Can you explain why HCB chose this photo?

Pieter12 · Dec 25, 2024

Sirius Glass said:
I enjoy many of HDC's photography because just looking at some of them, no words are needed to discuss them. They stand on their own without words or even a title.

Most photography--and art for that matter--could do well being untitled. It should stand on its own. For clarification, sometimes place, names and date are about all that should be needed. I hate poetic titles unless they add another dimension to the image, as in Man Ray's Violon d'Ingres.

A survey done some 15 years ago showed that most museum visitors spent more time reading the labels than looking at the art. And, of course, taking selfies with the art. A fun exercise is the NY Times' Test Your Focus: Can you Spend 10 Minutes With One Painting?

Pieter12 · Dec 25, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
I wasn;t trying to describe the Prague Invasion; just pointed out how a three-picture essay could work. As an aside, what three pictures would describe the Prague invasion?

Why?

awty · Dec 25, 2024

Pieter12 said:
Most photography--and art for that matter--could do well being untitled. It should stand on its own. For clarification, sometimes place, names and date are about all that should be needed. I hate poetic titles unless they add another dimension to the image, as in Man Ray's Violon d'Ingres.

A survey done some 15 years ago showed that most museum visitors spent more time reading the labels than looking at the art. And, of course, taking selfies with the art. A fun exercise is the NY Times' Test Your Focus: Can you Spend 10 Minutes With One Painting?

Everything is based on a narrative, we are told what to think and what not to think.
If there is no narrative with something unfamiliar we do not know what to think.

I like the picture, it has great balance (like his pictures do), the top half has order and serenity, the bottom looks chaotic, but it has its own serenity, it has no question or answers, theres no where to fix to, a picture you can get lost in. Thats harder than you might think.

warden · Dec 25, 2024

Pieter12 said:
A fun exercise is the NY Times' Test Your Focus: Can you Spend 10 Minutes With One Painting?

I’m happy they started that series. It’s an enjoyable experience each time.

MattKing · Dec 25, 2024

I'm a fan of titles, but usually not because they explain something.
I like them because they serve well to identify the work, which in turn makes the work easier to both share and discuss.
I also like to have fun with them sometimes.
Case in Point:

Group Portrait

MattKing
Mar 7, 2007
4

This was taken on the same outing as my previous upload - at the fisher's wharf in Steveston...

Don_ih · Dec 26, 2024

Pieter12 said:
I want what you’re drinking.

Coffee.
You may want to call it water.

Arthurwg · Dec 26, 2024

Pieter12 said:
Most photography--and art for that matter--could do well being untitled.

There's a saying in journalism: Every photo needs a caption.

Sirius Glass · Dec 26, 2024

MattKing said:
I'm a fan of titles, but usually not because they explain something.
I like them because they serve well to identify the work, which in turn makes the work easier to both share and discuss.
I also like to have fun with them sometimes.
Case in Point:

Group Portrait

MattKing

Mar 7, 2007

4

This was taken on the same outing as my previous upload - at the fisher's wharf in Steveston...

When multiple photographers are displayed at one time, titles identify which photographer's work is in front of you.

Pieter12 · Dec 26, 2024

Arthurwg said:
There's a saying in journalism: Every photo needs a caption.

But not every title is a caption.

Sirius Glass · Dec 26, 2024

Pieter12 said:
But not every title is a caption.

Sometimes it is a location.

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 26, 2024

Pieter12 said:
Why?

You said my understanding of the Prague invasion was wrong. Okay. So what's the right one? I want to learn something I didn't know.

Pieter12 · Dec 26, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
You said my understanding of the Prague invasion was wrong. Okay. So what's the right one? I want to learn something I didn't know.

This photo is not about understanding the invasion of Prague. It is about the anxiety, the documentation of the moments before the Soviet tanks rolled into town. The streets are deserted, the Soviet bloc troops had crossed the border the night before, everyone knew what was about to occur.

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 26, 2024

Pieter12 said:
This photo is not about understanding the invasion of Prague. It is about the anxiety, the documentation of the moments before the Soviet tanks rolled into town. The streets are deserted, the Soviet bloc troops had crossed the border the night before, everyone knew what was about to occur.

My suggestion to post three pictures, before, the middle, and afterward, was to explain the actual event in a photo essay. You can only have anxiety or understand one picture if you know about the actual history or have a caption.

Pieter12 · Dec 26, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
My suggestion to post three pictures, before, the middle, and afterward, was to explain the actual event in a photo essay. You can only have anxiety or understand one picture if you know about the actual history or have a caption.

I see no need to spoon-feed the audience. Let them take away what they can or want to.

