Aug. 9: Week in Photography
Your lens to the internet's most powerful photographs. 📸 MOST POWERFUL PHOTO OF THE WEEK 📸  Patrick Baz / AFP via Getty Images The cataclysmic explosion that rocked Beirut this week was only the latest, and most destructive, blow to Lebanon, which has already seen the collapse of its currency and ongoing political unrest this year.
 📸For Your 👀 Only: THE SOPHISTICATED STORY OF THESE PLAYFUL LANDSCAPES John Pfahl was a fine art photographer based in Buffalo who was known for his innovative landscape photography, which often used optical manipulation to make unique, and playful, images that reflect on the relationship between man and nature. Pfahl died of COVID-19 in April of this year. We spoke with Janet Borden, his longtime friend and gallerist, about his work.
He was fascinated with the way the camera interprets what's in front of it. And it's a photograph vision in these cases, all of these setups are total illusions that only work from the vantage point of the camera. So like the image of aluminum foil on the tree, "Australian Pines" it's called, that's probably 6 feet of aluminum foil wrapped around each tree. They're all very elaborate setups that only work photographically. If you're standing there, it doesn't look like that. It's really smart. He likes to make it look silly, but it was really cool. We always used to say that he was “smart, pretty, calm,” but that's a great combo.  Moonrise Over Pie Pan, Capitol Reef National Park, UT. 1977 John Pfahl courtesy Janet Borden Inc. NYC They're all done with a 4-by-5 camera. He could just figure out how to do it, and then he would have assistants with help sometimes just so he didn't have to run back and forth all the time from the cameras to check it out.
So he was always, you know, a conservationist, I would say. I think what he loved is that push-pull between humans and nature.  The Big Dipper, Charlotte, NC. 1976 John Pfahl courtesy Janet Borden Inc. NYC CAN YOU TALK ABOUT SOME OF HIS OTHER PROJECTS? There's a wonderful collection called Power Places. He went around to places where there were nuclear reactors. He would make a beautiful landscape with that in it, and it was the idea that you would incorporate this frightening concept into the beauty of the landscape.
Ridiculous isn't the right word. I guess I think that that would just be sort of banal.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS? The world is more interesting than any of my opinions about it. What photography does is it shows things in a way that talking about them doesn't, doesn't hit, you know, so viscerally. And these are so beautiful and they're so charming. It takes great effort to make things look better, especially altered landscapes because they just look simple.  Outlined Boulders, Red Rock Canyon, CA. 1976 John Pfahl courtesy Janet Borden Inc. NYC  📸THE WEEK'S PHOTO STORIES FROM BUZZFEED NEWS 📸 This week, the shocking explosion in Beirut this week captured much of the world's attention, with images of destroyed neighborhoods and upended lives underlining the fragility of everyday existence. It's a good reminder to appreciate the little things.
Find more of the week's best photo stories here.
THESE PHOTOS FROM HIROSHIMA WERE CLASSIFIED FOR YEARS  Bernard Hoffman/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images
THE DEVASTATING AFTERMATH OF THE BEIRUT EXPLOSION  AFP / Getty Images
INSPIRING PHOTOS THAT YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WERE TAKEN ON A PHONE  Sergio Ricardo Valencia
📸SOME HOPE 📸  Guglielmo Mangiapane / Reuters "That's it from us this time — see you next week!" —Gabriel and Kate “We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us.”— Ralph Hattersley
📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by the News Photo team. Gabriel Sanchez is the photo essay editor based in New York and loves cats. Kate Bubacz is the photo director based in New York and loves dogs. You can always reach us here.
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