Gene Smith‘s ‘Country Doctor’ was instantly recognised as a major achievement when first published in 1948 in Life, though had he been alive and working now he would have been lucky to have got more than 3 or 4 pictures in print. The Life Classic feature shows the 28 that made up this essay, and elsewhere another 11 that didn’t make the cut.
It’s certainly good to be able to look back at one of the great classic photo-essays on line, though perhaps a pity that they don’t show the page spreads as they were published.
Thanks to NPR for pointing me to this feature from their own Revisiting ‘Country Doctor,’ A 1948 Photo Essay though I’m surprised that they decided to put their own set of a few images from it in the article rather than linking to the full (and better quality) set at Life.
Yesterday I visited the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Final Show 2011 at the London College of Communication at the Elephant and Castle, entitled ‘Neither Snake Nor Lizard‘ which is supposedly open until Saturday, although unfortunately a few bits have already disappeared.
Probably the most impressive parts I could see were some of the books that the photographers had produced (using Blurb etc), along with one or two on-screen presentations. Other than those (and the videos may be on line) you are better off viewing the web sites of photographers that are linked from the show site. And certainly some student’s work did look better on screen than in the prints on the wall. This is perhaps as it should be, because if there is any outlet at all for documentary work it is probably either as books or as on-screen presentations. And photographic books as I read somewhere earlier today (and can’t remember where or the exact quote) are more of an “organised hobby” than a career option.
The work that I felt was strongest was almost entirely that which was more obviously documentary, whereas despite the course title some of what I saw seemed to lack the kind of purpose and clarity which is at the essence of the genre (and arguably of the medium as a whole.) I did begin to wonder at times whether the course had been designed to divert photographers from documentary rather than nurture them in it, and certainly some looked more like commercial or fine art photographers (which will make it easier for them to earn a living!) Fortunately they seem to have failed at least with some of the students and there was some work which showed the kind of dedication to the subject which might have gladdened Smith’s heart.