Magnum Degrees - Photos

The Magnum Degrees book is pretty huge, I thought it worthwhile noting which photographs grabbed me most and why. Many of the photographs have a political or strongly emotional or "call to action" element, however for the most part I just judged them as photographs.

Lise Sarfati - The Serbsky institution for psychiatric expertise. Moscow, 1995
Both the colours and graphical nature to the composition are attention grabbing here. The 2 figures to the left side, leaning at angles and looking down and out from the frame add a strong compositional dynamic which is unexpected and unusual. The large, torn photograph at the top of the picture has an interesting effect on the composition, which I can't quite explain.
This is one of the most unusual and interesting photographs I've seen in a long time.

Josef Koudella - The effects of acid rain. Czech Republic, 1991
Josef Koudella - New rubbish disposal site. Czech Republic, 1991
These 2 are interesting for their stark, graphical quality. The panoramic frame proportions also emphasise the flatness of the landscape.

Henri Cartier-Bresson - l'isle-sur-la-Sorgue. France 1988
This one is both different to Bresson's usual style and also to most other photos in the book. It has an abstract quality which initially makes it difficult to ascertain the subject. But the duck gives it away. And it's the duck that transforms this from a being a potentially unexciting almost painterly photo (what's them name of that style of photography which wanted to be like painting? I think Cartier-Bresson was originally an adherent of that style or one derived from it?), into something which is far more fitting with Cartier-Bresson's genius.

Luc Delahaye - Portraits shot with a hidden camera. Paris Metro, 1995-7
These portraits have a very direct and immediate impact - particularly when they are put next to each other because there is something very similar about the expressions of the subjects - particularly the distant gaze of the eyes and perhaps even the proportion of the eyes within the structure of the face.
Apparently the work is a comment on identity and ownership of identity which is made particularly relevant in relation to photography by the fact that taking and publishing these photographs is essentially illegal (?) as it's not permitted to take photos of people without their permission in France (or something like that).
Also, the pictures are very reminiscent of the work of Walker Evans in the New York Metro many years earlier.

(Couple of other interesting things I came across while doing a bit of Googling on this - Nan Goldin's montages combining her portraits with those of classical art + Chris Marker who has done a lot of work on underground trains and seems to try and join comparisons with classical portraiture - I think I'll do some more research on him).

Peter Marlow - The hearse, flanked by police motorcycles, travels up the M1 motorway to Althorp for the burial service. England, 1997
Peter Marlow - Bungee jumper at 'adrenaline village'. Battersea, London, 1997
Peter Marlow - The world capital of suicide. Beachy Head, Sussez, 1997

These 3 photographs work very well as a combined unit. They seem to comment on suicide and mortality. They each have a strong graphical quality which is unique within the 3, but the subject matter gives them a unity and meaning which they would otherwise lack. Equally the means by which they comment on death is different - the cliff is only related by the title which tells us that it's the platform for many suicides, the bungee jumper is related because the cliff makes us think of people jumping from cliffs. Meanwhile the funeral procession has a far more direct relation.However, I'm guessing this is the Diana procession - so this has multiple layers of meaning and commentary on death, mourning and mortality also.

This set is perhaps quite relevant for the final Narrative part of this course.