PhotoTalk 2020/02

Today, let’s discuss “Guerrillero Heroico”

We could talk about the photographer, but this is about the Photo.  Guerrillero Heroico is likely the most printed photo in the world, having appeared in everything from photographic prints, to posters, to attire, to advertising campaigns, tattoos, and eventually to art.

At the time, Alberto Korda was photographing an event, a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion. Today we might say it was part of “event photography” or might classify it as a portrait (Korda did). What you see illustrated here is the original image, what was eventually made famous was a cropped version eliminating the palm tree to the right and the man to the left. What stands out in the image, to me, is the intense expression on Che Guevara’s face.

So, let’s talk, was it a good photo at an event? Was it a situational portrait? Was it a candid “street photograph”? Was it “art”?

Original post on the Guyana Photographers’ Facebook page on March 26th, 2020. Original comments and discussion can be seen on that post.