The idea for the Long Views/Short Events project began with the photograph of Dean Gunnarson escaping from a straight jacket while suspended upside down from the Winnipeg Free Press building. A re-creation of a similar feat by Harry Houdini in 1923. The camera I was using was a Graflex Crown Graphic 4×5. The press cameras that brash photographers, in movies from the c.1930’s, carry.
The photograph in the newspaper the following day was close up of Dean Gunnerson, upside down. I had taken a photograph from the back of the crowd which more resembled the photograph taken of Harry Houdini, by L.B. Foote, which gave equal attention to the crowd, location etc. Early press photographs of events often tried to answer the who? what? when? where? and how? questions. The photographs in the Long Views/Short Events series attempt the same but are not of particularly newsworthy events, no offence to those pictured. And, though shooting 4×5 film, I opted for a snapshot aesthetic.
The exhibit starts with a photograph from 1981. It and the other photographs, 1981-88, are put there for scale. A time scale. In 1989 I attempted to maintain a news coverage schedule for a couple of months.
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6 Responses
Nice work Rob!
People in places
Lots of familiar faces and places
Thanks Brock
Love it!
Thanks Bob
Rush hour in 1989 hardly deserves that name. You need to take a picture of it now (or maybe wait until next July to show what a difference 35 years makes.)
It’s been 34 years, but I still feel the crush …