The Kiss that Ends the
War
01.29.2009 | 03:10 PM • Filed in:
Photography:History
This iconic photograph of a jubilant sailor kissing a
nurse near Times Square has always held a special
place in my personal history. To an aspiring
photojournalist, it was a benchmark of great news
photography. That it bordered on the contrived and
was compositionally simple (yet satisfying), only
added to its greatness for me. Behind the joy was
Japan’s defeat, but it was the optimism so perfectly
captured in this photograph that led my father to
leave Tokyo in 1956 to do his medical internship in
New York.
Anyway, yesterday I stumbled upon an interesting
postscript to Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photograph in the
archives of Life magazine.
While I knew that Eisenstaedt had been anxious
to get a great kissing image, shooting at least
a half-dozen frames of other kisses in the
crowds, I didn’t know that another Life
photographer, William C. Shrout, captured
Eisenstaedt, seen below with his shouldered
Leica M3, getting a taste of the decisive moment
himself.
For photographers, who are basically voyeurs at
heart, there’s often a tension between bearing
witness and participating in the drama unfolding
before your eyes. On August 14, 1945, Eisenstaedt had
his cake and ate it. For more about the famous
photograph go
here.
Bush in Tears
01.27.2009 | 10:56 AM • Filed in:
Politics:Photography
U.S. President George W. Bush re-enters the White
House East room to say goodbye to staff and friends
after his primetime address in Washington, January
15, 2009. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)
This Bush photo, along with many others,
are discussed on
Errol Morris’ blog at the
nytimes.com. It’s hard to feel sorry for the man
after all the colossal mistakes he’s made, but
this photo, taken right after his final public
address to the nation, makes feel sorry for him.
As one of the photo editors who talked with
Morris said, it seems pretty obvious that Bush
had been weeping right before he returned to the
room to privately thank his staff and the press
corps for the last time. Most of Morris’s
Mirror Mirror on the Wall blog entry
concerns the subtle role of photography as
political propaganda and the way society--even
presidents--have come to view images as
aesthetic validations of history. The
list of the Bush
administration’s failures and lies and outright
cronyist greed is just amazing, and Bush’s
reaction to a lot of these photographs seems to
confirm that he remains incapable of contrition.
No surprise, given his genius for denial. Of
course he did have one great
success...
Anyway, this marks my last post about Bush--call it
the final catharsis.
Obama Inauguration at
BAM
01.21.2009 | 11:39 PM • Filed in:
Politics:Brooklyn
The Tumor Was Finally
Removed!
01.20.2009 | 10:48 PM • Filed in:
Politics:Humor
It feels like a giant cancerous tumor has been
removed. Thank god!
Another of Snow on the
Trees
01.19.2009 | 11:26 AM • Filed in:
Pic of the
Day:Night:Brooklyn:Weather
Snowy Night
01.19.2009 | 10:53 AM • Filed in:
Brooklyn:Pic
of the Day:Night:Weather
The Pintchik Oracle
01.18.2009 | 11:52 PM • Filed in:
Brooklyn:Humor:Night
Obama Inauguration Count
Down
01.18.2009 | 11:51 PM • Filed in:
Politics:Brooklyn:Night
Marmaduke (Tomkins Square
Park)
01.17.2009 | 11:20 PM • Filed in:
Animals
Obama Fever in E.
Village
01.17.2009 | 11:17 PM • Filed in:
Politics:Humor
"Blow Out," 2009
01.15.2009 | 11:27 PM • Filed in:
Art:Family
Mixed media: poop smear on turtleneck onesie. Edition
of 1.
© 2009 Max Miles Takeuchi
Contact Sheet: A Photo a
Day
01.15.2009 | 11:23 PM • Filed in:
Family:Photography
Unfortunately I didn’t think of this until Max was a
few days old. But I took out my beautiful Leica M6
and shot a picture of him everyday--just about. 36
frames from about August 24th until mid October.
SoHo Vase
01.13.2009 | 06:27 PM • Filed in:
Pic of the
Day
Photoshop Grafitti
01.13.2009 | 06:21 PM • Filed in:
Tech:Humor
High tech grafitti invades Berlin. In an effort to
demystify the photoshopification of beauty, somebody
has been applying large photoshop palette posters on
top of ads in Berlin. More pix are
here.
Mochi Between My
Knees
01.11.2009 | 12:31 AM • Filed in:
Animals:Pic
of the Day
Max's Eye and Mouth
01.04.2009 | 07:31 PM • Filed in:
Family:Pic of the
Day
Max's Swirl
01.02.2009 | 08:30 PM • Filed in:
Family:Pic of the
Day
My father once said that a swirl of hair on a baby’s
crown meant the baby would be intelligent...