I didn't have a strong reaction until I hit the Gettysburg one. We've all grown up with black and white battlefield photos from old wars, but to see them in color is definitely a shock. It adds to the reality that these were people, real people, who lived in a world that had the same colors and such as the rest of us.
Also, the tone really changes in the photo of the unemployment line. There is a sudden contrast between the dark colors of the people below the bright and cheerful sign, it adds a huge emotional tone of optimism versus reality to the look of it.
I think they're beautiful, tbh. They're not better, but they allow us a different perspective and different emotional reactions.
I've seen that photo of Anne Frank countless times. I suspect most of us have. Seeing it in color, though? At the risk of sounding like a philistine, I must confess that her smile hit me much harder than it ever has before.
(which isn't to say I think it's better... just... a different and perfectly valid perspective, in my opinion)
It makes it feel more real to me. It's like when I see the old black and white pictures, it feels like something from "long ago" but the color pictures feel more like "the real world." I don't know how to explain it. Its definitely a more visceral reaction though.
I believe that on the original Reddit thread she posted these in (which should be linked from MSNBC, or you can google to find it, I was looking at it last night), she discusses a bit more about her process and things like how she makes her color decisions.
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Also, the tone really changes in the photo of the unemployment line. There is a sudden contrast between the dark colors of the people below the bright and cheerful sign, it adds a huge emotional tone of optimism versus reality to the look of it.
I think they're beautiful, tbh. They're not better, but they allow us a different perspective and different emotional reactions.
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I've seen that photo of Anne Frank countless times. I suspect most of us have. Seeing it in color, though? At the risk of sounding like a philistine, I must confess that her smile hit me much harder than it ever has before.
(which isn't to say I think it's better... just... a different and perfectly valid perspective, in my opinion)
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