On 7/24/05, Bob W <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > I sent an email yesterday about Cartier-Bresson being inspired by Munkacsi's > photo of the boys running into the surf. I got to thinking about the photo > which first made me aware of photography, and the first photographer whose > name I actively sought out and remembered. > > In the early 1970s I was at boarding school, where we had the newspapers > delivered every day. I remember seeing this photograph in, I think, the > Sunday Times. I made a deliberate effort to memorise the photographer's > name, and started to look out for more of his photographs: > http://tinyurl.com/cn2sr. > > It made me aware that photography could be something beyond the prosaic. I > still find this photograph very interesting, mysterious and inspiring. > > What photographs and photographers were your first inspiration? >
Our high school library had Life Magazines, from the first one (was it 1936 or something like that?) to about the mid-50's, bound and hidden on the shelves. Between classes, I used to love going there to look through them. I think I learned more history from leafing through them than I did in any history class. Without realizing it, I was being exposed to the best photography of the time (maybe ever?). Margaret Bourke-White had the cover photo for the first issue of life, but it was her photo of the South African Gold Miners of 1950 that made me realize the power of photography: http://www.gallerym.com/work.cfm?ID=857 I remember reading in the accompanying article how dangerous, hot and uncomfortable their work was, but what I remember most was reading that their eyes had no hope. I looked at the photo again, and it hit me. I realized photography can convey emotion. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
