Magnum Blog: Peter van Agtmael

 Hey teach!!! Its me Finn, back again with a late blog because I thought we only had the critique blog left.

Straight to it then!

Step 1: Look at photos. I see first things first that he seems to be a war photojournalist, I see what looks like the war America had with Iraq, and very interesting and confusing photos that seem to represent the chaos and Vietnam like war we had where innocents were mercilessly killed and harmed by both sides, only furthering the damage that we came to "stop" as well as the mental scarring and horror of the war for the American soldiers being used as the weapons that cause it. The photos are all incredibly dramatic and eye catching, they feel almost normal to me due to the heavy amount of call of duty and black ops games I have played - well normalized and also in that style, they seem like movie shots almost, unreal or detached from the horrors they show. I especially get these feelings in the ones that are clear but definitely still in the ones that are a bit fuzzy, almost because I think the clear ones are too well shot, I assume war is chaotic and the photos that show that reality are scarier than the ones that almost look like they were more set up than anything else.  It also seems to heavily show the damage of the random bombs (like the spike traps of Vietnam) that cruelly and indiscriminately harmed anyone close enough to them whether they be kids, soldiers, or even the friends of those who placed them.

Step 2: Ask myself why he takes these photos. I assume (if he's a photojournalist) that he sees these photos as a way to show what is taking place and rehumanize the soldiers and situation that both sides are going through. I also think based on some of the photos he takes that he also has an eye of dissonance cognitively and artistically, both in how the soldiers are fighting against these people and harming them but still feel like it's wrong, play with the kids and such but also the tension and dissonance of specifically this image where children and an armored soldier play soccer, it feels like it shouldn't be together, dissonant but yet still because of that it draws even more especially with the context. I also think there is a subtle maybe unintentional message here too - with this photo the boys and the man both have the same-colored skin, a dark orange red hue, in this photo it's hard to tell the difference between the two if any. 

Step: Read what he says and come back with my thoughts. Immediately I read this "Van Agtmael is known for his deeply affecting, sometimes surreal images, which explore themes of conflict, history, memory, nationalism, militarism, race, and class." Haha, perfectly on the mark. That is actually mostly all there is but I do see that just based off that I sort of hit the dot, it feels good to be able to draw out so much from something so at first glance simple.

See ya next time teach!