I read this fascinating essay on Roger Fenton’s photographs of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I’ve seen the one most published photograph but am not an expert on photography or Fenton. Still the essay is quite interesting. Although I do not, in principle, think that staging is a bad thing, I do not see the need to go back and try to determine what Fenton was thinking. Can anyone know what someone else was thinking? But I think there must be some human need to assign a purpose or a reason to the photographs, something to answer the "Why are there two" question.
I have an opinion but I will wait to see what Morris learns as well. My opinion is not learned and does not stem from any great knowledge or understanding of art or photography.
I will tell you that it seems obvious to me that the lighting of the pictures is quite different, as one would expect if Fenton took the pictures over a roughly 1 1/2 hour period in the late afternoon. Depending on which way he is facing, I think the light can tell you a great deal, and there are obvious differences in light and shadow in these photographs as I see them posted on the web. Of course I am not looking at the actual photographs, and I know nothing of the techniques and settings Fenton used.
Still, I will be intrigued to read the continuation.