chicken or egg
Roger Fenton’s assistant, Sparling. 1855. Library of Congress, via Errol Morris.
Oh, Errol. My crush on Errol Morris escalates by the minute. In today’s installment of his intermittent NYTimes blog he dissects one of my favorite photographic tales, wherein Roger Fenton, Crimean war photographer extraordinaire, ostensibly staged the famed Valley of the Shadow of Death photograph by dragging spent cannonballs out of a ditch, highlighting and dramatizing the danger at hand with available symbols. Two photographs from that day (below) have been customarily presented as evidence of this pre-digital-manipulation: one with cannonballs on road, one with cannonballs in ditch. But… not so fast… pesky cannonballs can both be dragged onto a road and may also be pushed off of a road. Which photograph came first?
As a fan of retrospective readings into images, flights of fancy (poor Roger Fenton’s aching back, for example: “oh, this cannonball is just too heavy!”), and the general embracing of visual ambiguity, I love the discussion that ensues between Errol Morris and various interested parties. The subsequent flurry of amateur-detective comments is also not to be missed. Even better, a 2nd installment on this story is promised. I’m on tenterhooks.
Roger Fenton. Valley of the Shadow of Death. 1855.
Roger Fenton. Valley of the Shadow of Death. 1855