Expanding Your View - The Power of Photography

"Great works of art have the power to move us, whether they're made now or whether they were made 50 years ago, 100 years ago, or 1,000 years ago or more. And so each time we lose something that has that power, we've lost an opportunity to be changed by it."

-Malcolm Daniel, Senior Curator of Photography - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dorothea Lange
Destitute pea-pickers in California; a 32-year-old mother of seven. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, 1936

The power of the photograph is incredible. A single moment, fractions of a second, can create a message that has the ability to change the world. The Dorothea Lange photograph, Destitute pea-pickers in California; a 32-year-old mother of seven (better known as the Migrant Mother), has in time become one of the most iconic representations of the American Great Depression era.

"And you begin to wonder, what if she had lived in a multimedia age? Would we have that iconic image? Would the image be different if the Migrant Mother was talking?"

-Ken Light, Social Documentary Photographer

In early 2012 PhotoWings interviewed social documentary photographer Ken Light ahead of his latest photo book, Valley of Shadows and Dreams. He and his wife, writer Melanie Light, traveled through the California Central Valley  to conduct a five-year project documenting the once-booming agricultural region. Returning to the language of Dorothea Lange and other Farm Security Administration photographers, their project emphasizes the importance of social documentary projects in the present.

"Gordon Parks talked about how the camera, for him, was like a gun, a weapon, which is an incredible way to think about the camera."

To read the full PhotoWings article with Ken Light, click here.

Watch the video below of Ken discussing the importance of making change through photographs:

"We need to learn to photograph in our own time, in our own world, because that will change.”

-Ken Light, Social Documentary Photographer

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Inspiration from Photographs

As both viewers and makers, we can be affected so greatly by the photographic image. How have you been inspired by photographs? Here are some important photographers that have shared stories of their own with PhotoWings.

Camille Seaman

Camille Seaman is a well respected and widely published photographer, whose work has appeared in National Geographic, Time Magazine, Camera Arts, the New York Times, and in many others. In 2008, she presented a number of her photographs in a one-artist show entitled "The Last Iceberg," at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. Her photographs showed fragile and deteriorating images of the arctic wilderness.

Watch the video below of Camille Seaman sharing her ideas about the power of photography:

Click here to learn more about Camille Seaman 

Andrea Bruce - Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

For the past two years, PhotoWings has been a supporter and funder of the international project, Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. Each year the workshop convenes in a new location, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2011 and Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2012. Participants convene from all over the world to work intimately with acclaimed photographers, receiving feedback and discussing techniques to better their abilities.

Watch the video below of Andrea Bruce sharing her inspiration from teaching at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop:

Natalie Fobes - Blue Earth Alliance

Based on the idea that “Photographers are the eyes and conscience of society,” Blue Earth Alliance uses the knowledge and experience of its network of members to foster significant documentary projects on cultures, the environment and social issues. The Alliance accepts project proposals from photographers twice a year. Those chosen are guided by selected Alliance board members through the process of organizing, fundraising, shooting and publishing or exhibiting the project. This mentoring approach transmits invaluable experience to emerging documentary photographers, empowering them to bring their stories to light.

At the Blue Earth Alliance's Collaborations for Cause conference, documentary photographer Natalie Fobes sat down with PhotoWings to offer inspirational stories from her career, as well as her insights into the photographic medium. No stranger to the power of photography to create change, she may be best remembered for her harrowing coverage of the Exxon Valdez disaster in the pages of National Geographic. Fobes founded the Blue Earth Alliance along with Phil Borges in 1996 to act as an aid for documentary photographers who seek to create positive change through their storytelling.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Natalie tells the story of her expedition across Siberia for National Geographic. Reindeer stampedes, drunken snow truck drivers and breathtaking nights under a blanket of stars follow in her tale.

Watch the video below of Natalie Fobes sharing memories of photographing in the field:

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Preservation of Images - Retaining Our History

As many of us transition into our images existing only as digital files, it is easy to forget the images that remain offline. Where are your family albums? We encourage you during this webinar to take a deep dive into your own collections - to open those old shoeboxes of family pictures and to uncover images and stories that you may have never known. Below you'll find some captivating stories of photo preservation, and ways that you can carry on collections of your own.

Maggie Steber

"You never realize how valuable these things are, and sometimes it’s really all you have left of somebody," Photographer Maggie Steber explains about family photo albums. Growing up in a household estranged from her extended family, most of what Steber knew about her personal history came from such old photographs. As her mother began to lose her memory, her family photo albums "became real treasures" as Steber not only used them to help her mother retain memory, but also those albums kept an image of her family permanent.

"Only a photograph can show you what your mother looked like when she was 20, when the moonlight fell on her face in just a way that maybe her skin glowed," says Steber.

To hear more about Maggie Steber, listen to a podcast of The Story from American Public Media about her project documenting her mother's dementia.

