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Rolling Shutter: The Greyhound Project
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Photography in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Photography at Savannah College of Art and Design
Ryan Keith Moore
Atlanta
© May, 2015
V. Elizabeth Turk, Committee Chair
Sandra Lee Phipps, Committee Member
Suellen Parker, Committee Member
DEDICATION
To my dearest family:
My mother Mary Nell & Denise Mongrain, fathers Richard & Paul, and sister
Shannon for your unwavering support, with regards to my personal, professional,
artistic, and educational endeavors.
The men and women—past and present—of the United States Armed Forces.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank the following for generously offering their feedback, guidance, expertise,
and most especially their support in completing this work and for making this experience
invaluable to me both creatively and personally.
Dean & Professor Steve Aishman
Professor Scott Dietrich
Professor Michael Rush
Professor V. Elizabeth Turk
Professor Sandra Lee Phipps
Professor Suellen Parker
Professor Forest McMullin
Professor David Jones
Professor Pete Christman
Professor Emily Webb
Ajay Malghan
Becca Ewing
Nicole LeCorgne
Allison Earnest
Graduate Colleagues, SCAD Hong Kong & Atlanta
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1……………………………………………………………………………I. ABSTRACT
2.…………………………………………………………………...II. INTRODUCTION
4…………………………………………………………III. A COMPACT OF ETHICS
5..…………………………………………………………..…..IV. THE DESTINATION
6.………………………………………………………………………….V. INCEPTION
7....………………………………………………...…………………VI. TRANSITIONS
11..………………………………...…VII. THE PHONE AS “THE FOURTH WALL”
12…..…………...…VIII. THE SOCIAL AGE OF HIPSTAMATIC & INSTAGRAM
14………………..…....................................................................IX. BENJIMAN LOWY
16……………………………………………………………….…X. DAMON WINTER
16…………………………XI. A RESPONSE OF CONTENTION & CONVENTION
19..………………………………………………….XII. THE ROAD OF INFLUENCE
21…………………………………………………………………...XIII. CONCLUSION
23…………………………………………………………..……FIGURE INVENTORY
26….……………………………………………...…………………………….FIGURES
42………………………………………………………………………..WORKS CITED
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I. ABSTRACT
Rolling Shutter: The Greyhound Project
Ryan Keith Moore
May, 2015
“Affordable” travel in the United States by way of the Intrastate Bus is, chiefly, the domain of Greyhound Lines, Inc. Those beholden to a single carrier, whose dominance is a testament
to customer indifference, straddle or fall well below the poverty line. At large, they are marginalized or socially maligned Americans. Wherever these passengers venture is rife with
exploitation, not only in terms of the transit provider but also by predatory-like “moths;” most often, miscreants drawn to the vulnerabilities a transitory environment can potentiate.
Having too been a passenger--having too felt the same sense of displacement or alienation as many of those I rode alongside—“iPhonenography” proved most ideal in my depiction of the people and places “serviced” by the bus. Though still largely treated dismissively or derisively by established or conventional photographers, the ubiquity of mobile photography has enabled
a greater shared, candid and intimate documentation of the human experience.
Keywords: iPhone iPhonenography Hipstamatic documentary Instagram mobile-photography photojournalism photography
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Rolling Shutter: The Greyhound Project
Ryan Keith Moore
May, 2015
II. INTRODUCTION
Evolution in perpetuity: It is the hallmark of the photographic medium. Forever
will the debate be about the merit and means by which an instance in time is captured,
by which at once an image is recorded. The historic implementation of novel
technologies in photography—and often their ability to continuously render it accessible
—will never cease to engender questions of ethics and aesthetics. No more clearer or
contentious is such than with documentary photography and photojournalism. The
Digital Age of photography has hastened a faster and greater ease of capturing, storing,
and transmitting imagery. However, the creation and editorial use of both computer-
based soft and hardware has greatly aroused or potentiated debate regarding the ethical
constraints and applicability of photographic digital manipulation versus that of
aestheticization.
The Internet’s democratization and collaborative abilities have been cited as a
great feat for human expression, and conversely as the perceived "destabilizer" of truth
and objectivity. The World Wide Web’s second wave of social networking/media has by
no means allayed concern for, and criticism of the latter. The new platforms—the sites,
the blogs, and real-time news feeds—have thus far, and to the extent of audience reach,
greatly influenced visual mediums. For the past quarter-century, the synthesizing of
digital devices has driven the pace of web-based innovation. It is a continual experiment
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of what began with the cellphone. When mobile electronics became smart 10 years ago
[for example, mobile operating systems (MOS) and web-based applications (“apps”) for
the camera-phone], not only was the real-time transmission of imagery made reliable, so
too was the enhanced ability for discretionary use. Though IBM technically developed
the first smartphone in the early 1990’s, it was not until the Apple iPhone’s release 15
years later that practical, touch-screen driven MOSs and apps unleashed the full potential
of the mobile camera.
Primarily, it was the surreptitious nature of mobile photography (also known as
“iPhonenography”) that inspired and ultimately provided me with the material that
became The Greyhound Project.
