Photos that tell a story.

  

I’ve always liked good photography whether it’s professional or photojournalism. I’m a big fan of those classic Vogue fashion shooters like Irving Penn, right, (who died last year at 92) and Richard Avedon, above, (saw his show at the DIA last month.) I liked their simplicity, their clear-cut, striking black and white look - always displaying a lot of texture, shadow and drama. Though their work was created to help sell a fashion look and to help sell a magazine, the work was always art. 

Art, in the same way Ansel Adams majestic landscapes of Yosemite are art. Like Penn and Avedon, Adam’s works (above) required a lot of patience, technical proficiency, subjective judgment and luck. His dramatic photos show us the power and grandeur of nature’s scale.

Photojournalism has a similar power. A frozen image tells a story, big or small. A story captured at the right moment with many having the elements of drama and composition that the fine art shooters posses. The difference being, one creates the moment of truth, the other records it. And that truth can carry a lot of emotion.  

With that appreciation of good photography I have to point out last week’s release of 12 new aerial photos of the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center. Greg Semendinger, a former New York Police Department detective took the 12 pictures. Here's two:

  

These shots are amazing. They say so much of that day, eight plus years ago. These photos make us remember much of the stories and horrors from afar and they connect us to the other places of terrorism of that same day. Seeing this tragedy from the outside yet we reluctantly and painfully imagine what happened inside. Though shot in full color on a bright sunny day, the smoke and debris of the collapse give the photos a composition similar to the black and white, gelatin-silver print effect like those of Ansel Adams.

Because these powerful photos moved me on many levels, I wanted others to also see them, to be reminded of the event that reshaped our world to what it is today.

Comments

[Greg]

Some really impactful photos.

[Russ]

Awesome photos Steve... especially the 9/11 shots. Pictures that speak a thousand words and thousands of lives lost. It doesn't get any more powerful than that.