"The press is once again not at war, but at work"

 Via Columbia Journalism Review

November 6, 2024

"For now, a few important things seem clear for the press—things we’ve known conceptually for some time, but now hit with a shocking new clarity. The most important is that Trump’s impending second term poses a credible and unprecedented threat to press freedom as America has known it."

Field of View: The Politic Aesthetic

 Via Field of View

September 28, 2024

Excerpted from "The Politic Aesthetic   Access is gone. Moments are dead. Long live the flash"

(see also the virtual exhibition "The Campaign"

"Few photos exemplify access like this gem by LIFE magazine photographer Hank Walker: Kennedy and his brother Robert deep in conversation in a hotel room during that same convention in 1960. It’s one of my all-time favorite political photographs. Access to an authentic moment like this is a photojournalist’s dream.

    photograph by Hank Walker

“The brothers talked very quietly, and Jack told Bobby who he was going to choose as Vice President,” Walker said in a 1994 interview. “I only made one picture in there, and then I waited outside for Bobby to come out. When he did, he was furious.”2

Walker’s contact sheet proves he made way more than just one picture—he wasn’t escorted in and hurried out in 30 seconds. Walker was allowed to work it. Notice how at first he’s shooting horizontally (frame 23), then rotates his camera and makes the one (frame 24).

Photographs by Hank Walker

Henri Cartier-Bresson once said that using a flash was “monstrous” and “impolite, like coming to a concert with a pistol in your hand.” Some of the photos from the 2024 conventions were definitely monstrous.

Photograph by Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson has been temporarily blinding politicians with his strobe for years. “The flash is like crack to them,” he once said.

Photograph by Mark Peterson

A regular contributor to The New York Times Opinion section (mostly b&w) and New York magazine (mostly color), Peterson’s flash does more than light the scene—it defines it. It’s his signature look, one he’s refined and mastered. And it’s contagious."  full article here.

"A long history of 'amazing photojournalism''"

 Via NBC News

July 19, 2024

Four photographers shot iconic images when gunfire rang out at Trump rally
"All of a sudden history is unfolding. You just have to keep making pictures"

"Their images will join others that captured some of the darkest days in U.S. history, such as the famous photo by Bill Eppridge showing a busboy helping Robert F. Kennedy moments after the presidential candidate was assassinated in 1968, and the images by Associated Press photographer Ron Edmonds of President Ronald Reagan being rushed to his motorcade after being shot in 1981."'

Bill Eppridge covered Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 Presidential campaign, see his work here.

Mark Peterson | Political Theatre Artist Talk

 Via The Griffin Museum

"Over the past ten years I have been photographing the presidential candidates as they lead rallies, meet with voters and plead for their votes. I started just before the government shutdown in 2013 at a tea party rally at the U.S. Capitol. Politicians railed against the president and the Affordable Care Act — a show to get a sound bite into the next news cycle."--Mark Peterson

March 21 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

As part of our current focus on power and perception, democracy and how we see and envision our elected leaders, we are pleased to present the work of Mark Peterson. His stark portrayal of the power players in Washington DC is unique in its vision and we can’t wait to see and hear more about how he gets the images that his lens finds and holds in our collective memory.

Join us ONLINE on Thursday March 21st at 7pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific in the Griffin Zoom Room for a conversation with Mark about his creative path, his pull to politics and what it takes to frame his vision.

This conversation is FREE to Members / $10 for General Admission. Interested in the benefits of Membership? Take a look here for Member Levels and Benefits.

About Mark Peterson –

Mark Peterson is a photographer based in New York City. His work has been published in New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Geo Magazine and other national and international publications. In 2018 he was awarded the W. Eugene Smith grant for his work on White Nationalism. He is the author of two books Acts Of Charity published by Powerhouse in 2004 and Political Theatre which was published by Steidl in the fall of 2016.His work is collected in several museums including The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. In 2024 Steidl will published his book The Fourth Wall.