“Affordable” travel in the United States by way of the Intrastate Bus is, chiefly,
the domain of Greyhound Lines, Inc. Those beholden to a single carrier, whose
dominance is a testament to customer indifference, straddle or fall well below the
poverty line. At large, they are marginalized or socially maligned Americans. Wherever
these passengers venture is rife with exploitation, not only in terms of the transit
provider but also by predatory-like “moths;” most often, miscreants drawn to the
vulnerabilities a transitory environment can potentiate.
Having too been a passenger--having too felt the same sense of displacement or
alienation as many of those I rode alongside—iPhonenography proved most ideal in my
depiction of the people and places “serviced” by the bus. Though still largely treated
Moore 4
dismissively or derisively by established or conventional photographers, the ubiquity of
mobile photography has enabled a greater shared, candid and intimate documentation of
the human experience.
III. A COMPACT OF ETHICS
It was once thought, at least in democracies, that a photographer of the documentary or journalistic persuasion who witnessed a horrific event or situation, or a painful one, would record what it looked like in order to alert society, so that society might respond. The intrepid photographer was thought to fill an essential role in providing such visual descriptions and, quite often, in provoking readers (and at times governments) to confront issues that might not otherwise have been of concern. Despite being inevitably interpreted and framed according to the photographer’s own point of view, a photograph, no matter how unfamiliar or even grotesque its depiction, was considered difficult to refute given its status as a reliable trace of the visible and the “real.1
Imagery that documents and informs the public consciousness does so under an implied
social contract between it and the audience. Such trust and recognition is derived from
ethical parameters imposed upon, in particular, photojournalism (more latitude having
been given to documentary photography as it normatively falls into the realm of fine art).
Objective imagery, just like the aforementioned contract, is a tacit truth; they (photos)
should be seen or evaluated on the basis of being “a fair and accurate representation…in
both content and tone.”2
1 Fred Ritchin, BENDING THE FRAME, Photournalism, Documentary, and the Citizen Journalist (New York, NY: Aperture, 2014), p. 9.
2 Ross Collins, “A Brief History of Photography and Photojournalism,” ndsu.nodak.edu, http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/rcollins/242photojournalism/historyofphotography.html.
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IV. THE DESTINATION
The Greyhound Project is, first and foremost, an American story; a quiet
visitation with the people, places, and landscapes for which, and through which travel—
in its most essential terms conveyance--is as much about the destination as it is about the
means. Regarding the latter word, I am not so much referring to the actual, physical
places at which travellers endeavor to arrive, but also the emotional, financial, spiritual,
or just plain stable places in life to which, in the case of this work, lost or hopeless souls
desire--strive to reach--often to no avail. More than just wanting to present a meditation
on socioeconomics is the interest to suggest or subtly remind the viewer what I see as
inherent across the American landscape. I believe more than any other place on this
earth, the United States is a vast, as well as geographically and culturally diverse
country, in which the vary nature of distance provides for the chance to start anew; the
notion, if anything, to divorce oneself from past circumstances. In addition, there are the
existence of cultural reinforcements—of films, television, books, and plays—where the
character of the “everyman” or the underdog (for example, the criminal or the drug
addict) has or is in the arduous throes of transition, of remaking, remodeling him or
herself [Figures 1 - 26].
This series is just such a journey. Formally presented in book form, these
6” x 6,” black & white images of which each one is segregated from another by the flip
of a page, and upon which the viewer is allowed to meditate for a time of his/her
choosing, and in whichever emotional context he/she may find themselves. They
communicate what can truly be a disheartening, exhaustive, and lonely undertaking; too
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often one in which very few individuals end up escaping a pernicious cycle of misery and
degradation to find their spiritual, emotional, or financial salvation in life.
V. INCEPTION
There is second narrative to this story; an underlying one that up until now I have
publicly, openly shied away from. It is just as insightful as it is integral. How I arrived at
the starting point of this project. How I became just another passenger on the Greyhound.
In the fall of 2011, I was medically retired from the Army on account of a Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), specifically panic and anxiety disorder. I spent my
last year of active duty as a warrant officer in a variety of treatment schemes,
transitioning out of a 10-year career I hadn’t up until then ever foreseen ending, certainly
not in such a manner. By the time I officially retired, what the military terms
“separation,” I had gained much mental ground in getting to a stable place, in getting
“whole.” Just a month out as a civilian, I found myself in “transition,” overseas, in Hong
Kong, beginning a graduate arts education in a part of the world I felt most stable and
spiritually at home.
The weekend before I was to head into the spring term, I suffered the loss of a
loved one. Suffice to say she was close, perhaps one of the closest people to whom I had
been in life thus far. Fittingly, I fell asleep sad, but alarmingly on the morning of class
awoke in a state of mental, emotional paralysis. Overwhelmed by a fear I could not
comprehend and weighed down in place by a sense of dread I could not fathom, I ceased
being able to form a single thought in my head. I could not function beyond taking two
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steps to the bathroom. I had been kicked down to what I refer to as “the rabbit hole” once
before, this time I had been kicked into the depths twice as far. As a result, what I was
able to do? I exiled myself in a darkened bedroom for two months.
