Pictures with a punch

[charjohncarter]

Pablito,


I had never read the rule (Thanks). I'm sure that I have violated it. But just for future postings is my posted image on this thread OK. It does have the credit on the image.

 

[Jarle Aasland]

....the PJ group was called the Bang Bang Club. The photographer was Kevin Carter.

A sad story indeed:

NYT: Kevin Carter, a Pulitzer Winner For Sudan Photo, Is Dead at 33

TIME: The Life and Death of Kevin Carter

Wikipedia: Kevin Carter

Jarle

 

[oftheherd]

I can't believe someone took that picture! I couldn't stand one sec behind my camera ... I just couldn't. Some photographers have lost their soul, imo.

Just my 2 cents. The sad part isn't that he took the photo, but that he couldn't handle what he saw and committed suicide because of it. Photos like that have the potential of saving many lives. Your reaction implies to me that if it accompanied a request for a donation, it would have been difficult for you to refuse. Also, a photo like that can be used to good effect to convince people to lobby against inaction in the face of genocide or famines.

Some people can't take being confronted with that kind of thing, at least seeing it in person, and should avoid it, or seek professional help afterward. Apparently the photographer couldn't take it and didn't seek help. Too bad.

 

[crawdiddy]

A print of this hangs above my desk. I don't think I need to explain why it has punch.

http://www.npr.org/templates/common/image_enlargement.php?imageResId=5242054

This is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen, and I'm not exactly sure why. I don't say this casually-- I only want to understand the effect on the viewer. We see many images of suffering and the effects of violence. Certainly the image's power is enhanced because the subject is a child, but we see many disturbing images of children. Something about the vulture makes it very primal. And the tableau, the frail condition of the child, photographed in the act of food gathering in a parched landscape, appears beyond desperate-- dire. I think the potency of the image, the punch, comes from the solitary, innocent subject in a hopeless situation. It's a powerful exposition of the failure to meet basic human needs, captured for publication in glossy magazines, for consumers who haven't been concerned with starvation for at least 3 generations.

I had not seen this image before. Thanks for calling it to our attention, sitemistic.

 

[oftheherd]

Actually crawdiddy, iirc it's worse, the child was dying, near death, and died shortly after the photo was taken. Vultures I am told won't approach anything exhibiting any signs of life. I think there was some criticizing of the photographer for "letting" the child die.

It is a poignant photo no matter how you try to interpret it. It tends to disturb because you want to be there to stop the madness and know you can't. It's too late. You are helpless but you don't want to be.

Personally I think it took courage for the photographer to take the photo and present it for publication as he must have had the same feelings of guilt we all feel for not stopping it. If he didn't, I am sure he was instilled with guilt by others later. It is too bad he wasn't able to keep it in perspective, if in fact that is what caused him to commit suicide.

 

[Kin Lau]

Actually crawdiddy, iirc it's worse, the child was dying, near death, and died shortly after the photo was taken. Vultures I am told won't approach anything exhibiting any signs of life. I think there was some criticizing of the photographer for "letting" the child die.

Do you have a source for this?

According to both the NYT and Times article (see links in the post by Jarle), the little girl was able to get up and go on her way to the feeding station and Kevin chased the vulture away.

 

[benno]

I think the fact we're talking about it suggests that taking the photo was a good thing. What happened next isn't clear, but I think overall Kevin Carters impact on history has been a positive one, if only for this image. He took many other brutal, visceral images during the Apartheid era in South Africa.

"The Bang Bang Club" (the book) is an excellent read and contains some of the Clubs photographic work. If you can get a copy, do read it.

 

[Seele]

It is just too easy for those viewers of photographs to pass judgements on them, while sitting in their armchairs sipping on a glass of cognac. By its nature, a still image bound by two pairs of parallel lines can say a lot, but at the same time leaves out a heck of a lot more; I believe Carter was well aware of the repercussions but chose to click the shutter, like countless photographers in such appalling situations before him.

This reminds me of what happened to me. During 1989 I was working in Hong Kong when the Tiananmen incident was gathering pace. Nearly all the photographers, photojournalists and reporters I knew took the first flight to Beijing, and some actually asked me why I was staying put. I said, "don't forget Paris Commune" but it fell on deaf ears. Needless to say the secret services repeated exactly that, using the photographs to add to their wanted lists. While there have been a few fellow photographers who started their careers in that occasion, I made the statement of not photographing, and at least, I can sleep at night.