When lunacy reigns supreme...

.. ordinary people are hanging on by their fingernails and our leaders are all idiots. How best to illustrate that visually?

I've had thoughts along similar lines. I look back at significant photography during social unrest in the recent past, the photography associated with WWII, Vietnam and the impact of industrial pollution from W. Eugene Smith. Something seems different now, and I don't know if it's harder to come up with good images, or if we're so inundated with images that they have less value. Curious what others think, though hopefully we can concentrate on photography and not the merits of people, leaders and idiots!

Gents, though I can't disagree in principle, and fully support free speech, this is a photography site and we are moving into political screeds. If we can't redirect the conversation to photography and / or post appropriate photos, let's drop it.

This photo project might be of interest, showing the cruel effects of lockdowns on the elderly:

 

Leica Camera Ltd on LinkedIn: #MyLeicaBlog #Lockdown #LeicaM4

Street Protest 1969 NYC. Nikon F Photomic Tn, probably 50 1.4 Tri X .Titles, Drafted, and then...

.. ordinary people are hanging on by their fingernails and our leaders are all idiots. How best to illustrate that visually?

 

In the early Renaissance painters found the "The Ship of Fools" useful for expressing the theme.

.. ordinary people are hanging on by their fingernails and our leaders are all idiots. How best to illustrate that visually?

 

Cartoons! Or photomontage? I think expressing opinion in an unstaged photograph is intrinsically hard. Interesting that cartoons have always been with us, and flourish when politics is at its worst (think of Steve Bell during Margaret Thatcher's years), but if you look for photomontage, you still don't find much other than Heartfield.

Steve Bell cartoons, or the paintings of Francisco Goya, or Sebastiao Salgado's photographs, express some of what Rodeo Joe describes. Here is my humble example of official idiocy, which I have posted before:

Just ten years ago, quaint by today's standards.

Good question (re the US I'm apolitical). Thousands of cartoons on 'leadership' (good and bad) can be found via Google. Some of these might provide inspiration.

 

@sandy, as a European, I deliberately do not express any political opinions on the US. I leave US politics entirely to US citizens. But the general topic of how someone might express an opinion visually - especially via photography - interests me.

 

Here are just a few ways in which I see political opinions expressed visually via photos:

- photos that visually support an accompanying article or 'opinion piece'; the photos in themselves aren't necessarily 'political' the combination with text might well be

- photos (or scans) of illustrations (often cartoons) that express a political viewpoint

- composite images (multiple photos or a photo with text) that together express a political opinion

 

To [uSER=2403817]@rodeo_joe|1[/uSER], I would just say: let your creative juices flow! I(t's unlikely that other members could come up with a visual image that matches yours. So just experiment with photos, illustrations, and composite images that best express your viewpoint. Don't forget short videos that can often be a powerful way of getting your message across..

 

Mike

Re road closed. People are amazingly stupid, so someone in an SUV might try and cross it, because they think they can. Another explanation is that it was closed earlier, and is now flooded so it only now looks like a statement of the obvious. We also cannot wholly blame the leaders, we get what we deserve. An important issue is that the system forces people to make binary choices, and why should that be? Things are not black and white. Why don’t we make the system better? I assume it is because until things get really bad, no one cares enough. Not sure photography can help here.

Forgot about cartoons. IMO, some of those have been extremely effective over the years. I'm thinking back to WWII (no, I wasn't born yet) but a lot of that really fell into the category of propaganda. OTOH, they come and go so fast on social media now that they make no difference. Hmmm.... one may make no difference but when you get pummeled by sheer number, it can't help but sway opinion. Photography? I'm still at a loss.

All you have to think of are the great wartime photographers, Brady, Steichen (WWI and WWII), Capa, Kerlee, Bourke White, Nick Ut and countless others. Photography has always had the ability to influence people and effect change. Edited November 26, 2021 by Sandy Vongries

Wartime photography is complex. It brought some vile images home from Vietnam which may have motivated people to be against that war. It's also lionized war and warriors in many instances. Some of the more contemporary photojournalists, those embedded with troops in Iraq, for example, helped sell war for our so-called leaders. Photography can be politically and socially effective, in good ways and bad.

Occupy Chicago 2011

The powerful photo images of the past that conveyed the human condition are being replaced by video clips from cell phones, most often on social media sites and TV. Newspapers are unfortunately dwindling in the US and economic factors are limiting staff photographers and space for important images.

tholte I can’t argue with that. I gave up photojournalism on a daily basis because the daily newspapers hardly exist any longer and the websites ‘replacing’ them spend more time being an extension of social media. News outlets were supposed to be neutral but have never been so. Most of what I see now is there to promote political and social agendas. God forbid something as inconsequential as news be published. That would be politically incorrect and we simply can’t tolerate such madness.

 

Rick H.

Seen at swap meet cum markets. I grabbed this shot because it says more about the exodus of manufacturing from Australia to foreign nations than it said about the homemade jam and cupcakes for sale.

 

 

Don't worry, it's only a game ...

In the distant past I've taken pictures like this

as a metaphor for how post-war government forced an ill-considered and cheaply-built bleak modernity onto those with little political voice. But that picture doesn't have sufficient power. As evidenced by that same depressing view still being virtually unchanged today. Just add a few dozen vehicles speeding past.

 

Satirical cartoons? Satire has lost its ability to embarrass the thick-skinned asses that its aimed at IMO. Plus I'm not much good with a pencil or paintbrush, which is why I'd rather use a camera instead.

Edited November 27, 2021 by rodeo_joe|1

Now you're moving the goalposts. You only asked how to illustrate our poor leaders, not change their minds. Politicians would never have got where they are if they were sensitive to criticism. They don't look at the cartoons, unless it's to enjoy being famous (they probably buy the original for their office wall).

Sometimes, the rest of us have the opportunity to get rid of one set of egotists in exchange for another; it's only us you can hope to influence.

Now you're moving the goalposts. You only asked how to illustrate our poor leaders, not change their minds. Politicians would never have got where they are if they were sensitive to criticism. They don't look at the cartoons, unless it's to enjoy being famous (they probably buy the original for their office wall).

Sometimes, the rest of us have the opportunity to get rid of one set of egotists in exchange for another; it's only us you can hope to influence.

Sorry Dustin. I didn't realise I'd set any goalposts.

 

No, I agree that those thick-skinned asses are beyond influence, and all that can be hoped is to reveal their shortcomings to others - as if those defects weren't blatantly obvious enough. Or to show the consequences of their poor governance.

 

The saying goes that "a picture is worth a thousand words", but sadly, I think that social media are proving that wrong. With a picture of a cat doing something 'cute' getting more likes than, say, a picture of a Prime-minister acting like an utter dork.

Maybe the saying ought to be changed to "a thousand idiots uttering the same words are worth more than any picture"

.. ordinary people are hanging on by their fingernails and our leaders are all idiots. How best to illustrate that visually?

 

Lots of creative memes online OP.

 

I collect them for posterity ...

 

Internet Archive Search: memes teoli

Speaking of Prime Ministers, a close up and personal shot of the late Malcolm Fraser and his wife Tammy (on left). The days of lax security ... I felt a little nervous still, getting in that close. 35mm camera - 50mm lens

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by kmac