Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Paul Schiemer wrote: > Have some questions about that particular photo: > [It's called "Moment of Execution", was taken Feb. 1, 1968. > The guy pulling the trigger of his hammerless pistol is Chief Brig. Gen. > Nguyen Ngoc Loan of the National Police, and the photo was made in Saigon > near the An Quang pagoda. Was run with Associated Press on or about that > date.] > > My questions are this; I've seen moving picture footage of the very same > vantage point, where the entire sequence is played out in horrific detail. > Am I to understand that Mr. Adams AND a motion picture cameraman were > standing side by side at that moment? Is the single fame we all attribute to > Mr. Adams (and a Leica) actually a frame taken from a motion picture camera? > Does anyone know about the 'real time' segment I am referring to? Has anyone > else seen it? Did E. Adams photo earn a Pulitzer as I am led to believe? > (and what year was that awarded?) > Did the 'real time' footage gain equal acclaim? > > I know you more knowledgeable folks will be a treasure trove of accurate > information on this one. Thanks in advance for your careful consideration. Vicky Goldbereg says in her book "The Power of Photography" that there were two TV news cameramen on the scene when Gen. Loan shot the captured NLF lieutenant. NBC run their material with a three seconds black-out right after the shot. The local vietnamese ABC cameraman didnīt dare to film the actual shooting since he was too afraid of the General. All according to Vicky Goldberg. As a news cameraman myself I can assure you that at no time has a 16mm film frame been published as a 35mm photograph. It simply wouldnīt work. Believe me, I have in vain tried several times to blow up my 16mm negs to acceptable prints. But wouldnīt it be great if it worked? The agencies would really have loved us TV guys! After all we shoot 24 frames per second. Another almost as famous picture from Vietnam is Nick Utīs shot of napalm burned children running away from their smoking village. That sequence was also filmed by NBC, but also this time it was the still photograph that won fame and some fortune. Truth is that a still photograph always will make a stronger and lasting impact on most people than a television film or video! Claes