Umberto Eco states that an iconic image “no longer speaks of that single character or of those characters, but expresses concepts” (Wikipedia, (n.d))
I would have to agree with mass media and even more today with social media a photograph can have an impact larger than the subject or the photographer. The moment an image that has the potential to create an impactful visual expression. The public absorbs it more quickly than any words written or spoken.
Eddie Adams Vietnamese prisoner being executed
What aesthetic consideration gives this photo iconic status?
This image won the Pulitzer Prize in 1968. Adams captured this image as the execution took place. The prisoner who had his hands tied behind his back and shot in the street became
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Still photographs are the most powerful weapons in the world. People believe them; but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn’t say was, “What would you do if you were the General at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?”
What compositional consideration gives these photos iconic status?
The compositional consideration is the way the image was framed. By giving the public a the illusion of gaining the full understanding visually of what is happening, where it is happening, and who is involved. This is the key thing that set this image apart from other war photos.
It built a story without using a single word. Cropping the frame just enough to allow the image of a solder on the left side of the Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the South Vietnam chief national police, while the prisoner stand in the right side of the frame effectively putting the pistol in Loans hand center frame. The fact that Adams captured the gun as it shot the prisoner made the image brutal which still remains chilling until this