Digital photography for dummies
Are you planning to buy a digital camera? Do you already have a digital camera? If both answers are yes then this basic tips andJan 31, 2008 | 4 comments | View Post
Why Do Photographs Gain Fame (or Notoriety)?
sandro | Jan 11, 2010 | 0 comments
If you run a Google search for the most famous photographs of all time, you’re going to come across a set of ten or twenty pictures that find themselves repeated in all the lists. These photos have been universally accepted all over the world as some of the best pictures ever taken; they have graced magazine covers and the front pages of newspapers to sell many a copy; and they’ve brought fame and fortune to the man or woman who was lucky enough to be wielding the camera at the time. So why do some photographs make news and remain in the limelight no matter how much time goes by while others are forgotten as soon as we turn the page?
• Because they’re rare: A photo of a tiger is not going to sell for much, even if it was shot in the wild, but if you manage to capture a picture of a dodo (any animal that is almost or thought to be extinct), then you can bet your last dollar that it’s going to make you a very rich person, provided of course that you can irrefutably prove that it is not a fake. The sheer impossibility of getting such a shot makes the picture valuable, headline-grabbing, and definite front page material, to be talked of for eternity.
• Because they capture the exact essence of a situation: Remember the photo of the 9 year old Kim running naked through the streets of Vietnam because she was burning from the napalm thrown on innocent civilians by the South Vietnamese army? That picture won its photographer a Pulitzer because it was worth a million words – it captured the essence of the war that was going on in the region at the time and showcased the destruction and ravages it was wreaking on the country’s citizens and children.
• Because they’re stunning: The Afghan girl on the cover of National Geographic with her oh-so-stunning eyes is a classic example of this category. The photographer did not know her name, but the picture made headlines for its stark portrayal of beauty in a bleak situation – the girl was shot in a refugee camp when she was a teenager. The sheer popularity of the picture drove the magazine to search for the girl 17 years later and feature her tale on another cover story – that’s how powerful this picture was.
• Because they’re controversial: When photographers think of fame for a second longer than they think of their subjects’ plight, they tend to court controversy along with the acclaim earned for the brilliance of the photograph. The picture of the teenager Omayra Sanchez who was trapped for three days under a cascade of water and concrete because of a volcanic eruption, taken before she died, won both bouquets and brickbats for the photographer. Why was he taking her picture when he should have been helping her get medical treatment?
Photographs that gain fame are a double-edged sword – the applause is deafening for a while, but if the photographer cannot live up to the standard created by this one photograph, the rest of their career could go on a downward spiral.
This article is written by Kathy Wilson, who writes on the subject of Online Photography Colleges – She can be reached at her email id: kathywilson1983@gmail.com
Filed Under: Photography Tips
