Walker Evans was under pressure to portray the government in a positive light in his photographs. Can you recall other similar situations / times in the past when images have been created to help tell a certain truth or untruth?
(WALKER EVANS)
Earlier in the month, my mom and dad dragged me to the NYS Museum with the idea that I would see something "I would really enjoy" (their words.) Obviously, I didn't trust them and so I dragged my feet and complained a couple times before I found out that we were going to see an exhibit titled "This Great Nation Will Endure." The exhibit is a collection of photographs from the Great Depression when the government hired a group of photographers (including Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, and Walker Evans among others.) This was the first time that I had ever heard of Walker Evans or that the government did such a thing as hire photographers to document America's history as it happened. President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought these artists together under the title FSA in 1937 which was a re-transformation of a previous administration called the Resettlement Administration which had a prominent photographic unit. Essentially, the photographers in President Roosevelt's company became the people to define photojournalism and are the prominent artists from the 1920s. Theirs works were created as a documentary experience to tell the 'truth' about America's history (specifically the lives of the average agricultural American.)
This was the first that I had ever heard of such a unit, but photographers have taken initiative from these famous artists and have continued photojournalism as a profession. People like Evans and Lange had photographs features on the front pages of newspapers and magazines so that people could see the 'truth.' Now, on a far less artistic scale, photographers for magazines snap away at major events to give the public the latest news. How truthful is this news? I am not sure. More often than not, ratty tabloids will twist images so that they can deceive the public into believing gossip and lies.
Walker Evans was under pressure to make the government look positive as he took photographs of rural America in the Great Depression. Since, photojournalism has transformed into a less artistic media more often than not, and often uses photographs to bend the public to their will. By twisting photographs they are allowing the public to believe an 'untruth.'
Renee, this is a lovely post. I like the description of your mini-field trip full of suspicion and doubt -- perhaps these are also the attitudes that consumers of "photojournalism" lack? I was very much looking forward to your last paragraph, but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations. I'd like to see a fuller analysis and another grammar/spell check.
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