Stefan Storz

Henri Carier-Bresson

Children playing in Ruins

Seville, Spain, 1933

The reason i chose this picture is because it affected my emotion in a different way.

When i started to consider the picture i got the feeling that the time stands still, nothing happens. The ruins are  lying around, there is no evidence of rebuilding them. The children are standing around, waiting or playing with the ruins but there is no evidence  of an atmosphere of departure.

Afterwards i started to consider  the expression of the children faces. In some faces you can see a sadness and a desperation that appears to reflect  the devastation of past happenings. I myself can could feel the hopelessness and sadness.

When i considered the expression of the children in the forground. i get the impression that these children are curious, looking into the camera  without fear of what is to come. Because of that i started to think about the future of these children and this situation. I realized that only young boys are shown in the photograpy, no adults and no girls. These children are young, they are able to start a fresh and to rebuild their lives. Because of this i feel hopeful for these children and i also begin to think i would like to help them and further understand their situation.

Something stopped me going futher in. I realized that i have had this impression the whole time, but i couldn’t find out what caused this. The wall is a barrier stopping me from entering into the story captured by the photographer. The hole in the wall has created a distance between the contemplator and the picture. It is also responsible  for the deepness in the picture and it gives the picture a better and stronger focus of the story.

And  i also think that the children are devided in three different groups of character by the wall.

The children in the foreground seem curious and more open, the children in the middle ground appear afraid, hanging around and don’t no what to do and the children in the backround - they are playing with stones against each other and two of them are standing there with a stone in their hand and looking directly in the camera as if they want to warn the photographer.

Even though i knew that the picture was taken in the 1933s, I get the feeling that this picture is timeless, it could also has been taken yesterday.

Joel Sternfeld

McLean, Virginia, December 1978

At first glance I found this photograph beguiling. A fireman buying a pumpkin while a house blazes in the backround - in December. This image appears in Sternfeld's most known book, American Prospects (1978). The book explores the irony of human-altered landscapes in the United States.

It was later revealed that the fire in this image was no accident but part of a practical training exercise carried out by the local MVFD. What is important is that there was no prior arrangement between the MVFD and Sternfeld to have this photograph taken. Sternfeld came upon the scene mid-afternoon, set up the 8x10 he had stored in his car and captured the image. Chance favours the prepared mind and Sternfeld in this case happened to be in the right place at the right time. The setting, season and time of day are all important aspects of this images's formation.