 
$10.00

Griffin Zoom Room

67 Shore Rd
Winchester, 01890

Mark Peterson’s monograph Political Theatre, published in 2016 by Steidl Verlag Publishing can be found on their website alongside his upcoming book The Past is Never Dead. Find him on Instagram @markpetersonpixs

BRINK: Photographs by David Butow on view in the Reva & David Logan Gallery for Documentary Photography

 

Via Berkeley School of Journalism

CANCELLED

BRINK 

Photographs by David Butow 

on view in the Reva & David Logan Gallery for Documentary Photography

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, North Gate Hall

A live conversation with photographer David Butow and Berkeley Journalism Prof. Ken Light, followed by Q&A with Berkeley Journalism students Kathryn Styer Martínez ('23) and Mathew Miranda ('22)

RSVP here

Live stream:

https://youtu.be/7uUVql_0Kmo

Friday, March 11, 2022 | 5:00-6:00 PM (PT)

Statement from David Butow:

A few weeks before the 2016 presidential election, I traveled to the swing states of the upper Midwest to try to get a sense of what was driving support for Donald Trump. I fully expected Hillary Clinton to win but Trump had tapped into something I didn't understand, and I was surprised that this self-centered, unscrupulous businessman who seemed to have no interest in government, was the Republican nominee. 

His stunning victory, and the sense that the country would go through a very strange period, compelled me to move from California to Washington, D.C. I'd spent decades as a photojournalist covering, in part, the results of public policy, but I'd never worked inside the halls of power in the nation's capital. This seemed like a good time to do it, and while I expected the incompetence, I underestimated the treachery. 

The first three years were an endless stream of scandals, highly-charged congressional hearings on Capitol Hill and declassé press events at the White House. I was curious what happened outside of the frame of television cameras and tried to make photographs that were different from typical pictures designed for the daily news cycle and quick hits on the web.

In 2020, everything changed. The drama and tension was acute, and visceral. Americans were dying of COVID-19 by the thousands, the administration was slow to respond and protests of the murder of George Floyd pressed up to the very gates of the White House. Late in the year, after Joe Biden's victory, the president and his hard-core supporters laid the groundwork for challenging the election. 

On the afternoon of January 6, 2021 I was standing on the west steps of the Capitol watching something so surreal, dramatic and terrible, for a few seconds, or maybe it was minutes, I lowered my camera and just tried to process what I was seeing through the foggy view of my gas mask. The next few weeks at the Capitol were unrecognizable, as young National Guard troops carrying loaded machine guns stood on patrol behind miles of razor wire, protecting U.S. democracy from its own citizens.

It was then that I knew I must organize the work I'd begun four years earlier into a narrative that would at least illuminate the arc of events that had brought the country to this point. We lived through history minute by minute, so much so that the gravitas of what transpired is apparent only when you step back and see how the whole saga unfolded. As revisionists seek to trivialize or downplay the events of 2016-21, it's critical to maintain a record of just how close the presidency of Donald Trump brought U.S. democracy to the brink of collapse. 

Four years ago, I thought this period would be an aberration. Regrettably, I no longer hold that view.

  

On the campaign trail

 

Via The Albuquerque Journal
October 18, 2020

By Kathaleen Roberts

Presidential candidate Jack Kennedy conferring with his brother and campaign organizer Bobby Kennedy in a hotel suite as they are silhouetted by the sunlight coming through the drawn window drapes. Photo by Hank Walker/The Life Picture Collection. (Courtesy of The Monroe Gallery Of Photography)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As the pandemic forces our politics into virtual reality, a Santa Fe gallery is taking a look back at the grueling, crowded and ultimately dangerous presidential campaigns of decades past.

Open at Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography, monroegallery.com, “The Campaign” explores the human dimension of the process by which Americans choose their presidents. These photographers sought (and often got) an intimate access far beyond the campaigns’ carefully curated images. The images will remain online through Nov. 15.

“Reporters listen, photographers look,” the late photojournalist Bill Eppridge said about the 1968 Robert F. Kennedy campaign.

“You’re searching for a perspective everybody isn’t getting,” gallery co-owner Sidney Monroe said. “You’re trying to get something beyond their image machine. It’s grueling.

“Campaigns were not as big; they were not as fast,” gallery co-owner Michelle Monroe added. “You could do a cross-country train trip. Everything now is not staged, but they try to control it. The very relationship with the press has changed everything – when you think of the press being complicit in hiding (Franklin) Roosevelt’s disability.”

Richard Nixon giving a speech to the residents of Suffolk County, New York, while on the 1968 campaign trail. By Irving Haberman.

Not a comprehensive exhibit, the show features only the artists in the gallery’s stable and their most significant campaigns.

The exhibition examines a time when photographing presidential campaigns often required patience and endurance: long days were the norm, and getting beyond the carefully constructed stagecraft and tightly scripted events proved difficult. Campaign staff and security frequently monitored (and controlled) the movement of media; capturing iconic visual symbols of democracy in action was the forte of the successful campaign photograph.

