Joe Rosenthal
The most memorable photograph from World War II was taken by Joe Rosenthal. The image is of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the flag at Iwo Jima on top of Mount Suribachi.
The photograph is been called a genius, a fraud, a hero, and a phony, and Rosenthal has had to defend his Pulitzer Prize winning photograph during his whole life. Some people believe that his photograph is so perfect that it has to be staged, while others believe that this photograph is the greatest photograph of all time.
The photograph has served as the symbol for the Seventh War Loan Drive, and is the most widely reproduced photograph of all time. The photograph has is been displayed on stamps, and the cover of many newspapers and magazines.
While some people believe Rosenthal’s photograph is genius, it was not the actual first flag that rose. After Rosenthal was informed of this memorable moment of the American flag being raised, he quickly hurried to the spot but was too late. The first flag was already raised, but a larger replacement was decided to be put in its place.
This is where some people find controversy over the photograph, because Rosenthal did not actual take the first photograph of the flag being raised. Photographer Sgt. Lou Lowery was there to witness the first raising, but Rosenthal did not make it in time. This caused some sour tastes in a few critics mouth because this famous symbol was not the original raising.
Personally I find the photograph very inspiring, but all the controversy surrounding the photograph makes me question it.
Even though controversy surrounds the defining moment, the photograph will forever be a symbol of the valor and sacrifices of the United States Marines.
War Photography
In a time of war, photography is at its up most importance. This was especially true when televisions were not in existence and people did not get daily news about the war.
War photographs imply more than just photographs of combat and soldiers who have died. It can refer to military photographs in general, photographs of civilians caught in the middle of conflicts, or images of the home front.
In World War I, censorship of photography was heavy. Photographers had limited access to the front of the line during the war and there were few actual photographers taking photographs of the actual war.
World War II changed the way photographers took photographs. During this time, a photographer for the first time published photographs of the dead. It appeared in Life magazine and showed three dead American corpses lying on the beach after a landing in the Pacific.
David Douglas Duncan, war photographer in Korea, showed photographs that displayed exhaustion in his photographs, instead of triumph during the Korean War. This caused American discourse during a time of war and less support.
During the Vietnam War, the photographs were very graphic and displaying shocking images. One of the most famous photograph during the Vietnam War was a young girl running down the road after the place she was located got napalmed.
In the current war America is facing, Iraqi War, photography coverage is very apparent but the government tries to censor it. During the Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon put a stop to media coverage of coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Tami Silicio, Seattle Times photographer, published flag-draped coffins on the front page of Seattle Times. Before the Pentagon could stop and censor the paper, the photographs were already published a distributed all around. Silicio, her husband and co-worker David Landry were all fired because of the photographs and story that ran on the cover of the Seattle Times.
Photography is very important during a time of war. It can help support the war or not support the war. Either way, documentation of the war through photography is very important for history and up-to-date information about the wars.
Manipulating Photographs
Digital photography has changed the way photographers can manipulate photographs. Software programs such as Photoshop have made manipulation look so real that viewers are unable to tell what fact from fiction is.
The Dove campaign displayed in a video how advertisers manipulate the way woman look in advertisements. In the Dove campaign, a photograph of a woman was taken and then in fast motion they showed how the different features in Photoshop changed the woman’s appearance. They extended the woman’s neck and moved around other facial features, such as her eyes, so they could create “the” perfect woman.
The message advertisers give women when they manipulate their photographs is a negative body image because they will never be that perfect. Advertisers tell women how they should look and what they should wear, but when advertisers manipulate the photograph into the perfect facial features, how are women supposed to fell about themselves?
Dove is exposing these issues and telling women they don’t need to be perfect, and trying to be perfect shouldn’t matter.
But after seeing the Dove campaign, is it okay for regular photographers to manipulate and add to their images? If the photograph is for photojournalistic purposes, is manipulation okay?
In my opinion, photographers who manipulate photographs for their own personal art is okay, but on the other hand photojournalists should never manipulate their photographs because they are telling a story. Regular photographers do not have to tell the truth through their photographs but photojournalists do.
Darkroom Photography
Digital photography is a revolutionary way that allows photographers to immediately see the photographs they create, and be able to take multiple shots of the same scene without worrying about running out of film.
Even with the new revolutionary photography, darkroom photography is just as amazing, but in a different way. Darkroom photography is composed with film, and the photographer is not able to see their photos immediately. The photographer also has to be very careful about their shots because they only have a limited amount of shots in one roll of film.
What is most exciting to me about darkroom photography is the fact that I am the one developing the film and creating the photographs. I am the one that rolls the film onto the reels and add the different developer to makes the negatives appear. What is so nerve racking about rolling the film on the reels, is the person has to be in a completely dark room with no light. If light is exposed to the film before it is developed, then the film is ruined.
Depending on the film, it takes about 45 minutes to develop and a day for the film to dry. What is most exciting is waiting while the film is being developed because for me at least, I am always worried the film has been exposed to light and is ruined.
After the film dries, it is ready to produce photographs. What I like most about the darkroom is it is all hands on. You are not sitting at a computer clicking a mouse, but instead you are physically picking the photograph to expose and then exposing it onto a piece of paper.
The routine I find efficient when creating photographs is the darkroom is first creating a contact sheet, which is an exposed photograph with the entire film photographs on it, and then choosing the photographs that look best. Then I put the negative into the enlarger and decide how large I want the photograph to be. Then I expose the piece of paper and put it into the different developers. The process usually takes about five minutes to expose and develop, but I usually have to create about five of the same photograph to make it perfect.
Even though the process to develop the film and then create the actual photographs takes a long time, it is still fun and sometimes I would rather do that then mess around with Photoshop.
Art and Photography IUB 
