Some rhetorical questions about iconic images

Clearly the iconic images do stand out from the crowd and are remembered over time.
Some get a head start, if no one else got the shot at all of an important event, but even with thousands of shots of 11/9 available the “the falling man” stands out both from the general noise and the sequence it came from. It is simply a great photo.
We are seven years into the 21st century, and have one icon already, that’s about the same rate as last century; no?

PS anybody got a link to the full sequence of the falling man photos?
 
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1 Some news organizations clearly have talented and experienced photographers: Time, The Guardian, The Independent, and the Observer spring to mind. Not only are their photos often good and strong, but so is the way the picture editor uses them.

2 Many news organizations now encourage people to send their Nokia-type photos in. Sky News for example. So we get to see news almost as it happens but without the skilled eye of a competent photographer.

3 Other news organizations employ photographers who seem to be transferred in from the weather map or the tv guide yesterday. They know nothing about exposure, light, composition, news value, and so on. I have seen so many awfully bad photos of this sort.
 
Lewis Morley's shot of Christine Keeler astride an Arne Jacobson chair is one that springs to mind. I thought it would be limited by age and nationality until it popped-up on the Simpsons
 
You may be correct, time will tell, however because you have a parochial US view are you in the best place to judge?
Here in the UK it has had TV documentaries made about it and I get more matches on Google with” iconic image Falling Man” than “iconic image Margaret Thatcher”
Do you recall the sensibilities and politics at the time of the Hindenburg disaster? would you have pulled that one too?
 
sitemistic said:
This is the one I would nominate. It has haunted me for years. A print hangs above my desk.

http://www.huaren.com/UnitedNations/photo-1.htm
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I had almost forgotten about that photo.

Carter had some very major struggles throughout his life, and one could easily say that all those prior years leading up to the taking of this photo would explain his struggle with life afterwards. But even if one had lived a carefree life, the difficulty of dealing with life after taking such a photo as this (and not knowing what had even become of the child), could easily be enough to cause a decision such as Carter finally made.

I remember wanting to be a war photographer many years ago. Later I realized I never could have actually done it. And in the end, neither could Kevin Carter.
 
Sitemistic, I see you thinking while shooting, meaning, You need or have the filters dictated by the boss. Good news and smart PJ. Going back to icon imagery, I can't get the connection. I think iconizing is one good snap, or one good cooked (well done) shot.
 
sitemistic said:
Sparrow, the world is a more complicated place and the decisions we make within the news media far more complex.

As a PJ, I'm always having to evaluate the impact of images, to try to understand to what purpose other than my intended one they will be used. Politicians make contributions to "Adopt an Angel" Christmas for needy kids because it gets their pictures in the newspaper. A county sheriff that you can't get five minutes with for two years is suddenly your best buddy as election nears. There are agendas everywhere and part of my job is to understand why people do things as well as what they do. The public's beliefs to the contrary, we are, for the most part, not simply unthinking image machines. Most PJ's think deeply about what they are doing and the implications of their decisions.

Perhaps my "parochial" view is a result of years on the street dealing with these realities. Call me what you like, but I am not in favor of publishing images that blur reality or mute the impact of the event.

The falling man photo abstracts the events of 9/11 by turning reality into art. The other images not shown show the man spinning, arms waving, out of control...the way many Americans felt that day. The one published, however, shows a man with the grace of a diver, the vertical lines of the North Tower enhancing the vertical drop of the man while he appears suspended, floating in mid air, in control. Great art, terrible news photo.
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I was using parochial in it’s literal sense (of that place) not as a pejorative term, sorry if it came out wrongly
I am confused regarding the falling man; you dam it first for being “sensationalism” then defend that opinion on the grounds that it “muted the impact of the event” those seem contradictorily views.
I come back to the Hindenburg shot, without time softening the edges; would you make the same assessment?
 
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The world, for me, has always been separated between the guy who wants to go off to war, and the guy who wants to stay home and have sex with his girlfriend. The first guy always tells the second guy that he is making it all possible for the second guy, and the second guy just shakes his head, wondering if the first guy just doesn't like sex.
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:D :D :D:D :D
 
Anybody in the US recognise this image as an icon?
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An answer off the top of my head: Sex scandal that brought down a Prime Minister?

(Can't recall the name.) I didn't google it, so I'm not sure I'm right. :D
 
kevin m said:
An answer off the top of my head: Sex scandal that brought down a Prime Minister?

(Can't recall the name.) I didn't google it, so I'm not sure I'm right. :D
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That’s correct, early 60s; I didn’t think it would be known outside the UK until I saw this
 

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Instead of human perversity, let's contemplate beauty and truth as those qualities which deserve to be recognised in modern iconic images.
 
sitemistic

Did someone run market research on it?

For someone working in the press you seem unduly keen on censorship, at least where domestic sensibilities are involved, do you not think the press has a role of presenting reality and letting the public make its own mind up.
 
ClaremontPhoto said:
Sparrow:

I understand.

Two iconic images for me would be:

Michael Portillo losing at Enfield by election,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Portillo

And Tony Blair's 'Presidential' Christmas cards...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4548698.stm

But you have to know the circumstances, and they not likely to be at all well-known internationally.
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Hi Jon
I remember those, but I doubt most people in the UK would, and very few in the US would have any idea what they were about, to be an icon I think it has to be universally recognised, like the Marilyn Munroe shot posted earlier
 
...do you not think the press has a role of presenting reality and letting the public make its own mind up.
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Whatever views an individual might hold in this country, he or she learns to keep themselves in the workplace if they want to remain employed.

An iconic image that would illustrate the point comes to my mind, but I can't place the name of the pic or the photographer. It's the business end of a gelded stallion with the caption "American ......." Anyone know it? :confused:

That’s correct, early 60s; I didn’t think it would be known outside the UK until I saw this
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Those Simpson's writers are a pretty clever bunch...!
 
kevin m said:
Whatever views an individual might hold in this country, he or she learns to keep themselves in the workplace if they want to remain employed.

An iconic image that would illustrate the point comes to my mind, but I can't place the name of the pic or the photographer. It's the business end of a gelded stallion with the caption "American ......." Anyone know it? :confused:



Those Simpson's writers are a pretty clever bunch...!
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It’s one thing to be prudent with your views in the workplace something else to promote them here.
The discussion of an iconic photo should have nothing to do with one persons’ opinion of good taste, were way off topic now, sorry
 
Sparrow said:
I remember those, but I doubt most people in the UK would...
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Wasn't this what IZr was saying a few hours back?

Those two political photos would be iconic to many British people with an interest in British Labour party politics, but not outside that group and not internationally.
 
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