Frank Hurley
November 2, 2005 5:12 PM   Subscribe

Frank Hurley. You may be familiar with his work for Shackleton on the Endurance. Magnificent stuff, but only a fraction of what he was capable of. After the ice, he went to Europe where he did some of the most haunting photographs of WWI. Click the pictures to continue the series- they defy selection. (He did reluctantly create some fakes for the propaganda effort, but most of his stuff is straight and the better for it.) After the war he continued to travel, and for those with some time on their hands, the Australian government has been good enough to put a few thousand items of his work on line here)
posted by IndigoJones (25 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Beyond Hurley, here are other unexpected WWI pictures, some in color, some in 3-D.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:13 PM on November 2, 2005


PPS- Hurley himself did some WWI color work as well.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:14 PM on November 2, 2005


fandango_matt;
That hat.
posted by Floydd at 5:34 PM on November 2, 2005


This is a great coffee table book featuring Hurley's photos of the Endurance expedition. I got it for my father a few Christmases ago.
posted by thecjm at 5:47 PM on November 2, 2005


(Klik hier voor het Nederlands deel)

Why do they bother with this Python-esque English dialect? Nice fpp btw, keeping the newsfilter at bay a bit.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 5:49 PM on November 2, 2005




Wow. This one is amazing. Reckon it's one exposure, not touched up?
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:57 PM on November 2, 2005


UH- Scroll down. "Combined negatives", alas.

By the way, This got good reviews
posted by IndigoJones at 6:02 PM on November 2, 2005


Great, great, great post. This combines my fascination with polar exploration, photography, and WWI. I knew in the back of my mind a bunch of Shackleton's guys went to serve, and die, in WWI. But I guess I was unaware of Hurley's work after the expedition. This one you linked to is a classic, I've seen it before and had no idea Hurley took it. I'll spend a lot of time looking at these.

P.S. Just for the record, I was a Shackleton nut long before it was cool. I read a children's Reader's Digest adaptation of Shackleton's Boat Journey (written by one of the expedition members, highly recommended) when I was about 10 years old and have been obsessed ever since.
posted by marxchivist at 6:14 PM on November 2, 2005


'Defy selection' is such a lovely phrase. Still, I'd vote for the airplane ones.
posted by of strange foe at 6:32 PM on November 2, 2005


Good grief. How did that not register? Thanks, IndigoJones.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 6:40 PM on November 2, 2005


Holy shit.
posted by marxchivist at 6:57 PM on November 2, 2005


Whenever I see Hurley's photographs I wonder: What is his secret? How did he achieve that haze effect that causes people and buildings in the distance to look slightly faded? How did he get that luminous aura (or halo) to appear around buildings photographed against the sky? Can these things be duplicated in modern photography?

Were these things merely atmospheric effects of the time and place? Were they caused by chemical processes upon exposure or during development? Did Hurley deliberately encourage them?

Would this be better as an AskMe question?
posted by Ritchie at 8:20 PM on November 2, 2005


It couldn't have been much fun to try to move this thing through the mud.
posted by soiled cowboy at 8:34 PM on November 2, 2005


Fantastic post. Some of the photos are so beautiful, it seems wicked to make war so lovely.
posted by LarryC at 8:46 PM on November 2, 2005


Damn--the site does not allow right clicking. I was going to grab a few dozen and make a Powerpoint to use in my history classes.
posted by LarryC at 8:51 PM on November 2, 2005


[this is good]
posted by Rumple at 8:54 PM on November 2, 2005


Holy cats! I am in heaven here! You know, we have had a ton of WWI links at Mefi lately and I think that is fricken awesome. Thank you for all the amazing links in this thread.
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:22 PM on November 2, 2005


Amazing post. Gorgeous, haunting...I could go on, but I don't want to go overboard on the adjectives.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:42 PM on November 2, 2005


I should add that the "Bloody Picnic" series is almost too much to bear. It's not often you see photos that graphic, even in collections of war photography.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:46 PM on November 2, 2005


There are some great pictures here - thanks for the hot tip.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:41 PM on November 2, 2005


Impressive sets of photos. Thanks.
posted by dazed_one at 11:41 PM on November 2, 2005


Fantastic post -- this will keep me busy for awhile. Thanks!
posted by scody at 11:50 PM on November 2, 2005


Oh God

Caption: Female Russian soldier raped and killed

The Hurley photos are incredible. The bloody picnic photos are horrific. I only wish that these could be put in every high school history text book in the nation.
posted by kosher_jenny at 11:55 PM on November 2, 2005


Valley of the Shadow of Death, the Crimean war picture mentioned by Sontag (apparently, to make a better photograph, Fenton rolled some cannonballs into the road).
posted by dhartung at 12:13 AM on November 3, 2005


Damn--the site does not allow right clicking. I was going to grab a few dozen and make a Powerpoint to use in my history classes.

Take a screenshot and paste into powerpoint. Works a treat.

Fantastic, if horrifying photos. The picnic collection is some of the most brutal images of war I've ever seen.

War to end all war indeed. It's a shame we are a forgetful species.
posted by twistedonion at 1:30 AM on November 3, 2005 [1 favorite]


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