Eventually, slowly, subtly the idea or genesis of what would eventually become
this body of work, materialized within my muddled mind. After having retreated from
the world long enough, I mustered the intestinal and psychological fortitude to force
myself out on to the road and into a journey I knew at the time would assuredly be just
as disquieting as my life. There in lied the key, the eventual spark that would
simultaneously repel and repulse me in my travels, in stuffy, dirty, and crowded
Greyhound buses, carriages I likened to steel coffins, down forgotten stretches of
highway, through banal towns, and in and out of dingy terminals; all of which are
seemingly, only ventured out of necessity. During much of this experience, in concert
with the humanitarian fallout of the global financial crisis, I would often deliberate on
the obvious though denied impermanence of the lives we all lead. Here today, gone
tomorrow.
VI. TRANSITIONS
My fellow riders with whom I had the pleasure to visit and listen to whilst on the
road, for hours sometimes days--were insightful and humble (not merely cartoonish or
disingenuous) characters. They were earnestly candid, and despite the presumptuousness
of others to which they had become so accustomed, bared their souls; some their
addictions and failures; some their incarceration and recidivism; some their
psychological and/or
Moore 8
physical torment at the hands of others. Though nearly all of these individuals were
striving or had been repeatedly attempting to arrive at some form, to receive some sense
of redemption or salvation. The project, by its very nature, was a study of uncertainty, in
both the metaphoric and literal sense. There always existed some sort of palpable unease
that could be seen on the faces of many of those I sat alongside or observed, on buses or
in stations, and with whom I conducted improvised interviews.
Two such notable and poignant interactions during which this journey became a
truly self-effacing affair dealt with the tragedy of self-condemnation and the resilience of
the human spirit. When I ventured outside of the San Diego, CA bus terminal and down
an adjacent street during one of many layovers, I came into contact with what appeared to
be a fragile vessel of a man. He introduced himself as Enrique, an Army combat veteran
just shy of a five-year discharge [Figure 16]. He was clad in a pair of dingy and
weathered fatigues, which hung rather loosely off his skeletal frame. Junkies in the grips
of heroin addiction—his being five years and counting—seemingly become mere
shadows of themselves. Like many of the transients I came across, he had apparently all
but resigned himself to a pathetic and devastating fate. After sharing a cigarette and
some “small talk,” I gave this fellow vet some money, having asked him if I could take
his picture in return. Across the street from his duct tape-fashioned bedroll, alongside an
industrial facade (where he had supposedly decided to camp), I raised my iPhone and
snapped Enrique’s portrait (the only I staged with Hipstamatic). I will never deny what I
see as a core and rather unavoidable element of documentary (“street”) photography:
Exploitation. Courtesy and compensation in any reasonable form and circumstance, in
Moore 9
my humble opinion, should be adhered to the extent possible when shooting such
portraiture.
Then there was Eric "40" Louis [Figure 13], who sat down next to me on his first
day of freedom; a career criminal cum poet accompanied by reams of yellow legal paper,
on which were scribbled intensely vulnerable and intimate introspection. He was
destined for St. Louis. Vulnerable though resolute with a Zen-like air about him, his
innocent charm would surface when, for instance, he became somewhat perplexed as well
as fascinated by my iPhone. Eric had never seen, much less contemplated such
technology, having just been paroled following a seven-year stint in a Missouri state
penitentiary for felony weapons possession. While I was seated next to the window, I
asked Eric to turn to his rear so that I could better capture what I saw with my camera as
his essence, which he proudly announced to others via the word “poet” tattooed across
his neck. His aura was the most pronounced of all those I had the opportunity to
interview as well as photograph while on the bus. My belief after having left St. Louis
was the tattoo was just as much a badge of repentance as it was of honor for having lead
a stoic, near-scholarly existence while incarcerated.
The staleness and alienation captured in the majority of the project’s atmospheric
images were often surfaces, colors, and architecture (the terminal bathrooms and waiting
areas) that reeked of institutionalism [Figure 4]. Places like prisons or other
governmental tombs, as most of the towns and stationed others and I passed through, are
often located in barren, almost inhospitable environments where time seems static [Figure
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24]. This past April, The National Public Radio (NPR) / Tumblr series “Look At This”
featured a photo-essay titled “The Bus Station,” wherein an old Huntsville, TX bus
station and those who frequent it are the focus of an all-too familiar tale [Figure 27].
