[Leica] Best known photo ?

[phong at doan-ltd.com (Phong)]

Henning Wulff wrote:
> 
> Journalism might transcend art on this list and in the minds of some 
> members, but that is neither an absolute nor a given. While I too am 
> quite convinced of the photo's authenticity, that does not 
> necessarily raise it to a higher level. It works extremely well even 
> if there is only a semblance of authenticity.
> 
> ...
>
> Where photography and what one man or woman in a darkroom can produce 
> have always been. 'The Truth' is always much more, and essentially 
> much more than one photo or even a photo essay with written 
> explanation can lay bare. One photo can lay bare emotions, and at 
> best a critical instant from one viewpoint, but to say it is more 
> 'truthful' than art is questionable.


Well said Henning.
I am staunchly on your side and Philippe's,
and opposite of B.D., Mark, and others'.
To say that the image in itself looses its power
because it is staged, (which it is not) is like 
saying a story is not good because it is fiction.  
Do you guys only watch movies "based on a true 
story" ?

To frame the perspectives properly, some of us
view the image in its aesthetics and poetry,
others view it in its veracity and witnessing
power.  For all I care, the image could have been
painted or drawn, and not lose one iota of its
power.  See Guernica.

While Capa was working as a journalist, and published 
the photo in a journalistic context, the power, beauty
and "truth" of the image lie well beyond that context.
Were it staged, you could lynch him but in the end,
the power of the image remains.  I say, echoing B.D.
in another context, judge an image itself, not by the
surrounding context or text.

- Phong