Ruben Salvadori - Photojournalism behind the scenes

[MDR]

I don't know if this is the right forum but I just found the work from Ruben Salvadori and found it very thought provoking. It basically deals with the way photojournalist manipulate situations in conflict regions in order to create a certain type of images. http://tambnguyen.com/2051-photojournalism-behind-the-scenes-by-ruben-salvadori/. After watching the movie I did a quick google search and found other works that deal with the manipulation of situations by photographers. Alex Webb and Paul Lowe's series imaging famine

And even though I was well aware that situation are influenced by the photographers presence I wasn't really aware of the extent of this



Dominik

 

[vedmak]

No one wants to know how the sausage was made. If you think about it, we as a society are really at the mercy of journalists, photo journalists in this case. Looking at a scandals of Murdok's family on one hand and profitability of newspaper business on the other hand one can't help but to by pessimistic about the quality of the content.

 

[MDR]

Vedmak you're right but I think it's funny that we (consumer) and the newspaper consider the use of photoshop or similar tools unethical but don't seem to have a problem with manipulation at the taking stage. Weird

Dominik

 

[blansky]

As a photographer for a long time it's not that hard for me to understand the manipulation. Lots of the icon shots we know of were easily staged. The sailor kissing the nurse, is no different than what we tell a bridegroom at a wedding. The Iwo Jima flag raising was re-staged. Weegee staged his shots. If the shots had no impact, you wouldn't be a photojournalist for long.

Most of the Middle East protestors only get real animated when the cameras are there.

I was at a Mother's Against Nuclear Weapons Testing (or something like that) held every year outside Vegas at a testing site. Everyone comes in to a staging area, parks, puts on their tie-dyes, tailgates and barbeques, waits for the celebrities (Martin Sheen) and the media. Then everything is set up, arms entwined we all march a 16th of a mile to the gates of the massive fenced area. UNITED STATED NUCLEAR TEST SITE...yada yada......Waiting are a few dozen guards who are here to work overtime for the event. Army vehicles, prison buses and military personnel abound.

They wait for the media to set up their shots, the head of the Military guards announces that anyone that crosses the line will be arrested. That's the cue, then everyone sings We Shall Overcome or something of that nature and we cross the line. Everyone is arrested. Lots of time to make sure the media gets great shots of Martin Sheen led to a prison bus, wearing plastic cuffs. Once the bus is full it takes everyone away.

Well not actually away. In fact it takes everyone back to the staging area/parking lot and turns them loose. Everyone parties for a while, Martin gets into his limo and heads back to Vegas and the guards go home. Hmmm

What I'd like to see is a documentary on the media in action. Turn the cameras around and watch celebrities surrounded by 100 photographers at an event, or stalked while walking down the street. Or menaced by assholes paparazzi saying shit to get a reaction when you leave a restaurant so the shot is worth 10 times more. (Sean Penn always falls for this one)

Or better yet, turn them on the ass kissing media on election campaigns as the candidates always are waving at nobody, or fed softball questions. That's a Pulitzer prize waiting to happen, cover the media. Then people might see what bullshit the evening news is.

 

[MDR]

Blansky you're so right, I'd love to see such a documentary myself a good title would be "Stalkers and Babykissers".

Dominik

 

[moose10101]

The Iwo Jima flag raising was re-staged.

"Re-staged"? No. They put up a different, larger flag, but that was not done for photographic purposes. Please don't resurrect a myth that caused the photographer so much grief:

http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/rosenthal.html

 

[blansky]

"Re-staged"? No. They put up a different, larger flag, but that was not done for photographic purposes. Please don't resurrect a myth that caused the photographer so much grief:

http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/rosenthal.html

Not to belabor the point but since a flag raising is a supposed "marking of ones territory" and in this case, of marking the of taking of someone else's territory, then once it's been done, to do it again is a "restaging" or re-raising. I realize they wanted to use a larger flag and that was the intent. But the iconic photographs has sort of been presented as these brave men under fire, raising the flag to demonstrate Iwo Jima was finally taken, when in fact that was done earlier. Not knocking Rosenthal, because his picture is a masterpiece of angles and proportions.

But we also know that a lot of military photographs were "setup" because the military photographers job was really propaganda and not necessarily "fact". I wasn't till probably the 1960s that we expected our news organizations to not manipulate the news.

Incidentally, many politicians and military people have stated that the reason we pulled out of Viet Nam was because it was the first war that the media had free access and people at home got to see the real war. Every US war since, photographer are "embedded" and controlled.

 

[moose10101]

Not to belabor the point but since a flag raising is a supposed "marking of ones territory" and in this case, of marking the of taking of someone else's territory, then once it's been done, to do it again is a "restaging" or re-raising.

Regardless of how you label it, it wasn't done to stage a photo, which is what your original statement implied to me.

 

[jeffreyg]

From a personal experience ... I was in Key West, Fl with my family and a friend with his children coincidentally on the first or second day of the Mariel boat lift. The people coming in were most likely from the prisons Castro was clearing out. We went to see what was going on and found only a few other spectators. The news media that was there was a Canadian film crew. They asked all of us to get close together so it would appear to be a crowd. Imagine what they could have produced if PhotoShop was around.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/