| Existing comment:
Technological development also played a major role in the practices of photojournalism. The invention of the lightweight 35mm camera used with flexible, celluloid film in the 1920s revolutionized war photography by enabling photographers to capture the action of battle, and swiftly relay film to their publishers. The preferred camera used by Soviet, and many other photojournalists for much of the 20th century, was the compact, portable 35mm camera, such as the German-made Leica. While using flexible film instead of glass or metal plates was a great advancement for photojournalism, (and perhaps incomprehensible to digital photographers today,) the process does not allow one to see the photos until they are developed, often first in the form of contact prints. A contact print is made by cutting a roll of film into strips, laying the film negative onto photo-sensitive paper, and developing it as one sheet. Most of Zelma’s photographs, previously donated to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, are in the form of small proofs or contact prints, annotated by the photographer, and attached to envelopes. Those marked with red circles are presumably the ones chosen by him to send, and his Moscow editor to publish. Larrabee’s film negatives and contact prints on display give an idea of how selective she was in composing each shot, and which other options were left on the roll. Her markings indicate her directions to the developer on cropping, burning (darkening) or dodging (lightening) certain areas. Her archives of Libertas magazine, also on display, indicate which photographs were actually published at the time. |