“For released Texas prisoners, the first step towards the future is into an old Greyhound
Station,” reads the sub-heading.3 Former inmates of Texas’s most infamous penitentiary
(home to the nation’s “busiest” Death Row) are released from “The Walls” every
weekday (some 21,000 in 2014 alone).4 Ex-cons, shouldering potato sacks’ full of
belongings and walking single-file out of institutional habit, make a 3 minute trip from
the prison to the bus station, where they cash $50 to $100 checks given to them by the
Texas Dept. of Corrections and exchange vouchers for one-way tickets to Houston.5 From
there on they must “cope” with their newfound freedom, as citizens with little or no civic
rights, in a world that has forgotten and largely passed them by. Many of these men and
women, much like Eric and others I rode with during my travels, have the odds stacked
against them (in the U.S., 1 in 5 released will re-offend and return to prison within three
years).6 For ex-felons, bus travel becomes an environmental extension of their
penitentiary experience, with omnipresent reminders. The drivers themselves act much
the same way as corrections officers, often barking prohibitions to passengers as if they
were juveniles, from a cage-like, locked compartment up front designed to protect them
from possible “threats” (riders).
3 John Burnett, David Gilkey, “The Bus Station,” npr.org/lookatthis, (April, 2015). http://apps.npr.org/lookatthis/posts/bus-station/.
4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid.
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VII. THE PHONE AS THE “FOURTH WALL”
When I first boarded a Greyhound Bus in Denver, Colorado, in the spring of
2012, my intent--aside from determining whether or not the socioeconomic dynamics of
intrastate bus travel was worth documenting, much less investigating—was to photograph
the environs (and the people therein) of continental bus travel in what would be
considered a rather “obvious” manner, with a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera.
Merely two days into my journey, while inside the Las Vegas, NV Greyhound Terminal,
my obvious actions and glaringly obvious camera became quickly apparent to the Bus
Line’s security personnel, who confronted me and effectively (though temporarily) shut
my process down. For a moment I was assured by all the prohibitive “no camera”
signage displayed throughout, coupled with the presence and demands of
unapologetically hostile men my exploration was over. Then the likes of Lowy, Winter,
and Hipstamatic revealed themselves in my mind.
As soon as I was able to secure my Canon 5D out came my iPhone. Though at
first I was unsure as to what material I could garner from a using a “vintage” app, by the
time I reached Los Angeles Hipstamatic had gripped my full attention. “Firing from the
hip” took on a whole new meaning as I began to amass substantial imagery of differing
interiors and exteriors, especially that of fellow passengers—most if not all, in an
unsuspecting and intimate manner. Behind a sort of deceptive fourth wall of
commonplace activity, inspiration, invigoration, and exploitation became plentiful.
Moore 12
The smartphone is now a ubiquitous item on and through which communication;
multi-tasking—and photography--can be performed anywhere and at anytime. In many a
public instance of conducting The Greyhound Project, my photography was easily,
simply masked by perception; that of those surrounding me (in close quarters) as I
played the part of an earnest “texter” or a YouTube addict. Misho Baranovic, who in his
2013 Digital Photography Review (dpreview) article entitled “Mobile Phones offer
photographers a fresh perspective,” credited Damon Winter but also emphasized the
work of Hong Kong-based photojournalist Theodore Kaye for his ability to maintain a
low profile and still “get a more intimate perspective of everyday life (Kaye in the
delicate, religious environs of Central Asia)” [Figure 28].
VIII. THE SOCIAL AGE OF HIPSTAMATIC AND INSTAGRAM
There are perhaps no other words within the contemporary landscape of
documentary more polarizing than Hipstamatic and Instagram. In late-2010, an
entrepreneurial/software engineer duo launched Instagram (a linguistic “blend” of
instant camera and telegram), initially as an iPhone MOS app.7 What was initially just
another Silicon Valley, social media “start-up”—an internet photo-sharing platform, and
Facebook and Twitter conduit for faux (digitally filtered) Kodak and Polaroid instant
(square format) images—quickly burgeoned into a 100 million-user platform before it
was acquired by Facebook in 2012.8 Another app conceived by a duo (two brothers), this
time in 2009, and eventually introduced to the public by the software company Synthetic,
7 Richmond, Shane, "Instagram, Hipstamatic and the mobile photographymovement," telegraph.co.uk, (Aug., 2011). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8710979/Instagram- Hipstamatic-and-the-mobile-photography-movement.html.
8 Instagram, "Press News: Our Story." instagram.com, https://instagram.com/press/.
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Hipstamatic capitalized on the trend of “retro photography” (encouraged by companies
such as Lomography), emulating a kind of outmoded, cheap-plastic, analog
photography.9 Algorithmic filters are used to digitally affect images, processing them
with the look and feel of vintage lenses and film stock (able to be used in a variety of
combinations). Similar to Instagram, Hipstamatic photos are saved alongside their
originals, can be used as email or messaging attachments, or instantaneously “shared” via
social media.
