It was interesting reading the Man of The Year issue of Time Magazine and contemplating the technology that made every aspect of the protests and conflicts front and center; Twitter, Facebook, Network TV, Blogs, On-Line News, Cable. The Arab Spring was riveting, making it hard to tear your eyes away.
While we were on vacation in November, we had the chance to go to Occupy Wall Street and see things for ourselves. Again, there were cell phones, computers, generators, many modern conveniences considering that this was a "camp".
I only mention this because I was recently reading an issue of National Parks, and one of the feature articles was about photographer Mathew Brady. Mr. Brady was the original "field correspondent", filming battlefields during the civil war. It was fascinating how his first experience was in the heart of a battle, and after that, he only went in after the fact (which was a challenge with the bloated bodies, the insects, and the elements). In the later part of the war, his team started photographing dead bodies - and it was a shocker to the public to be exposed [pun intended] to the horror of the war.
I hope I have set the hook and you will click through to the source link below, I know I thoroughly enjoyed the article.
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An ex boyfriend of mine used to do Civil War re-enactments and was a Matthew Brady/Civil War photography buff. As a result I saw lots of Brady's work. The war stuff was NOT for the faint of heart. But some of his other stuff was priceless.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that his photos were the first time people had seen dead bodies, and the first time they could actually understand the casualities of war.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and also an intgeresting man. Never knew this piece of history.
ReplyDeleteThanks......
It's an information age, and I think we are the better for it.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for photojournalists who bring the harsh reality home to those of us who stay safe while others die for us.
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