View Full Version : Pictures with a punch
Have a look at this, by Lee Miller, currently showing in London:
http://www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/endeanf/gifs/fotos/mill165.jpg
This is a self portrait taken in Hitlers bathroom by Miller, who was a very successful war photographer. I think this is a knockout picture because of the details. My favourite detail is the picture of Hitler on the end of the bath. Was he really such an ego maniac or did she put it there? I love her boots - they convey how much she needed the bath and the statue (why that one in a bathroom). And I love her cheek - who else would have dared to do this and take a picture?
Introduce us to your favourite picture with a punch and tell us why it packs impact for you.
I like that, I guess it says quite a lot if you can take the time to look.
Without knowing the location, it may not convey so much.
Recently I saw a range of pictures being sold by the National Trust, from the "Edward Chambre Hardman" collection.
The post war shot from Liverpool Museum is so moody that I had to buy a copy:
http://www.ntprints.com/pictures_392967/Museum-Steps.html
This is the first photo that I have bought.
I just love the tones and composition of this one too, I would be so pleased to be able to get near to this style.......1926 ish picture...:
http://www.ntprints.com/pictures_440642/A-Memory-of-Avignon.html
Not all has to be technically perfect
jan normandale
11-21-2007, 11:36
Donald that bath tub looks more like a fox hole than a tub...
Lee Miller was quite character. Before the war she was the lover and protege of surrealist artist / photographer ManRay and that is where she honed her already not inconsiderable photo skills. As a young woman in the 1920s she was a stunner too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Miller
Incidentally are you sure it was a self portrait? I saw a documentary on her life recently and in it I am sure there was another (male) war photographer who was with her who was attributed as the picture taker.
Incidentally anther wartime photojournalist who took more than a few photos with punch was my personal hero Robert Capa. Check this link and in particular the photo near the bottom right of the page, of the dead soldier. Too bad I do not have a better copy of this. This photo was taken near the end of the war and is even more striking when you see the full series of pictures he took including I think one in which the soldier was alive a few moments before.
Edit (forgot the link) Here it is: http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/capa.htm
Hi - no not entirely sure about the self portrait, but it seems to represent her character so well to me I have always thought of it as one.
from the Wikipedia link above:
"A photograph by Scherman of Miller in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler)'s house in Munich is particularly well-known"
Yes of coursse I should have read the article as I posted the link. Yes on reading it I now recall that his name was indeed Scherman. He was interviewed for the dcoumentary I mentioned.
charjohncarter
11-21-2007, 17:34
This isn't one of my favorites, but sometimes technical quality packs its own 'punch.'
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/olds51.preview.jpg
Paul Jenkin
12-01-2007, 11:22
What a great thread.
What is punch? Here I am thirty-odd years into my love of photography and I'm having to think really hard about which photo I'd use to illustrate what I feel is 'punch'.
Sitemistic's shot is gut-wrenching and, if we ever need an antidote to our occasional bouts of ego, then that's it. I had considered a shot called 'Birth of the Ark Royal' by Chambre -Hardman but someone got to his photos first.
The photo that first got my attention is Moonrise - Hernandez (Ansel Adams) and I've been absolutely hooked on his work - which is probably why I love landscapes and find street photography and candid portraiture so damned difficult.
This is such a difficult and personal subject that I'll have to take the ultimate cop-out and say that there are too many to choose from - but all of the ones shown are real attention-grabbers.
Paul.
For me it's a picture that stamps itself indelibly and dramatically on the memory.
For me it's a picture that stamps itself indelibly and dramatically on the memory.
unfortunately that "stamping" is due to more to the shock of the event.
Such as something like (I believe this is the full frame shot; it is frequently seen cropped):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Ruby-shooting-oswald2.gif
or
http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~dlewis/images/rfk_ass.jpg
f/stopblues
12-01-2007, 12:58
Most everything on this site is affecting at some level.. an amazing photographer who I very much admire. His work certainly has a punch!
www.jamesnachtwey.com/
*edited to follow the rules.. blah blah*
I can't believe someone took that picture! I couldn't stand one sec behind my camera ... I just couldn't. Some photographers have lost their soul, imo.
that photographer ended up committing suicide, iirc. There was a film about him and his PJ pals.
.
....the PJ group was called the Bang Bang Club (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang-Bang_Club). The photographer was Kevin Carter.
that photographer ended up committing suicide, iirc. There was a film about him and his PJ pals.
Thanks for the information, Ray ; I didn't know that. It's a sad story, but that provides an explanation for me.
I recognize the value of discussions like this but I am uncomfortable with folks posting images they did not create or to which they do not own the rights. See RFF rule #6 below. These rules are made to protect US - the photographers. Please, I don't want to get into a discussion about fair use. Let's just obey the RFF rule ans post links, not images (unless you are the author).