Both amateurs (or “Citizen Journalists”) and professional photographers arrived
at the intersection of social media and visual documentation rather quickly. It was in
September of 2010 the first photographs taken with Hipstamatic (or any mobile app for
that matter) appeared under the banner of a reputable publication. The piece in question
was a video (in which are included Hipstamatic stills) distributed on The New Yorker
magazine’s website, which concerned the abandonment of Uravan, Colorado, “a once-
booming uranium-mining town…which was eventually destroyed and buried because of
fears of radiation.”10 The video (“Uranium Ghost Town”) is narrated by columnist Pete
Hessler and was created by noted photojournalist Benjamin Lowy [Figure 29]. A New
York Times (NYT) contributor and member of Magnum, Lowy’s approach to visual
journalism can still be found on his Tumblr blog:
For years, I have worked with bulky digital cameras, always mindful of the technical maneuvers from setting the shutter speed and aperture to editing and toning on a computer screen. In the last few years I have discovered that my
9 Richmond, Shane, "Instagram, Hipstamatic and the mobile photographymovement," telegraph.co.uk, (Aug., 2011). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8710979/Instagram- Hipstamatic-and-the-mobile-photography-movement.html.
10 Peter Hessler, “Video: Uranium Ghost Town,” newyorker.com, (Sep., 2010). http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/video-uranium-ghost-town.
Moore 14
iPhone has allowed me to capture scenes without feeling that I am once again on the job. To “point and shoot” has been a liberating experience. It has allowed me to rediscover the excitement of seeing imperfections and happy accidents rendered through the lens of my handheld device.11
Then there is Damon Winter, also a NYT contributor and Magnum member, as well as a
the Pulitzer Prize winner for feature photography in 2009, whose collection of
Hipstamatic photos of soldiers in Afghanistan—“A Grunt’s Life” [Figure 30]--was
featured two months later on the NYT Lens blog (in November, 2010). Winter would go
on to place 3rd in the annual and industry esteemed Pictures of The Year International
competition (POYi) (2011) for said photo-essay.
IX. BENJAMIN LOWY
Though Lowy wasn’t credited as the first photojournalist to have his
iPhonenography internationally published, he has been known as the genre’s earliest
advocate and defender, having begun capturing images professionally with his iPhone in
2009. In what became an inspiring discourse, a defining moment in my creative process,
Lowy delivered a clear and concise argument for the use of iPhonenography in
photojournalism, during a 2012 Lens Q &A (titled “Ben Lowy: Virtually Unfiltered”)
with its co-editor, James Estrin (also a well-respected NYT photojournalist, and
professor at the Graduate School of Journalism, City University of New York) [Figure
31]. In the following exchange, Lowy espouses the legitimate and ethical use of
Hipstamatic (particularly, its in-camera filters) as analogous to choosing a particular
lens and film when shooting analog photography.
11 Ben Lowy, tumblr.com, (April, 2015). http://benlowy.tumblr.com.
Moore 15
Q: So you are saying it’s as conscious a decision as picking a film, a lens or a camera?
A: In Hipstamatic, there is a “lens” and a “film” — that’s what I choose. I think the problems lies in postproduction, when you’re trying to add what you don’t have to the frame. I don’t know what I’m going to get all the time, none of us do. And that’s what I like about Hipstamatic — yes, it has a filter, yes, it vignettes.
Q: I think that’s a very refined difference and rather minimal to say you don’t want to do that in postproduction, but it’s O.K. to do it in preproduction. It’s the same thing. What would not be acceptable, to do on your computer, is now fine to do in your camera.
A: If I wanted to take a portrait of you, I can make the choice of what black-and- white film I want to use. I can use Tri-X, I can use Fujipan. They’re going to look different, and both of them are not very accurate representations because you’re not black and white. But I can take that picture, and go into the darkroom and say, “I’m going to put a 3 filter on it,” or “I’m going to dodge and burn,” or maybe I’ll do a sandwich negative to control contrast a little more, print it on multicolor paper, use a 3 here, use a 5 here. And that’s not how I shot it. I shot it on black- and-white, and black-and-white still does not exist in reality.12
Lowy also distinguished his in-camera aesthetic choices from such controversy
as that of Brian Walski of the Los Angeles Times, who during the Iraq War in 2003,
knowingly combined two images to appear as one.13
There is so much information out there these days, and it’s very hard to capture the attention of a – for the most part – apathetic public. By showing important images of a war or social issue to people using a unique aesthetic, I believe I can capture their attention and shine a light on some of these stories.14
His contention being the current visual landscape, shared by both non-professionals and
professionals, compels critical attention by way of responsible aestheticization.
12 James Estrin, "Ben Lowy: Virtually Unfiltered," lens.blogs.nytimes.com, (May, 2012).http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/ben-lowy-virtually-unfiltered/?_r=0.
13 Kenneth Irby, "L.A. Times Photographer Fired Over Altered Image," poynter.org, (April, 2003). http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/writing/9289/l-a-times-photographer-fired-over-altered-image/.
