Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/26

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Subject: [Leica] "The Death of Eddie Adams, The Death of War Photography"
From: bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)
Date: Sun Sep 26 12:48:59 2004

I was struck by a couple things - The first being that Nachtwey eschews
the official war photographer garb for neatly pressed white shirts,
clean, perhaps pressed jeans, and a minimum of gear. He is there to
photograph, not to be photographed while photographing. ;-)

The other thing is that there are a number of scenes in which the
subjects are quite clearly playing for the camera. It's not that he is
setting anything up, or indicating how he wants people to act. Rather
it's that they are very aware of his presence and of their role as
subjects. This was particularly true of some of the women in the part in
which bodies were being dug up and apparently identified. And it was
also an evident factor in the scenes on the West Bank.

Nachtwey does indeed seem very different from Capa in terms of
life-style and demeanor. 

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Jeffery Smith
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 3:02 PM
To: 'Leica Users Group'
Subject: RE: [Leica] "The Death of Eddie Adams, The Death of War
Photography"


War Photographer was interesting to me in that Nachtwey was able to
shoot scenes of people undergoing intense emotional suffering, and he
seemed to fit into the surroundings without raising any objections from
the people.

I found it also interesting that he seemed to be the opposite of Robert
Capa. I envision Capa as being a hard-drinking flamboyant guy who might
have been compared with Ernest Hemingway in his lifestyle. Nachtwey
drank water after a stressful day, and excused himself early so he could
get up early to shoot while his friends were sleeping it off. Very quiet
and introverted, he seemed to be able to draw attention AWAY from
himself. I had read that he was seriously wounded in Iraq last year, and
have not read anything about him since then. He DID surface in a Canon
ad, though.

As BD says, get the DVD. I used the search feature in DirecTV for six
months before concluding that this film is never on cable or satellite
TV.

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA


-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jls=runbox.com@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jls=runbox.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of B. D.
Colen
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 12:48 PM
To: 'Leica Users Group'
Subject: RE: [Leica] "The Death of Eddie Adams, The Death of War
Photography"

Finally got around to reading the Pete Hamill piece about Eddie Adams:

War photography in general, and Eddie Adams in particular, deserved far,
far better. Hamill's been hanging around with too many celebrities for
too long.

If you really want to take in something significant about war
photography and war photographers, read/look at Requiem, and follow it
up by throwing "War Photographer" on the DVD player.

B. D.

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
oliverbryk@comcast.net
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2004 3:06 PM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] "The Death of Eddie Adams, The Death of War
Photography"


I would like to bring to your attention an obituary by Eddie Adams's
friend Pete Hamill, "When the Shooting Stopped," on the Op-Ed page of
The New York Times of Saturday, September 25. If you are not a
subscriber you may want to read it at your local library, even if you
dislike The New York Times for political reasons. Pete writes about war
photography in a voice that I have not seen before; and he writes about
Eddie Adams as someone he knew really well. Oliver Bryk
PS: Pete Hamill was a war correspondent in Vietnam.
_______________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
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See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information


_______________________________________________
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Replies: Reply from jls at runbox.com (Jeffery Smith) ([Leica] "The Death of Eddie Adams, The Death of War Photography")
In reply to: Message from jls at runbox.com (Jeffery Smith) ([Leica] "The Death of Eddie Adams, The Death of War Photography")