PPW - Magnum Degrees - Image 11, Page 12

[brambor]

PPW - Magnum Degrees - Image 11, Page 12 Picture Per Week - A book

discussion of Magnum Degrees

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<a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/CDocZ_MAG.aspx?

Stat=DocZoom_DocZoom&&E=2TYRYDYQ9R1K&DT=ALB&Pass=&Total=453&Pic=12&o=

UY5">Steve McCurry. Bazaar In Ruins, Kabul, 1995</a>

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Here we have a picture of a demolished house on a ridge somewhere in

Afghanistan. In front of the house is a still functional couch on

which a presumed Afghani is resting as if he were at home. He even

took off his shoes per the local customm. There are hints of a town

on the ridges in the background. I don't know why the house is

demolished. But the red color of the couch makes this color photo.

Everything else is a gray, dry rocky landscape.

<P>

All in all it makes for an interesting photo IMHO as it leads to

many questions. Is this the man's house? Was it demolished during a

war. Taliban was in power in 1995. Is this guy an Al Qaeda (sic)

operative? Was this a store? Bazaar is a place of business I think.

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What do you think?

[red dawn]

Hi

 

i'm glad Steve McCurry isn't a b/w guy cos this shot works so well in colour, for reasons that you have pointed out (the red luxurious looking sofa contrasting with the bleak background).

[kent_tolley2]

For me it speaks to the indomitable spirit of man. Go ahead and blow up our houses and our towns, our whole country. But we will still lay down at our leisure when we please and life will go on. We will live in the rubble if we have to but we will prevail.

[tim_gruber]

What stikes me the most is how the couch looks in almost perfect condition. It's as if this man has found a safe haven amongst a sea of choas. Despite all the devastation the photo has a calming effect on me.

[grant_.]

i like how he took off his shoes not to get the couch dirty....:D

[edmo]

hmmm...<div></div>

[edmo]

Wegman meets McCurry

[kent_tolley2]

Ed!!! made me laugh.

[preston_merchant]

It has a surrealist quality, certainly. Too bad it's so posed. I'm sure McCurry made sure the shoes were in the right place.

 

1995-1996 was when the Taliban secured effective control over most of the country, including Kabul. Al-Qaeda came later--the two groups aren't related except in the mind of the US president and the ridiculous American press.

[vic_.]

The comments on this picture demonstrate the level to which one's personal experience and exposure determine the reaction to a photograph. For example, most Americans seeing a man with a turban assume he's a "Al Queda operative," whereas to an Asian he's just another man on the street, usually a smelly person. To a Hottentot the reaction would be completely different.

[grant_.]

<i>most Americans seeing a man with a turban assume he's a "Al Queda operative," </i>

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have you done a survey? because i must have missed it....when i see turban, i yell TAXI!

[brambor]

...and my question was among many others. When I saw the man I did not think immediately of AlKaplanQaida. The possibility of this came to mind after contemplating the assignment of photojournalists to turmoil regions to document what is happening. So logically connecting demolished building in Afghanistan with a Magnum photographers and the knowledge of Taliban/Bin Laden presence in the region was not that far fetched.

[brambor]

but let's not get carried away too much. I'm much more interested in why you think the photograph was staged? I could see my self resting on such sofa after activity and removing my shoes just for comfort's sake. Perhaps the guy was working along with the photographer and decided to take a 'lunch break' :-)

[vic_.]

If the fellow on the couch was sitting in the same airplane as you, would you go into a panic, like most white bread Americans do today, and ask that he be removed from the plane as a suspected terrorist?

 

Man has a long way to go to get rid of layers upon layers of nonsensical thinking and become fully human again.

[grant_.]

the inner workings if vics many minds ladies and gents

[preston_merchant]

Why wouldn't it be staged, and why would that detract from the image? The bright red couch in front of the ruin, the guy lying down, the shoes--all this is in the midday sun. If I came across a similar scene, I'd ask the guy to lie there and take off his shoes, placing them perfectly in front. This is the great secret of photography.

[edmo]

Most likely he was out late smoking hashish with his buddies, got tired of listening to his wife moan about house work and passed out after eating a box of Oreo's.

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McCurry just happened to be walking by...typical 'f8 and be there' stuff.

[gerald_widen]

Maybe a combination of both. The guy could of been lying there and sat up as McCurry approached. He(or his interpreter/guide)asked the man to lie down again. I do a lot of street work and as I approach an interesting scene my presence often makes it change. Nothing wrong in my book with re creating a scene or altering it to give it more impact.

[grant_.]

as far as photojournalism goes, rearranging is a big no no....a nytimes photog got fired for it a little while back, creating a scene that wasnt found, then claiming it was....perhaps this is different tho...

[vic_.]

Poor fellow. I wonder if he realizes that a bunch of Manhattan yobs are discussing his psychological makeup.

[kent_tolley2]

why would that make a difference to his reality?

[edmo]

What's a 'yob'?

[vic_.]

You can find out if you are a yob:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/quiz/questions/0,5961,408093,00.html

[edmo]

Vic, got it. You a yob?

[kent_tolley2]

I today just began Roland Barthes' "Camera Lucida" where he talks about the <I>studium & puctium.</I> Do you think the shoes are a puctium in this photograph?