Hank Walker’s 1960 silhouette of John and Robert Kennedy conferring in a Los Angeles hotel bedroom shows the two brothers in deep conversation. Walker covered the campaign for Life magazine.

“Bobby was acting as campaign manager for Jack,” Sidney Monroe said. “That’s the moment Jack told Bobby he had chosen (Lyndon) Johnson as the vice presidential candidate. Bobby and Johnson were sworn enemies.

“Later, in the hallway, Walker saw Bobby storm out, swearing, ‘S—, s—, s—.’ ”

“Jack thought it was the only way he could win Texas,” Michelle added. “Bobby referred to Johnson as ‘an animal.’ ”

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and members of  the “Fearsome Foursome” of the Los Angeles Rams football team in Indianapolis, 1968. By Bill Eppridge.

Joe McNally’s 1988 portrait of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden riding a train captures the candidate in a contemplative mood.

“It was also after Biden had suffered an aneurysm and this was his return,” Sidney said. “(McNally) said he came across as a stoic, very relatable candidate.”

Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign. Photo by Brooks Kraft.

Irving Haberman’s campaign silhouette from 1968 shows the unmistakable shadow of Richard Nixon.

“It’s a prime example of a great campaign photograph,” Sidney said. “It’s dramatic, it carries a lot of weight; it’s kind of heroic.”

Most photographers captured Hillary Clinton emoting, with her mouth open, during the 2008 presidential race. Brooks Kraft took the opposite approach, shooting her listening to a constituent as she held a cup of coffee.

“He was the White House photographer for Time magazine for 10 years,” Sidney said.

John F. Kennedy, on-set monitor at the first-ever televised presidential debate, 1960. By Irving Haberman.

Kraft’s portrait of Barack Obama speaking in the rain reveals the determination and grit necessary to run for president.

“That’s actually Brooks’ favorite photograph,” Sidney said. “It really is a transcendent image.”

President Barack Obama speaks in the rain during a campaign rally in Glen Allen, Virginia, 2012. By Brooks Kraft.

In 1960 Haberman captured the Nixon-Kennedy first-ever TV debate from both the stage and its monitors.

“He was working for CBS as a photographer, so he had intimate access,” Sidney said. “It was the first time when candidates had to look good on TV. Everybody says the way Nixon looked is what sank him. There’s a lot packed into that picture.”

Joe Biden commuting on a train in 1988. By Joe McNally.

A trio of Eppridge’s Life magazine photographs capture both the excitement and the danger of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential bid. The images include the famous “Fearsome Foursome” Los Angeles Rams football players who served as his bodyguards. His passionate supporters ranged from people of color to women and immigrants. Eppridge said it was hard not to be inspired and retain his journalistic neutrality.

“It was after (Kennedy’s) brother’s assassination, which was an open wound,” Michelle said, “and the sense of hopelessness that the Vietnam War would go on forever.”

Eppridge said as the crowds swelled into pandemonium on a daily basis, even the press were in fear for the candidate’s life.

Eppridge would go on to take the famous photograph of a dying RFK at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel.

If you go

WHAT: “The Campaign”

WHEN: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Saturday

WHERE: Monroe Gallery  (Face masks required; limited to 10 visitors at a time)

HOW MUCH: Free to attend. Information at 505-982-0200, monroegallery.com

Mark Shaw’s photos of the Kennedys bring Camelot to Santa Fe

John Kennedy on dunes, Hyannis Port, 195

Via The Santa Fe Reporter

Sights of the Round Table
Ryan Collett

Camelot is coming to Santa Fe.

Jackie, John and the whole gang bring some classic New England Americana to the desert in an exhibit of rare photographs by Mark Shaw. Up until his death in 1969, Shaw was the Kennedy family’s private photographer, which gave him unprecedented access to intimate and candid moments.

Before landing his gig with the first family, Shaw worked as a fashion photographer for high-profile magazines, photographing such crown jewels of the 1950s as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Pablo Picasso. When LIFE magazine assigned him to cover JFK’s election bid in 1959, Shaw’s personal friendship with the Kennedys began, and voilà!—a photography goldmine.

And just in time for election season (err… well, sort of), Shaw’s photographs of the family shy away from typical presidential-candidate fodder such as panoramas of big crowds or fancy desks littered with briefings.

Instead, his images capture the unpredictable side—one you wouldn’t necessarily associate with a subject as bold as the Kennedys. One shot even shows a lonely Jackie perusing the aisles of a grocery store.

