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Salzburg, Austria

"No place is boring if you've had a good night's sleep and a pocket full of film." - Robert Adams
​
"Tea first, then photography..." - Philip Lee Harvey

From an Article written by Philip Lee Harvey

The New Indonesia

7/5/2017

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Looking through one of my favorite photography books "The Family of Man", I ran across a Henri Cartier-Bresson image of an Indonesian woman in a market. That got me looking to see when he went and why.  Obviously in 1949 Indonesia was obtaining its independence from the Dutch. This was the end of an colonization that started in the 1602.  

The story is one of legend, literally legend. As countries began exploring and expanding the European countries were fighting to dominate trade. While the English are well known, it was the Dutch that were the most successful. This success was driven by the first publicly traded company called the Dutch East India Company chartered in 1602. The company had broad ranging powers, they could attack, take war and colonize. 

They did this is the area that is today called Jakarta and ruled over this part of the world until the Japanese take over in the 1940's. By 1945, two atomic bombs drove the Japanese to surrender and re-awoken the Indonesian desire for independence. It was declared, and while the Dutch fought it for another four years they ultimately got their much desired independence. 

A news worthy event drew Magnum and specifically Henri Cartier-Bresson. He arrived with his characteristic Leica and shot some memorable pictures, many of which were shown in the February 13th, 1950 issue. One of these images made it into the Family of Man exhibition created by Edward Steichen.
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Looking through the magazine, I could not help but notice how normal it looked. The images, individually, are viewed as art but in the magazine, surrounded by the light story of Indonesia it is just another tool to communicate.

You no longer look at the pictures for their artistic worth, you look at them to better understand the subject. This fact, reminded me of how much we have lost with the death of print media. Perhaps, like vinyl records and film, it will return and the photographer will have a job. 

And maybe, just maybe, that job will give us another world of art just as Henri Cartier-Bresson did.
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    Patrick...confirmed film & digital photography addict.

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Photos used under Creative Commons from left-hand, Ant Jackson, Skley, mikecogh, Helen.Yang, TheeErin, Dean Hochman, CJS*64, DaveR1988, FootMassagez, Loco Steve, dmytrok, Christiaan Colen
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Vintage Cameras
    • Argus 75
    • Brownie Flash II
    • Contax G2
    • Ensign Selfix 820
    • FED-1 (PE0320)
    • Graflex Crown Graphic
    • Ihagee Exa
    • Leica M6
    • Nikon S2
    • Nikon F
    • Nikon F2
    • Nikon F3
    • Nikon FA
    • Olympus OM-1
    • Olympus OM-2 SPOT
    • Olympus Stylus
    • Pentacon Six
    • Pentax Spotmatic IIa
    • Rollei 35
    • Voigtlander 15mm ver III
    • Yashica C
    • Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2
  • Learning Composition
    • The Monochrome Diaries
    • Single & Multi Elements
    • Symmetry
    • Keep the Right Strong
    • Framing
    • Color in Composition
    • Deep Dive Bubble Man
    • Photo Assignments
  • Darkroom Lessons
    • Building a Sink
    • Air Ventilation
    • Analyser Pro
    • Development Hints
    • Primer for Film Photography
    • Bulk Loading Film
    • Pushing & Pulling Film
    • Color Development
    • Digital Contact Sheets
    • Stick to One Film Stock?
    • HP5+ Shot at 200 ISO
    • HP5 Shot at 1600 ISO
    • HP5 Shot at 3200 ISO
    • Medium Format
    • Washing Film
    • Split Grade Printing
    • Using Distilled Water in Film Development
    • Darkroom Paper
    • Foma100 EI 400
  • Photography Books & Films
    • Colin O'Brien
    • Lartigue Life in Color
    • Magnum Contact Sheets
    • Top Photography Movies
    • William Eggleston's Guide
    • Helen Levitt
    • Sally Mann Immediate Family
    • Saul Leiter Early B&W
    • Leica 100 yrs
    • Calendar Days of Asaya Hamaya
    • The Decisive Moment
    • Regarding Women
    • Robert Capa in Love and War
  • Single Image Deep Dive
    • Sergio Larrain "A Man After Dark"
    • Colin O'Brien 'Comings & Goings"
    • Erwitt Mother & Child
    • Man Running
    • Samuel Becket
    • Koudelka Wristwatch
    • Dovima with Elephants