kenw@lcuxc.UUCP (K Wolman) (03/01/85)
Herb Chong's final point is well taken; maybe he did not flame nearly high enough. Consider some of these names: Robert Capa David Douglas Duncan Erich Salomon Alfred Eisenstadt W. Eugene Smith Bill Eppridge If these gentlemen were not "serious photographers," i.e., great camera artists, then "artistry" needs to be redefined. Forget that photojournalists tend to work "on assignment"; focus instead on the quality of the work produced. Is Smith's "The Spinner" any less a supremely great picture because it was part of a "Life" photoessay in 1951? Is Capa's picture of the falling Spanish Loyalist NOT one of the great evocations of war because Capa was on assignment? Shakespeare wrote "on assignment"; so did Dickens and Dostoevsky. Haydn and Mozart composed "on assignment." The artist's talent and personal intentions (beyond "Get That Story!") can overcome even the worst of circumstances. -- Ken Wolman Bell Communications Research @ Livingston lcuxc!kenw You can't 'read me' because I'm not a book. . . .