This week we commemorated the 65th anniversary of D-Day in Europe. Most of us are familiar with the Omaha Beach landing photographs of Robert Capa, regarded as perhaps the greatest war photographer of the era. One of my very favorite blogs, DesignObserver, has unearthed some rare documentation from that time by a soldier-artist named Manuel Bromberg. Go there and see more and read the fascinating back story.
Friend John sends along a link — passed to him, I gather, by a participant in the photo shoot — of Felice Arenas’ portraits, coupled with appropo Ernest Hemingway quotes, that try to go beyond Hemingway’s challenge of avoiding big words to convey emotion.
This one hit home. Literally. As a native rural Iowan and decades-long fan of Robert Frank (who wrote an introduction for this project, and whose The Americans book of mid-fifties photographs seems to be a definite spiritual predecessor), I was immediately taken away with this work by fellow Iowan Danny Wilcox Frazier. You can also see pieces from this project — and much more great photojournalism — at the New York Times’ wonderful Lens site, fast becoming one of my very favorite Web destinations.
Veering off-topic a bit here.
I had to look this one up:
Synecdoche (pronounced “si-NEK-də-kee”, IPA: /sɪˈnɛkdəˌki/; from Greek synekdoche (συνεκδοχή), meaning “simultaneous understanding”) is a figure of speech in which:
* a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing (Pars pro toto), or
* a term denoting a thing (a “whole”) is used to refer to part of it (Totum pro parte), or
* a term denoting a specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class, or
* a term denoting a general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class, or
* a term denoting a material is used to refer to an object composed of that material.Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy (the figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing); indeed, synecdoche is considered a subclass of metonymy. It is more distantly related to other figures of speech, such as metaphor.
Now when the subject of great contemporary actors come up, Philip Seymour Hoffman immediately comes to (my) mind. And then I find that he is in a film directed by the terrific (IMHO) writer, Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, etc.). Last night I saw Synecdoche, New York. Go see it for yourself!
This year’s Pultizer Prize in feature photography was won by Damon Winter of the New York TImes for his work covering the Obama campaign. Read about Winter and see a gallery of his work.
The Boston Globe’s Big Picture today is publishing the most gorgeous images I have seen yet from NASA. These document the Cassini spacecraft visit to Saturn.
Also see NASA’s Cassini pages.
Getting lost looking at photos on life.com again. Here is the famous Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph of the sailor and nurse at Times Square, celebrating the end of World War II in August 1945.
This image, and some others from that era, have remained in my mind since, as a very young child, I first saw them published. Among the Life photographers from WWII that later would inspire me with their work, and I get to re-explore now, would be W. Eugene Smith and Margaret Bourke-White. Also, you might want to check out Life’s photos of Marlene Dietrich with the troops then.
While visiting NPR’s music site in connection with a previous post on my music blog, I came upon an unexpected connection.
In earlier posts, we mentioned how Ivi was turned on to Dave Brubeck’s classic Take Five and the “Time Out” recording from 1959 and how Overdub had done a mashup of Take Five with Radiohead.
Well, it turns out that Brubeck — now 88 years old — together with his son is composing a tribute to Ansel Adams and his photography. You can hear some of this music and interviews, along with statements from the late Ansel, at NPR:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102656153
When I studied with Ansel in Yosemite in the early 70s (where I got to work in his darkroom at one point!), he was fond of comparing photography with performing and composing music, and often regaled us with tales of his early experience as an aspiring concert pianist. (see regaling photo)
So, once again, an opportunity to thrust Ivi — on the heels of her critical examination of the Time Out album — into a connection with my library of photography books, including my autographed copy of one of Ansel’s.
Life.com is now in beta, I have discovered. Guess it’s okay, but it somehow doesn’t have the impact for me that opening a paper issue did when I was a child.
UPDATE 4/4/09 – There is an incredible wealth of images here (including Getty Images), with constant additions happening. (Most recently, I have been seeking out W. Eugene Smith photos from World War II.) I think I could start living at this site. The Library of Congress should be as easy and fast to use …
As the kids wrap up their spring break today, I see that the newAnnenberg Space for Photography kicks off its first exhibition tonight. Been watching for this one for some time. Featuring 11 L.A. photographers, most familiar (and world-class) names, in an exploration of and tribute to life in Los Angeles. Now, how can I pull off a trip to my old hometown, the City of Angels? Here is a partial description of the physical space, taken from its Website:
Influenced by the inner workings of a camera.
The interior design is influenced by the mechanics of a camera and its lens. The central, circular digital gallery is contained within the square building to create an architectural metaphor for a convex lens. Even the ceiling features a striking, iris-like design that is reminiscent of the aperture of a lens.
