The Other Side

Saigoneer has some excellent photos of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces from all years of the American War in Vietnam.  Two are particularly striking.  The first is of local militias firing at US warplanes.  They are firing what look like SKS rifles, a a 10 round, semi-automatic weapon, against a jet bomber.  I give them credit for determination.  That characteristic, determination, is woven throughout the photos, whether it's hauling supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail, performing surgery in an underground bunker, sighting a mortar, or female guerrilla fighters at the ready with their weapons. 

The second striking image is of a US plane heading directly for a impact, trailing black smoke and its pilot parachuting into life as a prisoner of war.  Here, too is a reminder of that determination.  All along the images reveal low-tech, sometimes primitive technology.  Yet in the end a mighty force is brought down by the determination of its less powerful adversary.

It's a timeless story. 

postscript

I couldn't figure out a way to make a copy that would do the image justice.  You'll have to go there yourself or just take my word.

The Official Tissue Dispenser

This photo accompanied a story about Iran President Rouhani attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.  It's a very nice image.  Rouhani looks both dignified, as becoming a president, and personable.  The lighting is good and image is balanced in an interesting way.   I'd crop it a bit to cut out some of the wall and curtain space but not to change the balance.  Don't know if this is an official portrait but it's definitely quite formal. 

So why the tissue dispenser on the table?  Admittedly a very nice tissue dispenser but not an accessory that suggests authority.   A law book or learned text, perhaps.  An Iranian president who is also a cleric might want a Koran.  There is an official-looking item on the table but it doesn't compare to that tissue dispenser. 

My photographer's eye just keeps coming back to that dispenser.

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* No doubt a digital image rather than actual print but composition is the same.  

A Vietnam Archive

Came across the story of Charlie Haughey, a Vietnam infantryman photographer who took many, many photographs of his unit in 1968-69 and is just now printing from scanned images of negatives never printed.  A show of Haughey's work opened in Portland this past Friday.

His photos show Vietnam as I remember it.  A bit different in some details from my own experience but close enough.  Even more than simply bringing back memories, Haughey's images highlight much of the war's little known detail.
 
This guy looks barely old enough to be a soldier, much less one humping that big, heavy machine gun and looking at the world with those steely eyes. But the jungle was indeed that green.

 This photo is my favorite, a nice composition of chaos and strength--the strength of the Chinook hoisting that Huey and the chaos of all that chaff flying in the Chinook's rotor wash.   Nice composition and black and white exposure. 

Haughey's website has lots more.  It's worth checking out.  The story of the collaboration that brought these prints to light is worth reading as well.

Vietnam 1932

 A bridge on Yunnan-northern Vietnam railway.

Via Bad Attitudes I came across VietnamNetBridge and found this collection of Vietnam photos from 1932.

The world as it was.

More Vietnam B&W

The utility poles and lines in Vietnam caught my B&W photographer's eye in a big way. Lots of dark lines converging against an open sky--just the thing for B&W film. I have a series of shots like these and they all look like the linemen were on acid when they strung these lines: gaggles of wires going everywhere, sometimes anchored to balconies in between the utility poles. Many of the poles had public address speakers. On our last morning in Hanoi Maggie and I heard announcements but didn't have a clue what they were about.



These images are scanned from 8x10 proof prints. The previous ones were scanned from my contact sheet. I don't see much difference in the blog images

Change is Gonna Come

The dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt are perfect examples of what Ted Rall describes as the real turning point: when things get bad enough you won't care that the post-change may not turn out better or that you may die in the process of making that change. You just know that change must come and take the risk. Tunisians and Egyptians have come to that point and seized an opportunity for change. I wish them well. Their task will be as difficult and uncertain as it is courageous and bold.

Regarding Egypt, a link to this very fine photo blog came my way this morning. The photographs of Friday's demonstration and clashes with the riot police capture the chaos, the human cost and determination of the protesters. Looking at the riot police I wonder what it must feel like to attack your own citizens. As of this writing, it looks like the Army is unwilling to do that.

Appropriately, the link came with this comment:

This last picture of the woman kissing the cop tells the deep truth. When the police realize that they are the defenders of the people, not of the government or propertied interests, and the people welcome the police to their side as brothers, the tyrants are through. Same with the military. Don't be violent with the people and they won't be violent with you. The human impulse is always toward freedom. Be on the right side of history, soldiers and cops, in Egypt and around the world. Join the popular will to freedom. Anything else makes you a puppet instead of a human being. It makes you a bully, and possibly a murderer. What will you tell your children and grandchildren then? What will you tell God?

Photo News

Spent five hours in the darkroom today. Developed eight rolls of film shot in Vietnam and printed five contact sheets. Tomorrow I develop the remaining two rolls and print the rest of the contact sheets.

Here are two images of a sidewalk motorbike mechanic in Da Nang.