Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Mystery Solved - Again!



It's Manny Garcia - a freelance photojournalist based in Washington D.C.. I think!

This is a separate frame of the photograph from which Fairey's Obama image was taken. Who knew George Clooney would figure in the story! (In April 2006, Clooney was joined by then Senator Obama as he was addressing the National Press Club on his recent visit to Darfur.)

The credit for this discovery goes to Philadelphia Inquirer photographer Tom Gralish. Here's his account.

I just spoke to Garcia who is currently on White House duty, but by next week expect to see Garcia's print in my exhibition CAN & DID. GRAPHICS, ART, AND PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN.

What would we do without the internet!



11 comments:

Sonoqui said...

It seems that this isn't the exact full-frame image. In the cropped image from your earlier post, Obama's ears overlap the red in the flag behind him. In this image, one ear does not. Yes?

The Year in Pictures said...

That's why I said it's a separate frame. I believe they are two different shots by the same photographer - one showing Clooney and one a tighter shot.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout out James.

I'm now going back to blogging about shooting weather feature newspaper photos and living vicariously through my bigger-city colleagues.

Unknown said...

I think you're right; this is a far superior match based on head angle, orientation and suit style. Though I also think that there are likely many shots similar to the poster, but this one needs very little manipulation.

Now the big question: is it fair use? But I digress...

Anonymous said...

Mr. Danziger. You look more Geroge Clooney than Rahm Emmanuel!

Anonymous said...

So, does the photographer get any compensation because his image was used for the graphic translation?

R. Bradford

Sokiente said...

Did you ever consider contacting Shepard Fairey and asking him where he got the image?

The Year in Pictures said...

Soki -

Of course. Shepard was on record as saying it came from a Google Image search but he did not know the photo credit. I was in e-mail communication with Amanda Fairey, Shepard's wife and business agent who said she thought it was "a screen grab". Both these answers seemed evasive to me.

Dresden said...

A MOST important fact,
which every portrait artist should know
is this:

A face is not the same on both sides.
If an artist "flips" the subject's face,
then it is not truly the subject anymore.
ESPECIALLY IN THE EYES.

In the past,
when I've photographed someone,
and that person's image gets incorporated in,
for example, a theatre poster:
If the designer flips the subjects face
(against my wishes)
I've heard complaints that the person in the poster
doesn't look like the actor.

Look at the eyebrows, and eyes in the poster of Obama.
I believe that they match the Jim Young photo more closely...

The Year in Pictures said...

You're right about flipping but wrong about which photographer. The Jim Young picture would have had to be flipped. The Mannie Garcia is unflipped. Also look at the collar and the shadow.

However, as the first graphic showed, the Young picture does line up perfectly when simply manipulated. That's why it fooled us at first.

Anonymous said...

Fairey is a thief...pure and simple. He's a second-rate hack who has convinced everyone he is an artist. He rips off EVERYTHING. Need proof?:

www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm