|
|
Even after decades of moving pictures on our television and cinema screens, the power of the still photograph fails to diminish.
But what kind of emotional effect is the most powerful?
It is a question put by Mwita Makanga from Tanzania - who wants to know “Is
a sad picture more powerful or important than a happy one?”.
The question is put in the context of World Press Photo exhibitions in the past.
The man who took on the unenviable task of providing an answer is David Hurn, one of Magnum Photos' leading photographers.
|
|
David Hurn says: Are sad pictures more powerful than happy ones?
It's a very interesting question so let us not get bogged down in an academic
exercise: What is sad? What is happy?
In the past, if one looks at the results of the most important photographic awards - and maybe these are what prompted the question – it would appear that the judges feel that sad is the more powerful of the two.
During the time I was teaching, I had a large notice above the entrance to
my department. It stated: “There are two subjects a
photographer should photograph. “That to be corrected and that to be appreciated”.
The sentiment originally came from a great American photographer of the early 1900's, Lewis Hine.
Sadly nowadays, particularly in print, we see a concentration on the former.
Personally, I prefer to focus on the latter.
A book I think which has merit and makes the point is In Our Time, the World as seen by Magnum Photographers (I have to declare an interest, of course, as a Magnum photographer).
However, it is full of a particular genre of photography at its very best and includes more than 250 images.
In some quarters it was criticized for its bias towards violence. But I remember,
when teaching, studying the book in detail and discovering that it actually
contained only nineteen pictures that could be said to be recording violence
plus, perhaps, a further twelve recording extreme poverty and depression.
The question arises. Why does just thirteen per cent of the whole have such a powerful impact?
I don't know the answer. But on this evidence it does seem the original question
must be answered yes.
Still, for me it is not so. Instantly recalling the twenty most memorable pictures taken by others - three were sad, seventeen were not.
Of course, I suspect that if I did the exercise again tomorrow the results would throw up many different pictures. However I am sure the proportions would stay about the same.
Perhaps our preferences are simply subjective and reflect our own personalities?
|
|
