In a little used far corner of my home I spied a black, hard camera case. I remembered that it had some photo equipment in it, but I could not recall exactly what it was. From the accumulation of dust on the case I estimated that it had laid untouched for 10 to 15 years. What i found when I opened it was a gem! A gem!
Photojournalism is not pretty. We have discussed this issue several times in the past. The significance of an image is what counts, not the technical aspects of its reproduction. A fine example of this is Robert Capa’s “Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death” a/k/a “Falling Soldier” (Cerro Muriano, Spain Sept. 5, 1936) during the Spanish Civil War. Capa received the Pulitzer Prize for his efforts.
So our young woman leaning on a fence is likewise out of focus. Its meaning is subjective although we do not expect it to win a Pulitizer Prize. “A Windy Day on the Farm“; U. S. c.1915.
The latest addition to our “Cotton” collection is “Young Woman in the Cotton Fields“; Alabama c.1924. Our collection includes many images of plantation cotton production in the cotton fields. Although some of these images may be disturbing to some viewers they remain an important part of American history.
We are constantly searching for images of farmers at work. “John Deere in the Cornfield“; U. S. c.1950 is simply the latest addition to our collection and worthy of special recognition in our opinion. If you close your eyes you can almost see the green and yellow John Deere colors on the tractor and equipment. Almost.
Don’t get me wrong I love to eat lobster. But in looking at these lobsters in this tank the other day I began to think that maybe, just maybe we are not at the top of the food chain as we have come to believe. Like the lobster in the tank we are all just waiting our turn with nowhere to run. Maybe it’s viruses like COVID19 that are the top of the food chain. After all was it not the bacteria that destroyed the invaders in H. G. Well’s War of the Worlds?
I am not sure if there ever was a “Golden Age” for the riverboats along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, but the 1920s seems like a good place to begin the investigation. The riverboats, for me, hold a special place in American history. Unique in many ways. Presented here are two recent examples from our collection. “Riverboat” shows a sternwheeler passing under a bridge on the Ohio River near Mt. Vernon, Ohio c.1926. Love that smoke. Wood was used as fuel which is clearly visible on the dock in our photo below of the “Elinor” “Sternwheeler” at Clinton, Iowa c.1920.
Clinton, Iowa c.1920