14 Ibid.
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X. DAMON WINTER
Winter’s decision to photograph soldiers using his iPhone and Hipstamatic, in
Afghanistan (he was embedded several weeks with the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain
Division), was one of clarity from having been “in country” for an extended period of
time. Life during a military deployment can often be described as hours upon hours of
dullness--of “downtime,” in which only camaraderie maintains a soldier’s sanity—and
which is occasionally and unexpectedly punctuated by scant minutes of high-intensity
violence. The prized photojournalist was keen enough to hit upon to how and why
moments away from the patrols and firefights, sans the battle gear, could effectively and
evocatively be exploited to deliver, of all things, a candid side of war. “At the heart of
all of these photos is a moment or a detail or an expression,” he relates.15 “The image of
the men resting together on a rusted bed frame could never have been made with my
regular camera [Figure 32]. ‘They would have scattered the moment I raised my 5D
(Canon DSLR) with a big 24-70 lens attached. But with the phone, the men were very
comfortable.’”16 Winter noted another telling factor, that the soldiers often used their
phones to readily photograph one another.17
XI. A RESPONSE OF CONVENTION & CONTENTION
Enter prominent photojournalist and commercial photographer Chip Litherland,
who is yet another prominent NYT contributor. In a series of blog posts beginning in
15 Magnetic Eyes. "DAMON WINTER AND THE IPHONE." magneticeyes.wordpress.com. (Dec., 2012). https://magneticeyes.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/damon-winter-and-the-iphone/.
16 Ibid. 17 James Estrin, "Finding the Right Tool to Tell a War Story," lens.blogs.nytimes.com, (Nov.,
2010) http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/finding-the-right-tool-to-tell-a-war-story/?ref=asia.
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2011, including “THERE’S AN APP FOR PHOTOJOURNALISM” (which was in direct
response to Winter’s 2011 POYi award), Litherland derides the use of app-driven, mobile
photography in the field; what he considers as “the death of photojournalism at its purest
form.”18
The fact it was shot on a phone isn’t relevant at all and fair game, but what is relevant is the fact it was processed through an app that changes what was there when he shot them. It’s now no longer photojournalism, but photography. That transition happens when images become more about the photographer and less about the subject of said photos.19
Litherland was not as much criticizing iPhonenography as he was its growing
professional recognition due to such competitions as POYi and organizations such as
Reportage by Getty (who represents Damon Winter among others). In a December 30,
2011 post titled “OK @INSTAGRAM, YOU WIN. #APUBLICAPOLOGY”, Litherland
concedes the app’s aesthetic appeal and his newfound fondness (though only creatively)
for it.
Something about that window, that little patch of light, that reflection that made me want to just snap and capture it. I whipped out my iPhone and made a frame and randomly used the Instagram app, which I had on my phone and never used – know thy enemy. Then I posted it and was suckered into a medium I had previously put on blast…What I haven’t changed my mind on its role in photojournalism. I think it’s a slippery slope of ethics to be masking and changing content for news stories.
“Masking and changing content for news stories.” What exactly is being “masked” (I
assume meaning covered or removed) and what content is being “changed” (assuming
altered in any way)?
18 Chip Litherland, “THERE’S AN APP FOR PHOTOJOURNALISM,” chiplitherland.com, (Feb., 2011). http://blog.chiplitherland.com/2011/02/09/theres-an-app-for-photojournalism/.
19 Ibid.
Moore 18
Given the question and its assumptions, Winter counters what has popularly
become a perceived ethical dilemma with iPhonenography:
At the heart of all of these photos is a moment, or a detail, or an expression that tells the story of these soldiers’ day-to-day lives while on a combat mission. Nothing can change that. No content has been added, taken away, obscured, or altered. These are remarkably straightforward and simple images.20
While acknowledging the divisiveness concerning Hipstamatic, he proceeds to point out
what ought to be a basic understanding of the role photojournalists play overall in the
media and society.
What I think has gotten people so worked up falls under the heading of aesthetics. Some consider the use of the phone camera as a gimmick or aestheticizing…news photos. I think that those are fair arguments to make, but those arguments have nothing to do with the content of the photos. We are being naïve if we think aesthetics do not play an important role in the way we as photojournalists tell a story. We are not walking photocopiers. We are storytellers. We observe, we chose moments, we frame little slices of our world with our viewfinders, we even decide how much or how little light will illuminate our subjects, and yes we choose what equipment to use and through all of these decisions, we shape the way a story is told.21
As had Lowy, in his Lens interview, pressed detractors on the applied aesthetic parallels
regarding digital and analog photography, Winter does the same in his Poynter rebuttal to
Litherland, again touching upon the distinction of what should and should not violate the
ethical parameters.
Let’s look at how the images have been processed by the camera application. From what I understand, a standard set of rules is applied to each image as it is taken. It is not the case that an image is taken and then a filter is chosen and applied later…Every image receives what seems to be a pretty similar treatment,
20 Steve Myers, "Damon Winter explains process, philosophy behind award-winning Hipstamatic photos," poynter.org, (Feb., 2011). http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/119117/damon-winter- explains-process-philosophy-behind-award-winning-hipstamatic-photos/.
21 Ibid.
Moore 19
which involves a color-balance shift, burning of predetermined areas of the frame and increased contrast.
I think the problem people have with this is that a program is doing it and not the photographer. But I don’t see how it is so terribly different from choosing a camera or film or process that has a unique but consistent and predictable outcome, like shooting with a Holga, or cross-processing or using a color balance not intended for the lighting conditions.22
Winter then points out why his “A Grunt’s Life” image and others solely processed
through apps like Hipstamatic should be judged or considered in the same manner as is
digitally conventional photojournalism, particularly regarding industry recognition.
