Munkácsi's revolution (part 6 / 11)

::::: Munkacsi's festive style

Munkacsi's style didn't only lay in his brilliant eyes and cutting edge technique. It was his 'aspect' that made all that difference. It was his approach to reality - that he was addicted to.

Apparently he was getting the most out of the moments and this didn't restrict to just waiting for the right moment. Munkacsi was a kind of a photographer would actually interfere with the scene that he was capturing, wanting or suggesting, hypnotizing the whole situation, gaining the fullest possible control over the happenings - and in the end we'll have the inexplicable hunch in the back of our minds that he wanted to see exactly what he finally captured (this is so intensely typical for Munkacsi :)).

Munkacsi's style comes from his vigorous, direct attitude. He was a virtuoso bohemian. Capturing "sexiness" and capturing a goal or a great historical moment is just about the same thing: capturing life in its full bloom, in its total beauty (or reality). Munkacsi was a specialist - being able to capture all those details of reality that made his pictures sensationally live. It was not only his skills, but also his manner.



He invented 'sexy' - which obviously just came from his style and person. Why be shy or pretentious? When there's a beautiful woman in front of your camera it's fun, it's playing, it's making love visually. Girls in his pictures radiate, they're so vibrant but also they seem to be a little bit embarrassed too, like blushing. Look at Lucile Brokaw or Leni Riefenstahl, they're softly blushing as if feeling Munkacsi's look over their skin, as if taking a warm compliment - and there's more, a closeup of Riefenstahl for example with her sweating skin of her beautiful face is like making love on the top of the world - Munkacsi obviously felt for her ...

(this idea is supported by the fact that in 1936 he got another of his Leni Riefenstahl photos (from 1931) on Time Magazine's cover which seems to indicate that he hadn't forget her and that he was proud that he had taken pictures of her - and of course she was already the nazi celebrity woman too working for Hitler so this front page added to Munkacsi's fame nationwide).



He was a big time photographer, he was already that back in Hungary where they regarded him as an American style photographer before he ever crossed the Atlantic, and his presence was so much noticed at soccer games that in today's terms he just represented mass media. This role was part of his person, part of his phenomenon and when he took a picture it was taken by a big time photographer. Subjects of his pictures were invited for a great trip, offered the chance to be meet by millions of nice people who'd happily celebrate them. They were offered to say hello to the world! Just like he'd been a big time filmmaker. This direct and festive style made the rite and the moment of exposure so intense, and gave his pictures revolutionary quality.



He didn't create pictures that'd remind people of reality - he would capture reality. Directly. Right the thing. Didn't tell his models how to "pose" - i.e. how to imitate something. He was not interested in imitations of life - he was just too much in love with reality and addicted to the real beauty of it. So his revolution was not only a great jump improving the quality of capturing, but also a great turn in philosophy, in the aspect of photography. With the Lucile Brokaw shoot he as much as declared studio photography (and making a model pose for a camera in studio lighting as if she was enjoying life) past and boring. The 'new objectivity', the 'neue sehen' had made its way to America and made it's first bloom at his Lucile Brokaw photo shoot. While Venus was born out of the foam of the see, fashion photography was born right on the beach - right there, right then.

It's absolutely no surprise that ca. 10 years later André De Dienes took Norma Jane to the beach too and that those pictures were way better than any other Merilyn Monro pictures taken later on. Martin Munkacsi didn't only made a huge step towards reality, didn't just get one step closer, but changed the whole approach and put 'getting close' and 'reality' in focus.

He was great in capturing reality - be it sexiness, a 'decisive moment' in sport or drama. Obviously his mentality had a huge part of a news cameraman, the point in which is being or getting inside of what's happening, moving and breathing with it, catching on the logic of it, and thinking along (that is in soccer following the way of the ball so intensely that he'd be able to see the goal while it's just developing). This would let him release the shutter right on the climax of the moment. He had to be really fast analyzing the scene, picking up the vibe and figuring where the situation was headed.

Today's photographers shoot first and think later, they can take like 10 pictures in a second and after 90 minutes they'll have like another 90 selecting the good ones from the 1000 pictures. Munkacsi had this selecting too but before pushing the expo button, and so his shots were real decisions and he didn't just take them to find out only later what he had. Today incredible cameras and incredible lenses offer photographers fantastic access to reality. Almost anybody can learn how to take great pictures at a football game - in like 30 minutes. To take good pictures today almost merely takes a good equipment, and once you have it good pictures are almost granted. Munkacsi did have to do everything manually, including changing the plate after each shot, setting the focus, the aperture, and so on. His good pictures were not granted by the camera's manufacturer but by his talent and masterly skills.

Great skills or powerful cameras however only grant 'good' pictures - 'great' photography needs talent, it always did. Munkacsi wasn't just a lucky guy, a child prodigy with extremely developed skills, no, he wasn't just a good picture taking machine - however industry sort of took him like that. His real virtues, his soulfully vivid approach, his playful and seductive style, his intense way of looking at phenomenons of life which made his pictures wonderful - just remained unnoticed.

The real message of a medium is the medium itself, and indeed, when the Bazaar advertised themselves having the world's best paid photographer it wasn't about Munkacsi but about the Bazaar. When a new photo appeared by Munkacsi - it wasn't about Munkacsi either. That's the way industry works. They want your tricks, your power you ave over the readers - not your art exactly. Munkacsi could provide photos that normally would have been possible only years later - and industry was buying.

• an uncredited artist
• being the best paid photographer of the world
• the pioneer and the "newcomers"
• Munkacsi's revolution : addiction & penetration to reality
• Potsdam 1933
• Munkacsi's festive style
• Having Fun at Breakfast
• the counter-revolution
• the road to oblivion
• finally: shining through
• original sources, great readings