Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 06:00 AM 12/4/97 -0600, you wrote: >The famous Iwo Jima photo showing American soldiers raising the flag was a >reenactment of a flag raising that had occurred previously. It was set up. This comes up every once in a while. It is well documented that the above statement is incorrect. It was not a recreation. They took down a smaller flag that couldn't be seen all over the island and put up a bigger one. Joe Rosenthal, who took the picture, has told the story over and over again. This is well documented, and has been told many times in New Photographer, the official magazine of the NPPA (National Press Photographers Association). I know people who knew Joe Rosenthal personally, and have autographed copies of the picture. This is well established fact. > Re-creating a situation that actually took place is a form of >editorializing. It may not be an honest documentation of newsworthy >events, but unfortunately, it does happen. I think that one has to draw >the line when the photographer manipulates the situation to produce some >"news event" which never took place. News photographers who don't capture the event and "recreate" them should be fired. Period. It IS unfortunate that these things happen. But news photographers are pretty good at policing this, and exposing it. Like the recent Newsweek cover of the mother of the sextuplets. They added nice bright straight teeth "to save her embarrassment." What a crock. If she was concerned about her teeth, she would have smiled with her lips closed. She's had 'em long enough to know how they photograph. ========== Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child. Ron Wild