Writing about A Small Picture from Hollyzone

Good Idea. I shall continue the theme, using the Mini-Mizer.

I would go ahead and draw myself, but sadly Holly’s artistic skills put me to shame. So on with the geekery.

There’s sadly no way to get the bleary-eyed look that comes from spending all afternoon scanning negatives and working on the images in Photoshop.

And yes, I really do need a haircut.

I was browsing the photography books in Waterstones today, when one in particular caught my eye: Life Magazine’s 100 Photographs that Changed the World. Looking through, all the photos included were important images, most were excellent. But I wondered how many of the images had actually changed the world? [The images I have included here are not directly from the book, but are equivalent images that I have found on the web]

The events that they portray may have done, but I’m not convinced that that is a result of the image itself. Take this example (left) of the Challenger shuttle disaster; the impact of the accident on manned spaceflight cannot be denied, but I don’t believe that was a result of the image of it. And this is true, in my opinion, for most of the images included.

But this image (right) stood out as an exception. This is once case where the image itself made the difference. It’s a still from the video tape showing the LA police assaulting Rodney King – I think in this case, if the video hadn’t existed none of what followed would have happened.

I don’t doubt the influence of photography on public opinion, perhaps as best demonstrated by the work of photographers such as Don McCullen in Vietnam, but how many individual images can be said to have changed the world?