Carl Mydans

The photographs of Carl Mydans seem to me to be emblematic of the golden age of journalistic photography. I don't mean to say that there is a specific, accepted "golden age" for journalist photographers, but in my mind there is. I know that war photographers still exist, in great numbers and armed with all the latest gadgets and technology, but their methods and process seem so far removed from the immediacy and almost carefree nature of these photographs. In one of the websites, it mentions that Mydans would often send unprocessed film to the home office. That tells me that he was uninterested in seeing his results---he was just interested in getting there and somehow recording it.

I guess there's always that side of the war photographer that just wants to be there, in the action where all the adrenaline is. This quality of the war photographer mystique makes it difficult for me, sometimes, to fully support their efforts. Sometimes I feel like war photographers trivialize their subjects by almost using the camera as a free pass into the world's most exciting locales. Other times it doesn't bother me so much. Mydans' work is thoughtfully shot, so as to make for an interesting composition that tells a significant story, and I can't say that they aren't dramatic. The photographs he took during the 1948 Earthquake in Japan are filled with tension almost to the breaking point. There is one that I'm thinking of that shows a building in the process of falling over. This enormous moment, frozen in time, carries so much weight and suspense that I almost find it difficult to look at the photograph. Obviously, it's not a war photograph, but it carries the same problems involving sensationalism. I don't think Mydans' was a sensationalist, but it's hard not to allow yourself to be carried away by the drama and the history when looking at these.