Favorite Photographs

[bundabergdevil]

This month's National Geographic cover features NASA image AS08-14-2383, better known as Earthrise. It's widely considered one of the most important photographs ever taken and almost certainly the most consequential entry in environmental photography. Many credit it with being the match that ignited the modern environmental movement and it is a powerful and elegant argument against what Udall called the myth of superabundance. William Anders observed of the photo: "We set out to explore the moon and instead discovered the Earth." For all these reasons and more, it is one of my favorite photos. What are yours?

National Geographic on Apollo 8 at 50.

time-100-influential-photos-william-anders-nasa-earthrise-62.jpg

[Rich]

Without thinking more than 2 seconds this one popped into my head, also from National Geographic.

Sharbat_Gula.jpg

From Wiki: Afghan Girl is a 1984 photographic portrait of Sharbat Gula (Pashto: شربت ګله‎) (pronounced [ˈʃaɾbat]) (born c. 1972), also known as Sharbat Bibi, by journalist Steve McCurry. It appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic. The image is of an adolescent girl with green eyes in a red headscarf looking intensely at the camera. The identity of the photo's subject was not initially known, but in early 2002, she was identified as Sharbat Gula. She was an Afghan child who was living in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when she was photographed. It has been likened to Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Mona Lisa and has been called "the First World's Third World Mona Lisa". The image became "emblematic" of "refugee girl/woman located in some distant camp" deserving of the compassion of the Western viewer.

[BLPOG]

Great thread idea. I want to give it some time to think of some good options, but the first that I thought of I will not post here, and I hope no one else will (or make mention of it in an ignorant way). I will describe it obliquely in case anyone recognizes it, though. There is an award-winning photograph in time of war that most people interpret as an example of brutality and evil. I can't entirely disagree with that assessment, but I can entirely disagree with why most people think that is the case. It is an assessment without knowledge of the context, imputing qualities of good and evil to particular characters. With knowledge of context, I'd expect that most people would consider the later suffering befalling the "bad" man in the photograph, and his family, as a tragedy.

Unfortunately, many people choose not to learn context. To those people I say, "You make me sad."

Photographs are powerful, and that's why I think this thread is a wonderful idea. But as Uncle Ben would say, "With great power comes great responsibility." Do your research and know your subject.

[YmoBeThere]

I won't claim it as my favorite but no other photo of recent vintage has impacted me more than that of Sgt. James Regan's (T '02) fiancee at Arlington National Cemetery. On one level it makes me feel like an intruder into a moment I shouldn't witness. On another level, having lost people I served with I can in a small way empathize with her grief.

gettyimages-80354470-2048x2048.jpg

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...oto%2F80354470

[duke74]

I won't claim it as my favorite but no other photo of recent vintage has impacted me more than that of Sgt. James Regan's (T '02) fiancee at Arlington National Cemetery. On one level it makes me feel like an intruder into a moment I shouldn't witness. On another level, having lost people I served with I can in a small way empathize with her grief.

gettyimages-80354470-2048x2048.jpg

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...oto%2F80354470

I didn't realize the source of this touching photo. It has been used on FB as a meme for Memorial Day postings, ie, “in case you thought that Memorial Day was about parties, barbecues, and the beach” or similar.

Thanks for sharing. (My son was also T’02)

[cspan37421]

Great thread idea. I want to give it some time to think of some good options, but the first that I thought of I will not post here, and I hope no one else will (or make mention of it in an ignorant way). I will describe it obliquely in case anyone recognizes it, though. There is an award-winning photograph in time of war that most people interpret as an example of brutality and evil. I can't entirely disagree with that assessment, but I can entirely disagree with why most people think that is the case. It is an assessment without knowledge of the context, imputing qualities of good and evil to particular characters. With knowledge of context, I'd expect that most people would consider the later suffering befalling the "bad" man in the photograph, and his family, as a tragedy.

Unfortunately, many people choose not to learn context. To those people I say, "You make me sad."

Photographs are powerful, and that's why I think this thread is a wonderful idea. But as Uncle Ben would say, "With great power comes great responsibility." Do your research and know your subject.

very well said ... thank you for the reminder. I think I learned the context once, but had forgotten it. Isn't that something? I bet I'm not the only one.

[PackMan97]

I have a person one, so I won't post it...but it's my wife and second son in the hospital when my son was about two weeks old and had all the tubes removed. No nasal canula, no feeding tube, no more blood pressure cuff. He was finally wireless. My wife is hold him on her chest and it's one of my favorite pictures of them. He was born 10 weeks early due to my wife coming down with HELLP syndrome. Thankfully her docs were on top of it and six years later everyone is doing great!

[bundabergdevil]

I didn't realize the source of this touching photo. It has been used on FB as a meme for Memorial Day postings, ie, “in case you thought that Memorial Day was about parties, barbecues, and the beach” or similar.

Thanks for sharing. (My son was also T’02)

Yeah, I hadn't either. Thanks for sharing the photo and the context.

On a separate note, when I scrolled through the thread to YmoBeThere's post I thought he had ALSO shared the cat in the Kleenex box photo as one of his favorites right under the other and for a brief moment I thought, this guy's got no sense of juxtaposition. I was wrong. My bad.

[Jeffrey]

I'll confess, I'm an art collector, including photography. One of my favorite living photographers is Mitch Dobrowner.

http://mitchdobrowner.com/

My favorite photography books, still in production, are made by 21st Editions.

https://www.21steditions.com/about

[gus]

I won't claim it as my favorite but no other photo of recent vintage has impacted me more than that of Sgt. James Regan's (T '02) fiancee at Arlington National Cemetery. On one level it makes me feel like an intruder into a moment I shouldn't witness. On another level, having lost people I served with I can in a small way empathize with her grief.

gettyimages-80354470-2048x2048.jpg

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...oto%2F80354470

John Moore has produced some amazing and consequential images. here's his story behind this photo.

[gus]

Earthrise is definitely one of my favorite historical photographs. I'll throw this one into the pile, because Dorothea Lange is from my city:

cri_000000172788.jpg

Also because it lets me post a link to a favorite amusing series of photos by Sandro Miller:

John Malkovich recreates famous photos

[bundabergdevil]

Earthrise is definitely one of my favorite historical photographs. I'll throw this one into the pile, because Dorothea Lange is from my city:

cri_000000172788.jpg

Also because it lets me post a link to a favorite amusing series of photos by Sandro Miller:

John Malkovich recreates famous photos

Oh. My. God. Those Malkovich photos are laugh out loud fantastic. I encourage everyone to click that link and enjoy.