Magnum Blog / The Falling Lego

The Falling Lego

by Marcos Vilariño by Funadium by El Fotopakismo by Balakov

Pierre Morel

Very funny !

Andy

I first impression is to read these as (cynical?) statements about the trivialization of photography and the photographer. Are images like this an insult to Capa, not to mention the actual dying man, or could they be a reflexive (not necessarily intentional) insult directed at the photographers who took them and others like them? That is, do they express disgust with what the photographers are doing as opposed to living and photographing in a "great" way with Capa as the ideal?

Alessandro

I do not understand if this is the reppresentation of the decadence of this agency, a bad joke combined with simple self glorification or the strong will to show the power that photography has had and has still now trough capillary comunicative innate abilities.

Andy

Sorry, the first word should be "my."

iang

Trivialization? or maybe an example of the life of a photograph, how an iconic image becomes part of a visual vocabulary.

bobblack

rather than the trivialization of either Capa or the photograph (a photograph, by the way, that besides its iconic status as also met with ambiguous concern: was it a staged, was it a shot of a soldier practicing, etc), i see it as further evidence of it's luminous strength. I'd be ecstatic if any artist/photographer/madfolk felt one of my own images was so strong as to be re-made with humour ...let alone with a legos....

it's funny, smart and ultimately exciting that photography, far from those who''d which to keep it's place ghetto'd to a clean, clear humorless academy, has a mutability that is as brilliant and malleable as a laugh :))))

on a side note, Alec, there is a toronto photographer here who did a complete re-=creation of Dr. Strangelove with stills and using objects laying around the house...it was a funny and brilliant exhibition: here is a link:

his name is Kristan Horton:

look here: scroll to the part about Strangelove:

http://www.kristanhorton.com/2006.htm

http://www.jessicabradleyartprojects.com/artists/kristan_horton/show

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/galleries/dr_strangelove_dr_strangelove/

show was hilarious and brilliant :)))...

cheers,
bob

Jacek Taran

Are we living in civilization of children? Of toys? Probably yes...

Darrell Eager

Very interesting. It's like historical shorthand dictated with toys.

Ulrich

I like the interpretation by iang above.

As 75 percent of the images link to flickr, here is another link to flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32345496@N03/sets/72157612319891701/

bobblack

Alec:

left a comment last night :))))...will wait until Martin retrieves it from spam/moderation...but lots of cool links: to a photographer here who made an entire re-make of Dr. Strangelove with photographs, using household items :))))

running
bob

david bowen

the question is whether the lego was truly caught in the moment or whether the shot was choreographed
(yawn)

ulrich - thats a good link.. had seen it already.
also - check the ning group ´frames of reality¨ for the situation as photographed by Palestinians..
http://edutmekomit.ning.com/

david

j

please, less jokes and more magnum photographers in Gaza.

Ulrich

that is an interesting site, thank you, david

Carlo Schüller

I think photos like these should not be posted here. Mangnum stands for an well reputaded image source. Your photographers keep important moments of our history. Rebuilding a allready photographed scene with lego and photographing it, shows lack of good creativity of the photographers and should be only posted on flickr or so...

If this blog run out of photos, I am ready to donate pictures of a reportage I did latly in Senegal. Please have a look: http://www.carloschueller.ch/d/reportagen/fotos.htm

Jesse Dittmar

Oh come on everyone lighten up! Its great to see some subjects taken a little lighthearted sometimes. This photograph has been at the center of every "is photography objective / subjective, staged / real, or how much is too much manipulation" argument since it was created. Its refreshing splash of cold water to look at parody image making. Its too depressing out there not to poke some fun once in a while.

-
JD
www.jdittmarphoto.com

david bowen

i think it is funny to see how overdone the parody is.. and so it´s fun to see here..

bravo...vo....vo...

Riaz

I'm with Jesse. These images where neither taken nor edited by magnum. they are from flicker the last one if from a set of iconic images recreated with Legos. this is meant both as light hearted satire and as a comment on the power of the visual image. you see the image in legos but your mind automatically connects it to the original. mashups and visual satire are a part of art, look at work as wide ranging as Banksy and man ray.

ya'all need to get a sense of humor. because if you can't laugh at something like this then your really just a humorless git and a waste of space.

T. Mike Fletcher

People do this type of BS don't have enough common sense , and to much time to think it,good, funny. Or a footnote to a great photo. What are they going to do next week?

Anna Kuperberg

Funny! I love the first one best.

josu zaldibar

Impresionante y singular homenaje a Capa. Apasionantes trabajos, realizados de una manera brillante, felicidades.
www.flickr.com/photos/josuzeta