Reading Assignment: Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men

Bright’s comparison of Pfahl’s and Lewenz’s photographs of Three Mile Island (TMI) was very interesting to me. I really appreciate the choices a photographer makes in portraying a subject and these two extremes–beautifying the industrial and environmentally costly versus framing this eyesore as it appears from the windows of local homes–were a really interesting way of exploring the possible variety of a photograph’s potential impact. The politics and marketing strategies here were also quite opposite. It also made me think about the fine art world and how things like this are considered today. It’s been almost 30 years since this was published, but is it still so exclusive and political? Are such a small elite group targeted with only rare choices made for art for the masses, such as Lewenz’s?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *