Picture Stories Documentary Poster
Director Rob West chronicles the history of Great Britain’s popular magazine Picture Post in this interesting documentary resource about a periodical that featured stories of ordinary people and contained a layout emphasizing photographs over lengthy paragraphs. Published from 1938 to 1957, the magazine highlighted stories of everyday life and also tackled social issues of the day.
Leading up to World War II, the magazine spoke out against Neville Chamberlin’s policies; and, during the war, portrayed life interrupted by bombing raids and other war events. Using archival video and photographs, audio from Picture Post’s founder, interviews with former Picture Post journalists and photographers, and commentary by current documentary photographers, the film presents a detailed look at the magazine and its influences on photojournalism and documentary photography.
Picture Post was founded by Hungarian-born Stefan Lorant. With experience from both the world of film and photography, Lorant first became editor of the Munich Illustrated Press and worked with many talented photographers and journalists in Germany; he was imprisoned by Hitler for speaking out against the Nazis. When he was released from prison, he left Germany for England, founded Picture Post in 1938, and successfully recruited European photographers, journalists, editors, and agents to create a magazine similar to the ones he favored in Europe. Lorant wanted to show reality—not fiction.
With one camera shot, Lorant envisioned telling a story, and critics remarked he “had a sense of how to tell a story”. In Picture Post, a typical spread of twelve pictures would have one picture taking up a whole page or half the page with smaller pictures on opposite pages. Following the title, a short narrative would describe the story told in the pictures. Commentators noted the writing was excellent; readership and circulation increased immediately.
Picture Post benefited from developments in photography. Photographers switched from using plates to handheld 35-millimeter cameras—the Leica was popular—and these cameras allowed them to quickly take pictures. The sharp details in the photo were retained even as the photo was enlarged for the layout. Examples of photos taken by Thurston Hopkins, Kurt Hutton, Felix Man, and others illustrate the expert quality of the pictures.
In 1940 Churchill’s government began to round up enemy aliens; Lorant was denied naturalization and fled to America along with other German-born photojournalists. Tom Hopkinson, the assistant editor, took over as editor and his daughter Amana Hopkinson provides details about her father’s reign at the magazine. A liberal at heart, Hopkinson included aspiring stories about what kind of Great Britain should emerge after the war and included topics such as health care and unemployment.
Picture Post began to decline in circulation with the loss of Hopkinson as editor and the advent of television in the 1950s. Picture Stories is a unique educational documentary suitable for journalism, photography, and history film collections. Highly recommended, especially for art history professors teaching with film. Aud: H, C, P.