Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/10/2012 - 10:39am
Country Doctor, Life Magazine
It’s been years since long-form photo essays disappeared from mainstream magazines, but LIFE.com’s recent republishing of W. Eugene Smith’s landmark “Country Doctor” essay is a potent reminder of what’s been lost. As the captions in the story explain, Smith spent more than three weeks shadowing general practitioner Ernest Guy Ceriani in the rural town of Kremmling, Colorado. The legendary photographer was there for births, deaths, and everything in between. In its September 20, 1948, issue, LIFE magazine published 27 of Smith’s images—a number unimaginable today, given the slender size of the newsweeklies—and all of those photos are included in the “LIFE Classic” slideshow. There’s also a small gallery of previously unseen photos.
Sending a photographer out to spend weeks documenting a story, and then devoting multiple pages to the piece when it’s complete—that’s simply no longer viable. The money doesn’t exist, and I would venture to say the audience doesn’t either. Technology has taught us to consume media of all types at a breathtaking pace and on the fly. There’s no need to pay dedicated attention, and there’s hardly time to, in any case; there’s just too much to take in. No wonder some photographers (the blog IStillShootFilm is but one example) have re-embraced analog formats—they have realized that instant gratification isn’t always so satisfying. Now maybe it’s time for us, the audience, to catch up with them. There’s a slow-food movement. Why not a slow-photography one? Incidentally, you can see “Country Doctor” in its original format through Google Books, which houses LIFE’s archives.
NY Times Style Mag, Cover photo, Cass Bird
If you enjoy learning the personal stories behind the photographers whose work you admire, you might want to stop by Cass Bird’s blog. Bird is one of those rare photographers who are successful in both the fine-art and commercial worlds: Her work has been widely exhibited—in fact, it’s on view in the group exhibition HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture through February 12 at the Brooklyn Museum, and she's shot major assignments for editorial and advertising clients like The New York Times Magazine and the Gap. Her style feels naturalistic, like she’s casually documenting what she sees around her. But the choices behind each of her images are unmistakably deliberate: Bird explores gender roles and challenges commonly held notions of femininity and masculinity, as well as of the definition of family. At her eponymous tumblr, she shares photos she’s taken around her home—of her kids, of her partner. Tousled hair, pajamas, lived-in spaces, naps, playtime. There are outtakes from shoots for her clients. Production stills. Fleetingly short videos that center on a single moment or feeling—larks, really. And almost no words. She lets the images tell her story—how she lives and how she works. For fans of her photography, it’s a chance to hang out with her, and proof that the images she makes—whether for art or for commerce—are in fact a part of her.
By Kristina Feliciano
