WW II Kodachrome Photographs

My son sent me a link to Pavel Kosenko's blog which showcases 4 x 5 Kodachrome photographs from World War II.  I am posting some of the images by Alfred T. Palmer, several of which were shot for the Office of War Information.  For me, these photographs feel like glamor shots - for some reason, they make me think of George Hurrell's Hollywood portraits!  Maybe I am just responding to the time period and how that may have influenced this style of shooting. 

I am also posting a shot from this same time frame by Howard R. Hollem that shows not just the vivid colour of Kodachrome, but the exceptional detail it rendered - check out the fuzz on the woman's pink sweater.  I encourage you to check out Pavel's blog to see more of these beautiful, vintage photographs replete with captions.  Enjoy!

This next shot is by Howard R. Hollem (see what I mean about the pink fuzz?)

National Geographic

I'm not sure if this is a matter of the "decisive moment" or more a matter of scrambling to get a shot and actually getting it!  Here is the caption Daniel Dolpire provided to National Geographic "Your Shot" when he submitted this photograph.  

"I took this "once-in-a-lifetime" shot at Klein's Camp in the Serengeti, Tanzania.  We came upon these lions at 7:17 in the morning. I scrambled for my two camera bodies (Nikon D4 and D3s and 200mm-400mm and 500mm) and got the shot! Exactly six minutes later the first lion got up and within another five minutes, three were sleeping and the other three had gone off into the bush! I have been taking wildlife photos for over 20 years, but this has got to be my special moment!"

Irving Penn Masks

Around this time in October of 2009, Irving Penn passed away at the age of 92.  (Click here for a bio the New York Times published in 2009.)Here is a compilation of images featuring masks ... something apropos of October and its bearing of Halloween.

Sebastião Salgado

As I put together this collection of images, I am reminded of how small we are in this world.  As I look at Salgado's work and each time I go back to it, everything around me, the things that consume my personal daily life, just dissipate.  Here is the magnificent and awe-inspiring work of one of my all time favorite photographers, Sebastião Salgado ... 

Arizona, USA [Grand Canyon]

Kafue National Park, Zambia [buffalos]

Bushman, Botswana [Bird Man]

Chinstrap Penguins, Deception Island, Antarctica

Kafue National Park, Zambia [elephants]
 

Sahara, Algeria [man praying]

 The Eastern part of the Brooks Range, a mountain range that stretches through Alaska and Canada

Boys fleeing from southern Sudan [refugee camp]
 

Woman's head with flowers in her hair, India [coffee plantation]

Dinka Group at Pagarau Cattle Camp

Dinka man at the cattle camp of Kei, South Africa

Indians Fishing, Mato Grosso State, Brazil
 

Group portrait of all the Kamayura Shamans [board of directors]
 

Iceberg Between Paulet Islands and the Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Marine Iguana, Rabida Island, the Galapagos [tail]
 

Church Gate Station, Western Railroad Line, Bombay India

Villagers in exodus between Tokar and Karora [Exodus]
 

The Gold Mine, Serra Pelada, Brazil

Mentawai girls, Siberut island, Indonesia

This used to be the Large Lake Faguibine in Mali, on the Southern edge of the Sahara Desert situated 80 km West of Timbuktu [Boy/Dry Lake]
 

Children's Ward in the Korem Refugee Camp in Ethiopia [mother and child]

Workers Place a New Wellhead, Oil Wells, Kuwait

The population of the cattle camp of Keny in Southern Sudan walk toward the polio vaccinators
 

Rwandan refugee camp at Benako. Early in the morning, thousands of Rwandans walk to the lake near the camp to collect water; Tanzania

Boat People, Beach of Vung Tau, Vietnam
 

Mountain Zebra [they are confined to hilly country]
 

Zo'e Group, State of Para, Brazil [Zo'e Women]

 Nenets, an indigenous nomadic people, whose subsistence come from reindeer herding, South Yamal region, Siberia, Russia

  Nenets, an indigenous nomadic people, whose subsistence come from reindeer herding, South Yamal region, Siberia, Russia

 Korem Refugee Camp in Ethiopia 

 Bushwoman, Botswana

 Bushwomen collecting caterpillars, The Kalahari Desert, Botswana

 Nenets, an indigenous nomadic people, whose subsistence come from reindeer herding, South Yamal region, Siberia, Russia

 Nenets, an indigenous nomadic people, whose subsistence come from reindeer herding, South Yamal region, Siberia, Russia

 Zaire Orphanage

 School in the Lake Victoria region, Kenya

 The community of Yuracruz, Ecuador [girl]

 Guatemala [little girl carrying candy apples]

 Marine Iguana, Rabida Island, the Galapagos [Iguana claw]

Adelita Peninsula Valdez, Atlantic coast of Patagonia, Argentina [whale's tail]