Photos worth a thousand lies

[MrBern]

NYT article on less than honest photog

Joe ODonnell's obit chronicled a govt photographer who took many of the great photos of the 20th century. Upon scrutiny, it seems that he was probably senile & now his published work must be scrutinized. Extending to his book of USMC photos from Hiroshima&Nagasaki in `45.

A sad situation & reminds us that oral histories we've heard for many documentaries can be less than accurate.

 

[Feraud]

What a shame. Due to however many false claims he has made, his legitimate photographs will probably be looked at with a skeptical eye.
Surely an unfit legacy for a person that was in attendance at key points in history.

 

[Shearer]

What a shame. Due to however many false claims he has made, his legitimate photographs will probably be looked at with a skeptical eye.
Surely an unfit legacy for a person that was in attendance at key points in history.

Yes, sad. The further I read, the more convoluted his claims seemed to become. Perhaps his family was right about senility - up to a degree. But their argument of his confusion between attending events and photographing them doesn't hold up for me. Kennedy's yacht? Erwitt's Khrushchev photo? :eusa_doh: Yikes.

Even when O'Donnell's wife found a signed JFK Jr. photo, it was credited to a UPI photog. He obviously left a very tangled situation behind... I feel bad for his family, having to debate his work at a time when they should be remembering the good things.