Enhancements, especially “in-camera,” should always elicit reasonable scrutiny for the
accurate depiction of subject matter as it relates to the integrity of content; that such
hasn’t been accentuated or added as is the case with the infamous 2006 Lebanon
bombing photo taken (and subsequently manipulated) by Adnan Hajj (in which smoke
was added in post-production, through a Photoshop process known as “clone stamping”);
that such hasn’t been deleted or reduced so as to betray the trust of unbeknownst viewers
[Figure 33].
XII. ROAD OF INFLUENCE
1955. I cross the States. For a year. 500 rolls of film. I go into post offices, Woolworths, 10 cent shops, bus stations. I sleep in cheap hotels. Around 7 in the morning I go to a nearby bar. I work all the time. I don’t speak much. I try not to be seen. 23
22 Ibid. 23 Robert Frank, Robert Frank (London: Thames and Hudson/Paris: Centre National de la
Photographie, 1991), after plate 63.
Moore 20
America is home to the road trip. The unlimited freedom–by-car, across the
expanse of prairie and desert, over the Rockies or Sierra Madre mountains, has been
enshrined as a right of passage in the United States. Following the Second World War,
the road came to symbolize exuberance and abandonment in the vein of Jack Kerouac or
John Steinbeck; so too iconic elements of our collective psyche during an era of
tremendous social, political, and economic change.
Aside from Gerry Winogrand (whose “street” consciousness I’ve always found
compelling), Robert Frank (a Swiss émigré) and his seminal book The Americans became
the aesthetic of disparate souls that rode along me within while I too traversed the
highways and byways. The road is “literally the suggestion of enlightenment, if only the
end. However uncertain the destination, the road to it is undeniably luminous. Whatever
the journey’s end may be, the traveling will be along its brightness, riding between
darkness to the left and right.”24 Perhaps, there is no other image more talked or written
about of Frank’s than “Trolley-New Orleans (1955)” [Figure 34]. The photograph Frank
deliberately cropped to increase the tension concerning societal degradation by way of
racial segregation is truly emblematic of the passive-aggressiveness, the insidiousness
nature of state-sanctioned prejudice of the time. Though no longer acceptable (or overt)
in terms of the law, discrimination by race (and/or class) in America is still very much on
public display, especially with public transportation of which the intrastate bus is an
integral part. As previously mentioned, in this vast country--where independence and
24 Jonathan Day, Robert Frank’s “The Americans”(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011), p.194.
Moore 21
status are still inexorably tied to the automobile--means determines and defines the
choice of conveyance.
I also couldn’t help but summon encouragement from Alec Soth, particularly his
project Niagara; how it exemplifies an evocative, non-prejudicial approach to
documentary still work. His engaging imagery, often of marginalized Americans,
“speak” of compassion and the wonderment of engaging strangers and strange landscapes
with a genuine desire to understand and relate to them.
XIII. CONCLUSION
The panic that beset me during The Greyhound Project never really subsided,
and the anxiety only ebbed and flowed. Despite such, my heart became renewed with
compassion. Present was the desire for understanding, for connectedness. However
disparate my and my fellow passengers’ backgrounds and circumstances were, we all
seemingly shared a state of vulnerability, shared the same sense of loneliness, the same
sense of being lost, and the same uncertainty of the future. My belief in the art of
conversation-as-therapy was strengthened. When it is done in an honest and sincere
manner the act of talking or active listening can be truly cathartic for all involved. This is
also true in the crafting of a photographic documentary project, wherein the artist and
subject actively engage and share with one another through the photographic act, itself.
Experiential sharing combined with act of making such art ultimately proved to me to be
the most effective at combating mental illness, enabling shared emotions or states of
being to become an integral part of my creative process. We (the artist and subjects) were
all in transition, yearning for, and hopeful to find peace of mind along with a better place
Moore 22
in life. We are most definitely past the point of no return with it comes to
iPhonenography. I came to believe this in regard to the technical creation of The
Greyhound Project. As of the end of 2014, there were over two billion smartphones sold,
and approximately 550 BILLION mobile images were uploaded and shared via a variety
of social media platforms.25 Apple’s newer iPhone is even being marketed as belonging to
“over one billion roaming photojournalists.” Understandably, it is difficult to navigate the
current digital and social media landscape and avoid such dismal things as the machine of
kitschy branding or warring over every event or situation with images. Documentary
photographers and photojournalists such as Lowy and Winter have managed to transcend
the fray by creating meaningful, thought-provoking work that manages to respect the
viewer as well as the subject matter while advancing the documentary genre (as well as
the whole of the photographic medium) and aesthetically taking advantage of relevant
digital technologies. Let us brush aside the pretension and purism of conventional image-
making. Let us discard the meaningless aversion to technological innovation with
regards to mobile, app-driven photography and ethically, reasonably steer its inevitable
rise. A collaboration between individuals--both amateur and professional, institutions and
agencies, and amongst other entities within the digital environment--can only but enliven
and encourage purposeful inquiries into humanity as well as the human condition. This is
the contemporary photographic landscape I present through the mobile lens, and
subsequently on the pages of my documentary book The Greyhound Project.
