W. Eugene Smith - Unflinchingly Honest Photography Photojournalists can sometimes take flack for taking visceral photos for assignments. Is there a line between shockingly explicit photography and decent hard hitting reporting? The New York Post recently published an article of a man who was pushed onto the subway tracks during an altercation, the picture is truly horrifying. This very recent piece of photojournalism by Abbasi, is impacting and perfectly taken. If one has any knowledge of photography, one must know the rule of three. The un-cropped image is a perfect, professionally taken shot with a crowd of horrified onlookers on the left, the train in the middle, and the victim on the right. As for the argument of whether this imagery is appropriate in the general media, of course it is. Would people be complaining if they saw dead Syrians in the news papers, with courageous headlines on them? |   |
Lee Friedlander's new work, America by Car, captures the ideology that the highway symbolises freedom, passion, adventure and wanderlust. He explores the phrase that artists use "on the road", and covers most of the 50 states in aiming to record the cultures eccentricities and obsessions of the 21st century. These pictures use the view from inside the car to frame aspects of urban and roadside America. Their driver's-seat perspective encompasses both interior and exterior. Inside, the automobile's steering wheel, molded interiors, hardware, and technological gadgets take on an erotic, sculptural, and geeky presence while the world outside is glimpsed through the windows and reflected in mirrors — architecture, signs, weather, trees, and people. Friedlander plays with the idea that his sideview mirror, rearview mirror, the windshield, and the side windows as picture frames. His method allows for fascinating effects in foreshortening and juxtapositions. His method allows for fascinating effects in foreshortening and juxtapositions. Steering wheels, dashboards, and leatherette bump up against roadside bars, motels, churches, monuments, suspension bridges, essential American landscapes, and often Friedlander's own image. Some of Friedlanders pictures are humorous, the simplicity of America, everything you need, you can get from the window of your car. Cash, Gas, Food+Water, Cinema. |     |