MattKing · Dec 26, 2024

Koudelka's photo is an example of a photo that has power and presence without context, while having even more power when you add the context.
Which fits well with the Surrealists.

snusmumriken · Dec 27, 2024

MattKing said:
Koudelka's photo is an example of a photo that has power and presence without context, while having even more power when you add the context.
Which fits well with the Surrealists.

Does it? Wasn’t Surrealism all about the subconscious supplying meaning where none was apparent?

snusmumriken · Dec 27, 2024

Santa brought me this wonderful book. It is a re-issue, so it includes a few more images than when first published. The photo that started this thread seems a lot more comprehensible in this context, there being several others with geometric compositions where the theme is landscape and its cultural history. The lack of polish of this photo simply looks in keeping with others of the same decade, and given the context that @Alex Benjamin discovered, one can surmise that it must have had a special significance for HCB. I’ve quite grown to like it through the course of this thread.

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 27, 2024

snusmumriken said:
View attachment 386281
Santa brought me this wonderful book. It is a re-issue, so it includes a few more images than when first published. The photo that started this thread seems a lot more comprehensible in this context, there being several others with geometric compositions where the theme is landscape and its cultural history. The lack of polish of this photo simply looks in keeping with others of the same decade, and given the context that @Alex Benjamin discovered, one can surmise that it must have had a special significance for HCB. I’ve quite grown to like it through the course of this thread.
View attachment 386282

The version shown in the book has better exposure than the original one the OP posted. Too much contrast in the original makes it look cluttered and difficult to make out all its components like the dark square. Now why did he cut off the head of the horse?

snusmumriken · Dec 27, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
The version shown in the book has better exposure than the original one the OP posted. Too much contrast in the original makes it look cluttered and difficult to make out all its components like the dark square. Now why did he cut off the head of the horse?

I guess because the personality of the horse was of no interest to him.

cliveh · Dec 27, 2024

snusmumriken said:
View attachment 386281
Santa brought me this wonderful book. It is a re-issue, so it includes a few more images than when first published. The photo that started this thread seems a lot more comprehensible in this context, there being several others with geometric compositions where the theme is landscape and its cultural history. The lack of polish of this photo simply looks in keeping with others of the same decade, and given the context that @Alex Benjamin discovered, one can surmise that it must have had a special significance for HCB. I’ve quite grown to like it through the course of this thread.
View attachment 386282

I dare say there are quite a few people on APUG who have taken an image which when looked at on the neg, or printed was discarded as uninteresting. However, looked at years later and perhaps even when forgotten why it was taken, the image will take on a new relevance of appreciation. That could be the case with the HCB image in question.

Pieter12 · Dec 27, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
The version shown in the book has better exposure than the original one the OP posted. Too much contrast in the original makes it look cluttered and difficult to make out all its components like the dark square. Now why did he cut off the head of the horse?

How can you judge the "exposure" of the image, when what you are looking at is at best a mediocre smartphone photo? The best reproduction I have seen (not having either book) is on ICP's website and it has a murky, cloudy winter sky and much more detail in the trees. Even so it is neither a print nor the book, so passing judgement on anything beyond rudimentary composition is quite difficult. The foreground is out of focus, something that many will find bothersome. https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/touraine-france

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 27, 2024

snusmumriken said:
I guess because the personality of the horse was of no interest to him.

And I thought it was a nice horse.

Alan Edward Klein · Dec 27, 2024

Pieter12 said:
How can you judge the "exposure" of the image, when what you are looking at is at best a mediocre smartphone photo? The best reproduction I have seen (not having either book) is on ICP's website and it has a murky, cloudy winter sky and much more detail in the trees. Even so it is neither a print nor the book, so passing judgement on anything beyond rudimentary composition is quite difficult. The foreground is out of focus, something that many will find bothersome. https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/touraine-france

I'm comparing the exposures in the two images as displayed on the web with my monitor. I have no idea what the originals look like.

cliveh · Dec 27, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
The version shown in the book has better exposure than the original one the OP posted. Too much contrast in the original makes it look cluttered and difficult to make out all its components like the dark square. Now why did he cut off the head of the horse?

HCB does not cut the head off anything. Rather he excluded the head of the horse as the farmer and his expression is of more interest. Just as he excluded the face of the mother in this image to put the emphasis on the child..

Pieter12 · Dec 27, 2024

Alan Edward Klein said:
I'm comparing the exposures in the two images as displayed on the web with my monitor. I have no idea what the originals look like.

You might try looking at the ICP link. It is probably the best you'll see since it is from an original print. Could be better than the books depending on the quality of the printing.

Can you explain why HCB chose this photo?

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Can you explain why HCB chose this photo?

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