Maggie Steber's work appears regularly in National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, Smithsonian, The Guardian of London and many other American and European publications. Her photographs are included in numerous museum and private collections including the Library of Congress. She has served as judge for World Press Photo Foundation and the Alicia Patterson Foundation as well as for other photographic and competitions.

Lee Miller: Mother, Model, Muse, and More...

Biography via http://www.leemiller.co.uk

Lee Miller was born in 1907 in Poughkeepsie, New York USA and first entered the world of photography in New York as a model to the great photographers of the day such as Edward Steichen, Hoyningen-Huene and Arnold Genthe.

In 1929 she went to Paris and worked with the well known Surrealist artist and photographer Man Ray, and succeeded in establishing her own studio. She became known as a portraitist and fashion photographer, but her most enduring body of work is that of her Surrealist images. She returned to New York in 1932, and again set up her own studio which ran for 2 years and was highly successful. It closed when she married a wealthy Egyptian businessman Aziz Eloui Bey and went to live with him in Cairo, Egypt. She became fascinated by long range desert travel and photographed desert villages and ruins. During a visit to Paris in 1937 she met Roland Penrose, the Surrealist artist who was to become her second husband, and traveled with him to Greece and Romania. In 1939 she left Egypt for London shortly before World War II broke out. She moved in with Roland Penrose and defying orders from the US Embassy to return to America she took a job as a freelance photographer on Vogue.

In 1944 she became a correspondent accredited to the US Army, and teamed up with Time Life photographer David E. Scherman. She followed the US troops overseas on 'D' Day + 20. She was probably the only woman combat photo-journalist to cover the war in Europe and among her many exploits she witnessed the siege of St Malo, the Liberation of Paris, the fighting in Luxembourg and Alsace, the Russian/American link up at Torgau, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau. She billeted in both Hitler and Eva Braun's houses in Munich, and photographed Hitler's house Wachenfeld at Berchtesgaden in flames on the eve of Germany's surrender. Penetrating deep into Eastern Europe, she covered harrowing scenes of children dying in Vienna, peasant life in post war Hungary and finally the execution of Prime Minister Lazlo Bardossy.

After the war she continued to work for Vogue for a further 2 years, covering fashion and celebrities. In 1947 she married Roland Penrose and contributed to his biographies of Picasso, Miro, Man Ray and Tapies. Some of her portraits of famous artists like Picasso are the most powerful portraits of the individuals ever produced, but it is mainly for the witty Surrealist images which permeate all her work that she is best remembered.

Lee Miller died at Farley Farm House in 1977.

View the Lee Miller Collection here

In 2007, PhotoWings spoke with Antony Penrose, Lee Miller's son and director in charge of the Lee Miller archive in Sussex, England. He tells the story of her life as a photographer, and his discovery of her legacy.

The Lives of Lee Miller, Book Cover

Listen to Penrose:

Penrose_Story

Lee Miller's War - Book cover

Gawain Weaver, Photograph Conservator

Click here to learn more about Gawain Weaver

Bio from GawainWeaver.com

Gawain Weaver received B.A. degrees in art history and chemistry (2001) from Sonoma State University, and an M.A. in art history and diploma in conservation (2005) from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Over the course of his academic career, he interned at the City Parks Foundation and the Getty Museum, as well as in the photograph conservation departments of the Amon Carter Museum, Library and Archives Canada, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Northeast Document Conservation Center. He also spent a summer studying with José Orraca, a photograph conservator in private practice.

In 2007, he completed a two-year fellowship in the Advanced Residency Program in Photograph Conservation at the George Eastman House and Image Permanence Institute in Rochester, NY, followed by a year as a researcher at the Image Permanence Institute. In 2008, he returned home to Northern California where he lives today, working as a photograph conservator, teacher, and consultant. In addition to regular workshops, Gawain teaches photograph preservation in the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science.

Gawain is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation and abides by the AIC Code of Ethics.

Below, watch Gawain discuss "benign neglect" of photographs

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Critical Thinking Skills

As changemakers, you have an amazing opportunity to share your views of empathy and social entrepreneurship through photography. The speakers in this section emphasize the importance of research and consideration in how we make and view images.

Psychologist Phillip Zimbardo: Memory and Visual Imagery

Philip G. Zimbardo, PhD. is a professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University. Zimbardo has published numerous books on the subject of human psychology and behavior. His discussion of the events of Abu Ghraib were also the subject of his book, "The Lucifer Effect," and his TED talk on the psychology of evil: ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html

Noted Psychologist Phillip G. Zimbardo pokes fun of his Italian heritage while examining the social aspects of memory. He points out that images give a sense of present to the past, illustrated in part by the way Sicilians interact with the graves of loved ones.

Photojournalist Ron Haviv on critical thinking in the field:

Award-winning photojournalist Ron Haviv has produced some of the most important images of conflict and other humanitarian crises that have made headlines from around the world since the end of the Cold War. Haviv is a co-founder of the photo agency VII which is dedicated to documenting conflict, both violent and non-violent, to produce and unflinching record of the injustices created and experienced by people caught up in the events they describe.

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