Roger Fenton. Fenton Crimean War Photographs: Lybrary of Congress
Las fotografías de Roger Fenton de la Guerra de Crimea, además de ser uno de los primeros corpus de fotografía de guerra, fotoperiodismo diríamos hoy, de la historia son de gran calidad.
Como materialmente no podía realizar la foto de la batalla pues las cámaras de su tiempo no se lo permitían, Fenton recoge, básicamente dos momentos de la Guerra.
Si comparamos esta fotos de guerra, realizadas a mediados del siglo XIX, con fotos de guerra del siglo XX vemos como, con muchos menos medios, sirvieron para informar perfectamente, documentar, lo sucedido ante la cámara.
- Los retratos de sus soldados, aislados o en sus campamentos.
- Los resultados de la batalla.
La librería del Congreso dispone, pone a nuestro alcance muchas de estas fotos que se pueden descargar libremente.
About the Roger Fenton Crimean War Photographs Collection
Roger Fenton's Crimean War photographs represent one of the
earliest systematic attempts to document a war through the medium
of photography. Fenton, who spent fewer than four months in the
Crimea (March 8 to June 26, 1855), produced 360 photographs under
extremely trying conditions. While these photographs present a
substantial documentary record of the participants and the
landscape of the war, there are no actual combat scenes, nor are
there any scenes of the devastating effects of war.
He aquí algunos ejemplos de la calidad de las fotos de Roger Fenton
Captain Clifford, aide-de-camp to General Buller
The valley of the shadow of death
Esta foto está considerada por varios autores dentro del grupo de las mejores fotos de la historia de la fotografía.
Véase el comentario del Getty sobre esta foto
Fenton's most famous photograph is also one of the most well-known
images of war. Across a desolate and featureless landscape, not a single
figure can be found. The landscape is inhabited only by cannonballs--so
plentiful that they first appear to be rocks--that stand in for the
human casualties on the battlefield. The sense of emptiness and unease
is heightened by the visual uncertainty created by the changing scale of
the road and the sloping sides of the ravine.
Borrowing from the Twenty-third Psalm of the Bible, the Valley of Death was named by British soldiers who came under constant shelling there. Fenton traveled to the dangerous ravine twice, and on his second visit he made two exposures. Fenton wrote that he had intended to move in closer at the site. But danger forced him to retreat back up the road, where he created this image.
Borrowing from the Twenty-third Psalm of the Bible, the Valley of Death was named by British soldiers who came under constant shelling there. Fenton traveled to the dangerous ravine twice, and on his second visit he made two exposures. Fenton wrote that he had intended to move in closer at the site. But danger forced him to retreat back up the road, where he created this image.
Quiet day in the "Mortar Battery"
Cossack Bay, Balaklava
Looking towards Mackenzie's Heights, tents of the 33rd Regiment in the foreground