Rule No. 6 - No Public Posting of Copyright Material
6) You will not upload, attach or post any material you are not the creator and/or copyright holder of. It is however acceptable to post links to publically accessible material.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=50728
I recognize the value of discussions like this but I am uncomfortable with folks posting images they did not create or to which they do not own the rights. See RFF rule #6 below. These rules are made to protect US - the photographers. Please, I don't want to get into a discussion about fair use. Let's just obey the RFF rule ans post links, not images (unless you are the author).
Rule No. 6 - No Public Posting of Copyright Material
6) You will not upload, attach or post any material you are not the creator and/or copyright holder of. It is however acceptable to post links to publically accessible material.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=50728
When you're right, you're right (actually, originally, I thought I did post a link, but I discovered after revisiting that thread that I clicked the IMG button instead of the link button).
anyway. i made mine "right"
thanks!
charjohncarter
12-01-2007, 16:59
Pablito,
I had never read the rule (Thanks). I'm sure that I have violated it. But just for future postings is my posted image on this thread OK. It does have the credit on the image.
Jarle Aasland
12-03-2007, 08:31
....the PJ group was called the Bang Bang Club (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang-Bang_Club). The photographer was Kevin Carter.
A sad story indeed:
NYT: Kevin Carter, a Pulitzer Winner For Sudan Photo, Is Dead at 33 (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06EFD91739F93AA15754C0A9629582 60&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink)
TIME: The Life and Death of Kevin Carter (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,165071,00.html)
Wikipedia: Kevin Carter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter)
Jarle
oftheherd
12-03-2007, 09:03
I can't believe someone took that picture! I couldn't stand one sec behind my camera ... I just couldn't. Some photographers have lost their soul, imo.
Just my 2 cents. The sad part isn't that he took the photo, but that he couldn't handle what he saw and committed suicide because of it. Photos like that have the potential of saving many lives. Your reaction implies to me that if it accompanied a request for a donation, it would have been difficult for you to refuse. Also, a photo like that can be used to good effect to convince people to lobby against inaction in the face of genocide or famines.
Some people can't take being confronted with that kind of thing, at least seeing it in person, and should avoid it, or seek professional help afterward. Apparently the photographer couldn't take it and didn't seek help. Too bad.
oftheherd
12-03-2007, 13:28
Actually crawdiddy, iirc it's worse, the child was dying, near death, and died shortly after the photo was taken. Vultures I am told won't approach anything exhibiting any signs of life. I think there was some criticizing of the photographer for "letting" the child die.
It is a poignant photo no matter how you try to interpret it. It tends to disturb because you want to be there to stop the madness and know you can't. It's too late. You are helpless but you don't want to be.
Personally I think it took courage for the photographer to take the photo and present it for publication as he must have had the same feelings of guilt we all feel for not stopping it. If he didn't, I am sure he was instilled with guilt by others later. It is too bad he wasn't able to keep it in perspective, if in fact that is what caused him to commit suicide.
"It is a poignant photo no matter how you try to interpret it. It tends to disturb because you want to be there to stop the madness and know you can't. It's too late. You are helpless but you don't want to be."
Things could be done to prevent such events but most people are just too busy with there own worlds.
I've read, and I'm sure it's true, that the same amount of money spent in the US on pet food could feed the whole third world.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Actually crawdiddy, iirc it's worse, the child was dying, near death, and died shortly after the photo was taken. Vultures I am told won't approach anything exhibiting any signs of life. I think there was some criticizing of the photographer for "letting" the child die.
Do you have a source for this?
According to both the NYT and Times article (see links in the post by Jarle), the little girl was able to get up and go on her way to the feeding station and Kevin chased the vulture away.
I think the fact we're talking about it suggests that taking the photo was a good thing. What happened next isn't clear, but I think overall Kevin Carters impact on history has been a positive one, if only for this image. He took many other brutal, visceral images during the Apartheid era in South Africa.
"The Bang Bang Club" (the book) is an excellent read and contains some of the Clubs photographic work. If you can get a copy, do read it.
It is just too easy for those viewers of photographs to pass judgements on them, while sitting in their armchairs sipping on a glass of cognac. By its nature, a still image bound by two pairs of parallel lines can say a lot, but at the same time leaves out a heck of a lot more; I believe Carter was well aware of the repercussions but chose to click the shutter, like countless photographers in such appalling situations before him.
This reminds me of what happened to me. During 1989 I was working in Hong Kong when the Tiananmen incident was gathering pace. Nearly all the photographers, photojournalists and reporters I knew took the first flight to Beijing, and some actually asked me why I was staying put. I said, "don't forget Paris Commune" but it fell on deaf ears. Needless to say the secret services repeated exactly that, using the photographs to add to their wanted lists. While there have been a few fellow photographers who started their careers in that occasion, I made the statement of not photographing, and at least, I can sleep at night.
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