In this chapter the author investigates reasons for the
White House Photography Program never completing, “The President’s Choice”, a project of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. On January 9th, 1965, President LBJ asked that all heads of departments submit three photographs at the first of each month. The idea was to capture the spirit of America in that time and display the best representations in an exhibit and a photography book. In my opinion this photography contest was more than the President showing his interest in photography. If you consider the
circumstances of the time, drawing from a Functionalist perspective, I believe LBJ was using the contest to build up his image and promote his presidency in a popular new medium that appealed to the masses. When the nominated photos failed to paint a picture that LBJ desired of himself the contest was abandoned. Author Gregory Stanczak further investigated problems with the “President’s Choice” at the White House Central files in the LBJ library in Austin. It appeared that there were two competing approaches within the selection committee that included Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, and John Szarkowski. It seemed the committee was having trouble evaluating images according to their ability to communicate feeling and the formal appeal and sufficiency of the photos. The President chose a program director who was the head of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, Szarkowski, knowing his style of formalism. LBJ’s intention of the pictures to show emotion was better matched for Edward Steichen, government photographer on the committee with an approach to the medium that was more humanistic. Unfortunately, through correspondence between Szarkowski and a Presidential consultant it seems that the committee chose to not select based on the lack of formal aesthetic value (Stanczak 2007). When viewing the nominated images, I can see the two different styles of photography and find both offer something useful. For visual use in a research project the formalist approach seems to record and document facts in the clearest way. In my study on meditation the ability to capture a feeling with a picture would better serve me. From this chapter I was considering a before and after series of the participants before they had meditated and then after a session to see if there were any facial signs or body language cues that could be recognized. Reading about the President’s failure I realize this idea may be more difficult for an amateur like myself.
Gregory C. Stanczak (2007) Visual Research Methods: Image, Society, and Representation (VRMISR), Sage Publications
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