25 Benedict Evans, “The explosion of imaging,” benedictevans.com, (July, 2014). http://ben- evans.com/benedictevans/2014/6/24/imaging.
Moore 23
FIGURE INVENTORY Figure 1. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Mexicali, CA (2012), p. 25
Figure 2. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Pecos, TX (2012), p. 25
Figure 3. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Biloxi, MISS (2012), p. 26
Figure 4. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Indianapolis, IN (2013), p. 26
Figure 5. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Mobile, AL (2012), p. 27
Figure 6. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Arizona (2012), p. 27
Figure 7. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Columbia, SC (2013), p. 28
Figure 8. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Columbus, OH (2013), p. 28
Figure 9. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Sterling, CO (2013), p. 29
Figure 10. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Las Cruces, NM (2012), p. 29
Figure 11. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Pittsburgh, PA (2013), p. 30
Figure 12. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, New Orleans, LA (2012), p. 30
Figure 13. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Odessa, MS (2013), p. 31
Figure 14. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Houston, TX (2012), p. 31
Figure 15. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Illinois (2013), p. 32
Figure 16. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, San Diego, CA (2012), p. 32 Figure 17. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Iowa (2013), p. 33
Figure 18. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Indiana (2013), p. 33
Figure 19. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Charlotte, NC (2013), p. 34
Figure 20. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (2012), p. 34
Figure 21. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Panama City, FL (2012), p. 35
Moore 24
Figure 22. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Pecos, TX (2012), p. 35
Figure 23. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Michigan (2013), p. 36
Figure 24. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Barstow, CA (2012), p. 36
Figure 25. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, California (2012), p. 37
Figure 26. R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Athens, GA (2013), p. 37
Figure 27. David Gilkey, “The Bus Station” (2015), p. 38
Figure 28. Theodore Kaye, Central Asia (2013), p. 38 Figure 29. Benjamin Lowy, “Uranium Ghost Town,” Uravan, CO (2010), p 39
Figure 30. Damon Winter, “A Grunt’s Life,” Kunduz Province, Afghanistan (2011), p. 39
Figure 31. Benjamin Lowy, “Ben Lowy: Virtually Unfiltered,” Kabul, Afghanistan (2013), p. 40
Figure 32. Damon Winter, “A Grunt’s Life,” Kunduz Province, Afghanistan (2010), p. 40
Figure 33. Adnan Hajj, Lebanon (2006), p. 41
Figure 34. Robert Frank, “Trolley-New Orleans,” The Americans (1955), p. 41
Moore 25
FIGURES
[Figure 1] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Mexicali, CA (2012)
[Figure 2] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Pecos, TX (2012)
Moore 26
[Figure 3] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Biloxi, MISS (2012)
[Figure 4] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Indianapolis, IN (2013)
Moore 27
[Figure 5] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Mobile, AL (2012)
[Figure 6] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Arizona (2012)
Moore 28
[Figure 7] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Columbia, SC (2013)
[Figure 8] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Columbus, OH (2013)
Moore 29
[Figure 9] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Sterling, CO (2013)
[Figure 10] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Las Cruces, NM (2012)
Moore 30
[Figure 11] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Pittsburgh, PA (2013)
[Figure 12] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, New Orleans, LA (2012)
Moore 31
[Figure 13] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Columbia, SC (2013)
[Figure 14] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Houston, TX (2012)
Moore 32
[Figure 15] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Illinois (2013)
[Figure 16] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, San Diego, CA (2012)
Moore 33
[Figure 17] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Iowa (2013)
[Figure 18] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Indiana (2013)
Moore 34
[Figure 19] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Charlotte, NC (2013)
[Figure 20] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (2012)
Moore 35
[Figure 21] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Panama City, FL (2012)
[Figure 22] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Pecos, TX (2012)
Moore 36
[Figure 23] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Michigan (2013)
[Figure 24] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Barstow, CA (2012)
Moore 37
[Figure 25] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, California (2012)
[Figure 26] R.K. Moore, The Greyhound Project, Athens, GA (2013)
Moore 38
[Figure 27] David Gilkey, “The Bus Station” (2015)
[Figure 28] Theodore Kaye, Central Asia (2013)
Moore 39
[Figure 29] Benjamin Lowy, “Uranium Ghost Town,” Uravan, CO (2010)
[Figure 30] Damon Winter, “A Grunt’s Life,” Kunduz Province, Afghanistan (2011)
Moore 40
[Figure 31] Benjamin Lowy, “Ben Lowy: Virtually Unfiltered,” Kabul, Afghanistan (2013)
[Figure 32] Damon Winter, “A Grunt’s Life,” Kunduz Province, Afghanistan (2010)
Moore 41
[Figure 33] Adnan Hajj, Lebanon (2006)
[Figure 34] Robert Frank, “Trolley-New Orleans, The Americans (1955)
Moore 42
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