B&W photography: July 2007 Archives

Meat is Murder 2007, Hrad Kuzyk

Much has been made of the amateur documentation of the Iraq War by soldiers on the ground, particularly in contrast to the professional coverage. The photographic evidence from Abu Ghraib is the most significant, but in the long run, perhaps more important is the day to day vernacular record opportuned by the presence of digital point and shoot and camera phones in the war zone. "Junk Camera Soldier" represents an interesting counterpoint to this phenomenon. Captain Hrad Kuzyk has created an archive of black and white photography shot while on an Iraq tour of duty, using a variety of cheap toy cameras.

Hrad claims these are neither pro- or anti-war. It's hard to look at a photograph of a "Mistake" candy bar and believe there's no point of view behind it.

(via aphotoaday.org)

The photo book review blog 5B4 has posted a review of Bernd and Hilla Becher: Life and Work. If you are unfamiliar with the Bechers' work, this is a good place to start.

Their approach to photographing was to reduce every aspect of personal style in order to emphasize the impersonal aesthetics of the buildings.

I'm not sure I would go along with this description, perhaps I'm misunderstanding the wording. When I look at the various catalogs of forms that the Bechers' created, "impersonal aesthetics" seems counter to the evidence. Most of the structures they photographed had a strictly utilitarian purpose (grain silos, water towers, gravel plants lime kilns etc.) and while there is a consistent familiarity of form across the structures of any type there is also an amazing variation within any particular type.