Wednesday, January 03, 2007

13 photographs that changed the world


Over at Neatorama is a very interesting collection of 13 iconic photographs that is powerful enough to have changed opinions, lead to movements and has opened eyes.

My favourite is the picture above, the "Dali Atomicus" by Philippe Halsman who favours taking pictures of people jumping. He claimed that jumping brings out the subjects' true selves. The "Dali Atomicus" is his homage to the atomic age prompted by physicists' then-recent announcement that all matter hangs in a constant state of suspension. The picture took six hours, 28 jumps and a roomful of assistants throwing angry cats and buckets of water to get the perfect exposure.

I see, that's why everyone does jumping pictures - I don't feel so foolish anymore.

The article is a fascinating read - not to be missed!

Link

via Digital Photography School.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough." - Robert Capa..10-20 la lepas ni hehehe

mynn said...

rosli
alot of principles and rules that we use today turns out to have originated from photographers in that era - interesting eh?

kalau dapat job ni, 10-20mm memang boleh lah:D

Anonymous said...

well..after all their photos did changed the world one way or another! came across most of these photos during my contextual studies back in collage. Actually, there are a few more iconic images that's not there like the famous winston churchil portrait and the famous iwo jima flag rising. Anyway, not sure if you've seen this or not? found it at Neatorama as well..have a look http://www.willitblend.com might be a good b'day present for the wifey hehehe

Anonymous said...

I assume you also went to the same link as suggested by the Digital Photgraphy School site, kan? Those 13 pictures are amazing, and the photographers back then didn't have much of technology to go by with, but they did managed to get the right composition/light/etc..

Isn't it considered as cruelty to animals if you are throwing cats into the air for 28 times??!

Anonymous said...

dyanna
yup i followed the link in digital photography school - it's one of my favourite photography website actually.

re: throwing the cats 28 times, hahaha - you know, that picture has given me crazy ideas on future jumping projects - this time with chairs, water, pencils, books and what not :D hahaha.

rosli & dyanna
as for me, i was screaming reading the D-day picture; the photographer almost got shot and died taking his photos in the front line - but his blimming assistant MELTED the film!!!! and all the film didn't develop properly....

The upside is that, it gave the pictures a stylistic look, that even steven spielberg tried to copy the style in his saving private ryan movie. fascinating.

Anonymous said...

Please don't throw sarah, amar or even MS up into the air just for experimentation sake.

However, here's a website you should pay a visit to: http://www.stevechong.com/index.htm

he's into this conceptual stuff. I got it from my friend who told me this guy is her engineering (if I'm not mistaken) lecturer.

Anonymous said...

dyanna

the gallery at http://www.stevechong.com is amazing, featuring excellent surreal pictures. quite inspirational.

hehehe regarding throwing sarah & amar in the air for photos - too late, i've done it many times already, however, the pictures didn't turn out to good without flash ... now that i do have a flash gun, muahaha... we'll see what results i could get.