Em tempos de guerra como é qualificado por algumas vozes o momento presente face à realidade dura da perda de vidas humanas, das tensões sociais e dos desafios económicos que se avizinham, partilho convosco, esta semana, a síntese final do artigo The ‘Greatest Of War Photograhers’ de Thierry Gervais. O artigo tem como figura central o fotógrafo Jimmy Hare, e levanta algumas questões fulcrais sobre a natureza da fotografia na sua relação com a imprensa no virar do século XIX.
“At the turn of the century, photojournalists became important figures in the world of the illustrated press, which had just embraced the halftone process and photography. In order to disseminate this new body of illustrations, editors made extensive use of layout and found themselves called upon to justify the value of these images to their readers. In the case of Jimmy Hare’s war photographs, the publication of thematic sets and photographic sequences made it possible to lend meaning to images that would have been difficult to publish individually. As for the work of legitimating these images, that was accomplished by recognizing and valorizing the figure of the photojournalist.”
