia.
The message from this movie is the camera is invasive and exploitative and the resulting images aren't necessarily true because images don't tell the entire story. The job of the photographer is to depict fairly what he/she sees.
The second movie is an introduction to reknowned photographer Shelby Lee Adams who was borne in Appalachia. In contrast to Hugh O'Connor who was resented by the locals, Shelby contends that the locals "accept me (as a photo journalist) because I accept them." In Appalachia, Adams sees people who are in pain and is trying to show hard life.
His attempt to fairly portray Appalachians hasn't happened without controversy. Many question what he has chosen to show us and his view of life. While he claims he doesn't film the worst, his staged images tell a very bleak story. Critics feel Shelby exploits his own culture trying to make right the previous wrongs.
Photographically, his photos are fantastic, but I wonder if staged photos tell the truth.
While documenting living conditions in Jeremiah, Letcher County, Kentucky, Hugh O'Connor was killed by Hobart Ison who objected to his presence and the on-going stereotyping and criticism by outsiders, as well as the tendency by the outsiders to show only the poor of Appalachia.
The message from this movie is the camera is invasive and exploitative and the resulting images aren't necessarily true because images don't tell the entire story. The job of the photographer is to depict fairly what he/she sees.
The second movie is an introduction to reknowned photographer Shelby Lee Adams who was borne in Appalachia. In contrast to Hugh O'Connor who was resented by the locals, Shelby contends that the locals "accept me (as a photo journalist) because I accept them." In Appalachia, Adams sees people who are in pain and is trying to show hard life.
His attempt to fairly portray Appalachians hasn't happened without controversy. Many question what he has chosen to show us and his view of life. While he claims he doesn't film the worst, his staged images tell a very bleak story. Critics feel Shelby exploits his own culture trying to make right the previous wrongs.
Photographically, his photos are fantastic, but I wonder if staged photos tell the truth.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Sports Illustrated File Management
I just leafed through my latest copy of Sports Illustrated (March 10, 2010) that is dedicated to the Olympics. SI employed 8 photographers that took a collective 272,655 images (that's 2,622 images per photographer per day). Talk about file management...
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