Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/05

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Subject: Re: I agree with Ted - not Margaret
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 23:29:25 -0600

At 05:46 AM 11/5/97 -0500, you wrote:
> Ted - It is said that Margaret Bourke-White's pics where so good because
> she shot so much that no one ever saw (very large waste-paper basket) &

That is not the whole story. Her pictures were good, because she faked many
of them. She manipulated the situations she was in. Told people what to do,
and had no qualms about making photos that told the story she wanted, and
not the one that was there. Not a great chapter in the history of
photojournalism, but at that period in time, photojournalism ethics were
just starting to be shaped. So we can't be too hard on her. But we can on
those who still think that's okay.

That, and great visual talent can make good looking pictures. But they're
not journalism by today's standards.
==========

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

He doesn't have much of a reputation, or so I've heard.