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Ten Iconic Photographs: No. 7

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: Writer and editor Mike J. is doing well, making a slow recovery from a cornea transplant. For your amusement and edification in the meantime, brief discussions of ten remarkable photographs, counting down from number 10.]

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Stuart Franklin, © Magnum Photos

Witness

Fortunately, it is not very natural for one human being to kill another. Normal people don't like it. Some normal people who become killers do so for greed or self-interest or simply for status, but organized sprees of killing are usually led or instigated by a few sociopaths and sadists, who also statistically do

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Ten Iconic Photographs: No. 8

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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Diane Arbus, Identical Twins, Roselle, NJ, 1967

Self and Other

This might seem an esoteric selection for a top ten list, but one of the many interesting things about it is that it's not: Diane Arbus has always been popular. Her magazine work, done for money, did well; her Aperture monograph is among a tiny, select handful of "evergreen" photo books that just keep on selling, year after year; seven million people saw the posthumous traveling retrospective of her work; and though she might seem the last person who could ever make money doing high-society portraits for pay, she did.

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Ten Iconic Photographs: No. 9

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: Writer and editor Mike J. is doing well, making a slow recovery from a cornea transplant. For your amusement and edification in the meantime, a rerun of ten popular posts from the early 2000s—brief discussions of ten great photographs, counting down from number 10.]

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Andy Warhol [from Gene Korman], Marilyn, 1967

The Image of Woman

This is not, properly speaking, "just" a photograph. It only started out as one.

When Eugene Kornman, a.k.a. Gene Korman, took his photograph of Marilyn Monroe in 1953 as a publicity still for the film Niagara (left),

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Ten Iconic Photographs: No. 10

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: Writer and editor Mike J. is doing well, making a slow recovery from a cornea transplant. For your amusement and edification in the meantime, today we inaugurate a rerun of ten popular posts from the early 2000s—brief discussions of ten great photographs, counting down from number 10. Posted at 7 ET every morning. Enjoy!]

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Edward Weston, Pepper No. 30

The Equivalent

The idea was Alfred Stieglitz’s. Although Steiglitz suffered from logorrhea—compulsive soliloquizing, in his case—he gave the concept he derived from Symbolist art an elegant, simple name: an equivalent. In 1922, he claimed that his

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Bon Mots: Why We Forget the Books We Read

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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"Jared Horvath, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, says that the way people now consume information and entertainment has changed what type of memory we value—and it's not the kind that helps you hold onto the plot of a movie you saw six months ago.

"In the Internet age, recall memory—the ability to spontaneously call information up in your mind—has become less necessary. It’s still good for bar trivia, or remembering your to-do list, but largely, Horvath says, what’s called recognition memory is more important. 'So long as you know where that information is at and how to

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How to Read a Photographic Book

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: Mike J. recently had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while Mike's away.]

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I fell into a habit many years ago that I think has served me especially well. Like the importance of a print-viewing area where you can comfortably display workprints to look at in a leisurely fashion, it's one

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Past Blasts: Leicabashing

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while Mike's away.]

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I don't like bashing. Meaning, reflexive, unreflective comments against groups of people—whether it's people who dress a certain way, women, people with non-majority sexual preferences, racial or

Leicaadimage

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Bon Mots: Geoffrey Batchen

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and edification, a few bon mots from other writers and photographers. One will be published every day while Mike’s away.]

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DaguerreDaguerre

"…When Daguerre published his subscription broadsheet in late 1838, he described his own process as 'the spontaneous reproduction of the images of

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Past Blasts: The Legendary 1839 Susse Frères

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while Mike's away.]

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[Originally posted May 2, 2007:] On Saturday, May 26th, the Vienna auction house WestLicht will auction what will very likely become the world's most valuable

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(Live Update)

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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Dateline, Monday: I've learned today that my recovery is going to take somewhat longer than I had hoped. To string a few extra days from the material I have ready, one post per day will appear for the next few days. After that I will do something. I am not allowed to write, read, watch video, or look at images and whatever else on the computer or other kinds of screens—which is inconvenient as I have belatedly realized that pretty much all I ever do in my entire life is…write, read, watch video, or look at images and

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Bon Mots: The Reset Button

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and edification, a few bon mots from other writers and photographers. One will be published every day while Mike’s away.]

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"In Japan, one’s lifetime is measured in 60-year cycles. When you reach the age of 60, you celebrate birth once more, returning to the

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Past Blasts: ‘The Differences Between Premium Lenses Are Subtle’

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while Mike's away.]

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Marketing lenses is a little like marketing beer. Image—pun not intended—is everything.

Independent research shows that most beer drinkers buy the brands they do because of what

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Bon Mots: Shigetaka Komori

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


Click here to view on the original site: Original Post



[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and edification, a few bon mots from other writers and photographers. One will be published every day while Mike’s away.]

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Fuji book

"In 2000, photographic film products made up 60% of Fujifilm’s sales and up to 70% of its profit. Within ten years, digital cameras had

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Bon Mots: Brian Dilg Quoting Dr. Martin Rolfs

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and edification, a few bon mots from other writers and photographers. One will be published every day while Mike’s away.]

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"THE EXPERTS SPEAK: Dr. Martin Rolfs, Vision Specialist. Dr. Martin Rolfs is a vision specialist at the Bernstein Center and Department of

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(Live Update—Saturday)

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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My surgery last Tuesday went fine. I had a common complication that was hard on me but won't interfere with my recovery. It did require an unscheduled emergency visit, but the surgeon and her assistants knew exactly what to do for it (they stuck me in the eye three times with a syringe and a tiny little needle to draw off excess gas from the "bubble"). I've progressed now to one whole hour "upright" for every hour down, which means my old friend Jim who has been keeping me company and helping out can return to his home in Vermont

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Past Blasts: brad

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: For your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while I'm away.

This one was a comment, one of my favorites. I had mentioned a book I like, the late Kent Reno's Ground Time. Kent was a pilot who photographed during his layovers. He was also a reader of my magazine articles and sent me a copy of his book as a gift. I thought his style was similar to that of John Loengard, the famous LIFE magazine editor and photographer.

The post was called "B&W Tonality

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Bon Mots: Robert Adams

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and edification, a few bon mots from other writers and photographers. One will be published every day while Mike’s away.]

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Robert adamsRobert Adams, Colorado Springs, from The New West, p. 40

"Tracts and Mobile Homes: A strip city, largely suburban, is evolving

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Past Blasts: Sequencing a Portfolio

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while Mike's away.]

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First thing to keep in mind is that, although I'm an "expert" on the subject, there is no such thing as an expert on the subject. I'll

Low-sun-small-2

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Bon Mots: Greg Benz

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and edification, a few bon mots from other writers and photographers. One will be published every day while Mike’s away.]

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"What is bit depth? Before we compare the various options, lets first discuss what the naming means. A 'bit' is a computer’s way

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Past Blasts: Heaven and Hell

This post is by Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer


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[Note: The Online Photographer's M.C., majordomo, and Chief Bottlewasher, Mike J., just had his eye operated on and is recuperating. Big rule during recovery: no screens, no reading, lie flat and stare at the ceiling. He got an Echo and is listening to Audible books! Meanwhile, for your amusement and reflection, a few blasts from the past. One will be published every day while Mike's away.]

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Mike Goes to Heaven: I'm in a world where God isn't the only one who cares how things look. The angels, too, have a modicum of aesthetic

Overburdenedphotog-corr

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