The photos are humanizing, debunking the mythos so often associated with the New Englanders, and they pack an emotional weight that could move even the most polarized of the politically polarized. Shaw’s photos take us away from the normal hubbub of Kennedy’s presidency—I can’t think of a better post-election detox than that.

Picture perfect: JFK and Jackie strike a pose for Shaw

The Kennedys: 5-7 pm Friday, Nov. 23 / Free / Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar Ave., 992-0800

Exhibition continues through January 27, 2013


Via La Journal de la Photographie

Santa Fe: Mark Shaw The Kennedys  (with slideshow)

Related - CBS News: Never-before-seen Kennedy family photos

Also currently on view: Stephen Wilkes Day To Night

George McGovern, the Quiet Warrior: Photos By Bill Eppridge From His ’72 Campaign

Slideshow here.

 

Via LIFE

 

 

Former U.S. Senator and 1972 presidential candidate George S. McGovern (b. 1922) has died after being admitted to a Sioux Falls hospice six days ago. He was 90 years old and had been in failing health “with a combination of medical conditions, due to age, that have worsened over recent months,” according to a statement from his family. From the mid-1960s through the early ’80s, he was one of the most prominent Democratic politicians in the United States — a proud liberal, decorated World War II veteran and tireless advocate for the poor and disenfranchised in America and around the world.

Here, LIFE.com remembers the native South Dakotan with a series of photos by LIFE’s Bill Eppridge, made on the campaign trail during the 1972 race for the presidency. Over the course of a few, heady months of that pivotal year, Americans were able to take the measure of the man to an extent that they never had before — and never would again. In November, he would lose to Richard Nixon in an historic landslide for the Republican incumbent; but during his time in the national spotlight, George McGovern articulated the progressive ideals he held dear as forcefully and as consistently as any candidate in the history of American presidential politics.

[Read Howard Chua-Eoan's McGovern obituary on TIME.com.]

Bill Eppridge recently told LIFE.com that, 40 years after that ’72 campaign, he recalled McGovern, the man, much more clearly than McGovern, the candidate. And he liked what he remembered.

“He was the sort of person,” Eppridge said, “that you’d want to have as a next-door neighbor. Friendly. Solid. He struck me as a genuine, down-to-earth person, and that’s not a quality you associate with many politicians. Not today, and not so much back then, either.”

Eppridge had documented Robert Kennedy’s 1968 campaign for the presidency and, famously, chronicled the violence-scarred final moments of RFK’s life as he lay dying in a bus boy’s arms on the floor of a Los Angeles hotel kitchen. Eppridge told LIFE.com that Bobby Kennedy’s death made it impossible for him to care, for years, about politics or politicians. He had grown into a Kennedy supporter and believer while covering the candidate in public and in private, and RFK’s murder in June 1968 left him bereft. He had to get away from the rough-and-tumble, and the unending stress, of high-stakes politics.

“But four years later,” he continues, “I was back covering a presidential race. McGovern’s campaign had a positive, unhurried feel to it. It ran smoothly, and McGovern himself was an easy guy to be around. The campaign had energy, of course, but it never felt frantic … or mean.”

[See more of Bill Eppridge's work at the Monroe Gallery of Photography.]

Below is an admittedly incomplete, at-a-glance biography of George McGovern — a man who led an exemplary American life, filled with accolades and victories as well as profound disappointments and searing personal loss. He will be missed.

George McGovern married his wife, Eleanor, in 1943, during the Second World War. They remained married for 64 years, until hear death in 2007. (She was also a native South Dakotan, and as a pilot during WWII McGovern named his B-24 bomber the “Dakota Queen” after her.)


Father of five children, including his late daughter, Teresa, who died in 1994 at the age of 45 after a long battle with alcoholism. McGovern later wrote a book, Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism, chronicling her struggle and the devastating effect her illness had on his family. In 2012, his son Steven died — after years of fighting alcoholism, as well.


Military Service: Pilot, B-24 Liberator, European Theater, WWII. Flew 35 missions, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals


Ph.D., Northwestern University


Congressman (D-SD), 1958-1960; United States Senator, 1963 – 1981


Publicly opposed American involvement in Vietnam as early as 1963


Democratic candidate for president, 1972; lost to Richard Nixon in a landslide, winning only the state of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. After the Watergate scandal destroyed Nixon’s presidency, cars were seen bearing bumper stickers that read, “Don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts.”


First-ever director of the United States’ Food for Peace program in 1961


Served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture (1998–2001); named World Food Prize co‑laureate in 2008


Gandhi Peace Award Laureate (1991)


Presidential Medal of Freedom (2000)