Things We Love: "Public Relations," a Book by Garry Winogrand

Simply put, I love the photographs in the book, Public Relations, which was created to accompany a 1977 Museum of Modern Art exhibition of the same name. The photos are a selection created from Garry Winogrand’s work in the 1960s and 1970s that show, in his own words, “the effect of media on events.”

Yes, the fact that he was ahead of his time, incorporating ideas of Marshall McLuhan and others regarding “the media” into a scrappy, outsider art form like documentary “street” photography, is part of the intellectual appeal of this series, which was partially funded by a 1969 Guggenheim Fellowship, but it’s really the compositional style, the humor, and sadness depicted in the individual photographs that draw my adoration. In fact, many of the photographs I knew on their own merit, separate from the series of which they became a part. This is not to take away from the value of the series, but to recognize just how strong some of these compositions are. Along with Robert Frank’s “Trolley—New Orleans” image, the photo called “Hard-Hat Rally, New York 1969,” which is part of Public Relations, is an all-time favorite of mine.

The photos in this book were taken at press conferences, museum openings, street demonstrations, and an Apollo rocket launching, for example—all places where the media was present to “cover” events. In his controlled chaos, Winogrand depicted the interdependence of cultural happenings and the media, how the media not only reports on events but becomes a part of those events and how some events, big or small, are created only to be a part of that same media.  Obviously, this continues to be a crucial societal issue, as media coverage and “reality” programming have escalated to a degree that Winogrand himself may not have been able to imagine. Not only was his subject matter ahead of its time, so too was his photographic style. As we can see, street photography in the vein of Winogrand and others is more prevalent now than ever. One can only guess what he would do with an Instagram feed.

The “Things We Love” series articles are written by B&H Photo Video Pro Audio staff to talk about products and items that we love. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the writers and do not represent product endorsements from B&H Photo Video Pro Audio.