Friday 19 December 2008

Life Magazine Photos online

A view of a butcher's shop in Ennis, by Hans Wild,  Life Magazine onlineOne of the biggest photo collections in the world is now available to the public online. The bulk of the archive is from Life magazine, the premier platform for photojournalists in the 20th century. About 10 million images will eventually be available with 20% of these online initially. It is hoped that the entire archive will be available by the first quarter of 2009. Roughly 97% of the archive has never been seen by the public before. The collection includes the entire works of Life photographers Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gjon Mili and Nina Leen. Some of Dorothea Lange’s Dustbowl photographs are included, but not her 1954 photographs from Clare. To date, only three photos of the county are included, taken by Hand Wild in the 1940s. The project was made possible due to cooperation between Google and Life magazine. However, some professional photographers are questioning the legality and integrity of the entire project. See http://images.google.com/hosted/life for the online photos. Above image: "A view of a butcher's shop in Ennis, by Hans Wild", Life Magazine.

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