emotional pictures

Many war pictures or disaster pictures are emotional. There is always loss connected to them.

Anyone who has visited Hiroshima or Nagasaki atomic bomb museums knows that photos can create very strong emotions in humans. No matter if you are American, Japanese or of any other nationality.

Some of the visitors would have been very emotional photo subjects but in a place like that you don't want to make them feel any more distressed than they already are.

I agree that creating an emotional photo is very difficult unless you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I visited Hiroshima a while ago (my Granny is from that area...she actually lived away from where the bomb dropped, but close enough where she saw the mushroom cloud in the horizon!) and indeed it is a place that evokes emotion.

It would also be indeed pretty tasteless to be snapping away pictures in a place like this.

So I am on the same boat with you...mixed feelings about it.

ppusa wrote in post #5568186
Anyone who has visited Hiroshima or Nagasaki atomic bomb museums knows that photos can create very strong emotions in humans. No matter if you are American, Japanese or of any other nationality.

Some of the visitors would have been very emotional photo subjects but in a place like that you don't want to make them feel any more distressed than they already are.

I agree that creating an emotional photo is very difficult unless you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Do a google search on Dachau images. If these don't get to you, you are pretty calloused.....

alexclc wrote in post #5548202
I felt that way after seeing a gallery of A. Aubrey Bodine prints.

Alex

There just so happens to be an exhibit of his work in my city; I plan to go.

A number of the recent pulitzer prize winners have won for work dealing with death that I found moving; the 2007 winnerin particular got to me as I work with patients like the one portrayed. Theseare moving to me as well, as is the work done by this group(from the volunteering thread in the Talk About Photography section). There are many other examples, both positive and negative, some of which have already been mentioned. I probably have an interest in photography because I find so much of it moving in one way or another.

I always found this picture by Michael Yon to be especially powerful
http://yhst-80051593642880.stores.​yahoo.net/

Okay, since everybody is in the mood to talk past each other, let's mix it up.

Those wonderfully executed photos of marines presenting flags to children, etc., are moving. But is the photo that is moving or the subject that is moving?

That's why some folks don't see the emotion in landscapes. The statement "I have more than one emotion" is right on. I am not saddened or moved to cry by a great landscape. But I am often filled with awe and wonder, even to the point of being choked up on occasion. Again, though, is that awe the result of the subject, or the photo? Is it the half dome that evokes the awe, or Adams's rendering of it?

This was at the heart of the conflict between Steichen and Newhall in the early photography department at the MoMA.

What is the photo's job? To create emotion or to reveal it?

Rick "thinking that ought to be good for another couple of pages of shouting" Denney

One thing that allot of folks miss is Adam's photographs were about light as much as subject matter. Awe is the way I describe a great photograph that shows that the photographer had a great sensitivity to see light and the technical skills to capture the light he saw the way he saw it. Understanding light is the most import thing a photographer can learn. When I see a photograph that shows me light in ways I haven't seen before or in ways that were special that the photographer saw it and that he had the ability to capture it and then reproduce it in a print can be a great experience. You can learn so much by that experience.

rdenney wrote in post #5571681
Okay, since everybody is in the mood to talk past each other, let's mix it up.

Those wonderfully executed photos of marines presenting flags to children, etc., are moving. But is the photo that is moving or the subject that is moving?

That's why some folks don't see the emotion in landscapes. The statement "I have more than one emotion" is right on. I am not saddened or moved to cry by a great landscape. But I am often filled with awe and wonder, even to the point of being choked up on occasion. Again, though, is that awe the result of the subject, or the photo? Is it the half dome that evokes the awe, or Adams's rendering of it?

This was at the heart of the conflict between Steichen and Newhall in the early photography department at the MoMA.

What is the photo's job? To create emotion or to reveal it?

Rick "thinking that ought to be good for another couple of pages of shouting" Denney

I think its both for both questions. Half dome is awe inspiring and Adams saw and captured it and reproduced it in a way that only Adams could. A strong photograph can do either or both and both are valid.

LOTR screenies.

they too actually. :P


Pictures of 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war. Dammit.

World Press Photo Gallery

http://www.worldpressp​hoto.org …Itemid=115&band​width=high

Inspirational.

Is about the content of the picture. Yes, I have become very emotional over certain pictures with certain, specific themes. They remind me of myself, the history, and the forgotten ages.

Stocky wrote in post #5547861
I will be honest; I have had movies, songs and even books get me choked up, but never a picture. Is it me, where I just don't respond to pictures, or do other people find the same thing?


What is the most emotional or moving picture you have seen?

Hi, have a look at Paul Fuscos photo essay "Chernobyl Legacy" one of the most moving photo essays I have ever seen, I defy anyone to not get a lump in their throat whilst looking though this spectacular body of work. For me it is a really great example of the power that still images can still have in a media saturated world, an outstanding piece of journalism.

http://todayspictures.​slate.com/inmotion/ess​ay_chernobyl/


Alex

Have you ever seen the W Eugene Smith images of Minamata ?

when i was 15, i found a copy of avedon's in the american west that had been mismarked for $2.98 at half price books. at the time, i had no idea who he was but the price was right....over the years, i spent countless hours staring at the people he photographed and wondered what they were feeling when the picture was taken. the simplicity of the photographs showcased their emotions in ways i had not realized was even possible. this book is what made me fall in love with photography.


a few years ago, the in the american west exhibit was showing in ft. worth. seeing six foot plus images of those i had spent so much time with for so many years was an incredibly moving experience for me. yes, the sharpness was phenomenal - beyond words amazing. but the simple emotions captured is what has always moved me. naturally, it is not the same type of emotion i would feel when viewing an image of a disaster or fallen hero, but it has always hit me in a way i'm not able to explain.