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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2009-05-26
Birthday Milestones and Great Genes
Jim McNay says we should raise a glass to Miles Davis and Eugene Smith.
By Jim McNay
Photo by Robert Caplin For The New York Times
Miles Davis' grave at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. Nov. 18, 2008.
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Birthday milestones are being celebrated this year. "Kind of Blue," the Miles Davis jazz album, is 50. Photographer Eugene Smith would be 90. Raise a glass.
"Kind of Blue" has been called the most influential jazz recording ever. Not bad for an album that only had five songs when it was originally released. For years this has been recommended as THE essential album every jazz aficionado should own.
W. Eugene Smith is still regarded in photojournalism as the storyteller’s storyteller. He dug deeper, spent more time, got farther inside his subject matter than anyone in his time. He set the standard for documentary photographers who want to tell important stories. His passion was to speak for those who do not have the resources to tell their own stories.
Musicians and photographers on top of their game will celebrate the contribution of these legends. These things aren’t old, they’re signposts.
Musicians won’t listen to Davis' music with the intention of copying him. Rather they’ll cue up his music to understand his influence, to see why the album is such a touchstone. They'll let their minds crawl around inside the chord changes. They'll pick apart the solos. They'll wrestle with the question, “Where did THAT come from?”
Aspiring photojournalists will look at Smith’s picture stories and photo essays with similar questions. How DID Smith capture the oppressiveness of life under a dictator with his "Spanish Village" essay? How did he think it, and then how did he see it and capture it with a camera?
Looking at Smith's examples and working through the process may open doors for aspiring photographers as they work on the projects to which they are committed.
So, take a moment, offer up some Smiles for Miles, sip a little Caffeine for Gene. Celebrate.
Jim McNay teaches and writes about photojournalism in California—while fantasizing about running a charter fishing business in Key West.
Related Links:
McNay's member page
McNay's website
Book: W. Eugene Smith: His Life and Photographs
Book: Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project, 1955-1958
Book: W. Eugene Smith: Photographs 1934-1975
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