Puddle Jumper
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Agreed. I stand corrected.
I think that it may be harder to replicate shots like this from digital video than one might think.
Some responders said that the photograph does little for them because it is of a place and time "that has little relevance to me" or similar words. IMO, that is a rather cramped definition of a work's relevance - its relevance to me.
The picture of the boy with the bottles of wine looks posed, not staged. There is a difference.
He was aware of the photographer. That does not necessarily mean posed or staged.
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True.
Was that before or after Eliot Ness?
pentaxuser
I had to look that up. At first I thought it was a kind of Erwittism.
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This book will tell you a lot!
I read it and was surprised many times...
I read it and was surprised many times...
I think it has to do with what approach the photographer takes, as we were discussing in this other thread. Composition is what drove HCB indeed. However, some people care mostly about capturing a moment no matter what the composition looks like. I personally find photos with both components present to be more..."complete", but sometimes someone's expression is so perfectly captured, that the photograph is beautiful and communicates just as well.
Although HCB swore to always compose in the viewfinder and never crop, the puddle-jumper was cropped.
I don't disagree. Every photographer is different. It would take a leap of faith to find any humour in HCB's work, for instance. My mention of composition was in response to those who said they thought HCB out-dated and old hat, and implied there was nothing to be got from viewing his photos in 2022.
Apart from that there's his place in the history of photography, and his place as a photographer of what is now history. And I think we should bear in mind that much or most of his photographic activity was on assignment, and we rarely get to see any but the most famous (basically the 70 or so that he selected for his touring exhibition). There are far more instances where he absolutely nailed the composition than most people realise.
I seem to recall that the claim was "With one trivial exception, ...", the puddle jumper being that exception.
You encouraged me to buy three of his books. Thank you.
The puddle-jumper is one of HCB's best-known works. I would hardly call that trivial.
HCB was and will remain indeed a master of composition, and his photographs are still relevant to a lot of us. I disagree with you on the humor aspect. Look at this picture for example and the play with the dancer poster. It's a little wink (that takes keen observation and capture) and makes me smile.
I visited his foundation last September and I'm so taken aback by the fact that they don't have a permanent collection on display. Apparently, he didn't want it...I was thankful to see a few photographs I had not seen before, but yes, mostly the usual ones were there.
I understand that people appreciate things differently, and I'm so glad that cropping doesn't interfere with my ability to fully appreciate the wonderful capture of the moment, the play with the dancer poster in the background, and the dream-like quality of it all. HCB would indeed be one of my photography gods, if gods existed!
Can you share one thing that surprised you?
- The overanxious mother to son relation.
- The enormous fortune of his parents.
- The paternalist/religious attitude of his father, who was a textile baron, which influenced the relation with his son.
- The aversion of his colleagues to him using 35mm film, in the beginning at least.
- Him relativizing the concept of 'sharpness': "sharpness is a bourgeois concept" to quote him, knowing that he is a descendant of one of the richest families at the time in France, and thus very, very, bourgeois...
To name a few...
I think they meant the cropping was trivial.
I think the idea was that the accidental or unavoidable inclusion of an out-of-focus fence post spoiled what was otherwise a great capture. The photographer’s intention was regained by cutting it out. Lesson learned: we are told that was the only exception he made.
Well, perhaps ... I suppose surrealism is a form of humour. There's certainly quite a lot of genial observation. Which picture did you intend to link to as an example?
I was referring to the puddle jumper picture. Yes, you nailed it: I think it's the lightheartedness and playfulness of surrealism that makes it humorous to me.
If a person says they hate getting their feet wet and never goes swimming -- that does not mean they will not go into the water to save a person or animal.
Sometimes ya gotta be brave to save an image...
Sometimes ya gotta be brave to save an image...
See that image, actually most of the 'iconic' images, in their time area.
The puddle jumper was shot early after the end of the 2nd war, when H C-B finally could move freely around in Paris, where the traces of that horrible war were still very tactile.
During that war, he entered Paris several time illegal to make some photographs, now things seemed different, but ware they?
The political climate was still nervous to say the least, the social unrest was exploding, the country had to be rebuilt, Nazi's and collaborators chased and called to justice, displaced persons ware looking for a safe place, prisoners returning from the camps, people ware fleeing the Sovjets, story's of war horror emerging and the art scene was changing at high speed...
And then you see a man jumping in the hope to keep his feet dry but clearly in vain, how must that feel, what would you want more?
And we, sitting comfortabel in a nice warm house, are claiming the right to dissect somebody's work, but who (or what) are we?
The puddle jumper was shot early after the end of the 2nd war, when H C-B finally could move freely around in Paris, where the traces of that horrible war were still very tactile.
During that war, he entered Paris several time illegal to make some photographs, now things seemed different, but ware they?
The political climate was still nervous to say the least, the social unrest was exploding, the country had to be rebuilt, Nazi's and collaborators chased and called to justice, displaced persons ware looking for a safe place, prisoners returning from the camps, people ware fleeing the Sovjets, story's of war horror emerging and the art scene was changing at high speed...
And then you see a man jumping in the hope to keep his feet dry but clearly in vain, how must that feel, what would you want more?
And we, sitting comfortabel in a nice warm house, are claiming the right to dissect somebody's work, but who (or what) are we?
Amnesiacs.
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