Using Photos to Cheer Up People

[raid]

A large part of my family lives still in Baghdad (Iraq), and it is very difficult to visit each other due to the continuous state of war in Iraq since many years. I have been emailing nearly every week new photos of my children to my mother so that she cheers up from the depressing situation where she lives. Now my brother, who lives in the same house with my mother, asks me all the time to keep on sending new photos to cheer our mother up. This alone makes it worthwhile for me to take many photos and try to bring my family closer to us here. While this may sound very trivial to some, it actually has become one of the few things that I can do from here.

 

[raid]

What I am trying to get at is the positive role of photography. This is not a political statement. :bang: :angel: :bang: :angel:

 

[FrankS]

What I am trying to get at is the positive role of photography. This is not a political statement. :bang: :angel: :bang: :angel:

I understood that completely.

"While this may sound very trivial to some, it actually has become one of the few things that I can do from here."

This is not trivial at all. What can be stronger than family ties?!

 

[darkkavenger]

I think what you do is normal and also wonderful, and one of the reasons why sometimes we take photos... to bring people closer to their far away loved ones. I know my mom adores getting photos from me, it soothes her a bit from missing me 🙂

 

[Frank Granovski]

I did the same thing for my mother when she was dying of cancer. Once a week I'd bring over a bunch of my latest pictures.

 

[raid]

In my case, things are extreme. Since the last war, there is no regular mail delivery, I am told. People are exploring what was once forbidden, and the internet is the Nr. 1 tool to see what is happening in the world.

 

[ruben]

In a sense you are lucky to experience on your own flesh the power of Photography.

Cheers,

Ruben

 

[raid]

I did the same thing for my mother when she was dying of cancer. Once a week I'd bring over a bunch of my latest pictures.

Frank: This is sad indeed, and I am sure that you helped making the last days of your mother more bearable.

 

[Peter Klein]

So many photographers dream of being in some war or natural disaster and taking "The Definitive Picture." Pulitzer prize, Robert Capa, James Nachtway, Salgado, and all that. But when it comes right down to it, the most precious photographs are those of our loved ones. Especially when we are separated by distance. Sometimes the separation is for prosaic reasons: Junior moved farther than a days drive away because that's where he got a job. When the separation is caused by war or natural disaster, or is amplified by illness, the photographs are that much more precious.

--Peter

 

[raid]

I agree with you Peter. The war inflicted distances are very emotional and stressful. Photos have become our way of sharing each other with each other.. My brother got a digital camera and he sends me photos of his children too.

 

[Biggles]

I used to send my quirky little Ilford postcards to people I knew who needed a regular smile. I don't remember anything else I've ever sent in the mail going over as well as those postcards did.

Mr. Amin, do you scan your pictures yourself, or do you have your photo-finishers do it? The reason I ask- the professional lab that I use does scanning from negative to CD for me, for a really good price, especially if I bring in a couple of rolls. They have a Photoshop geek on staff who does nothing but, and she rips through three rolls of 36 in no time flat. The pictures I get are pretty much postable or ready for e-mail right off the CD.

Something to consider if your time is at a premium. And I can believe that your pictures are helping your family get through the week.

 

[Uncle Bill]

Raid Amin,

You are doing the best you can from where you are. What people forget is even when the situation is really dire which it is in Iraq, people still need to smile and your photos are doing that. I take photos of my nephew and send them to relatives in New Zealand and other parts of the world.

Bill

 

[Frank Granovski]

So many photographers dream of being in some war or natural disaster and taking "The Definitive Picture."

Don't you want to win the Zeiss Ikon? 😎

Raid, some of my wife's family are still in Tehran---it's really bad there these days, especially for the Bahai's. I sometimes send them pics and video, but not with the mail; because they have to pay to pick up the stuff; and any women that is not covered gets cut out or deleted.

 

[raid]

I used to send my quirky little Ilford postcards to people I knew who needed a regular smile. I don't remember anything else I've ever sent in the mail going over as well as those postcards did.

Mr. Amin, do you scan your pictures yourself, or do you have your photo-finishers do it? The reason I ask- the professional lab that I use does scanning from negative to CD for me, for a really good price, especially if I bring in a couple of rolls. They have a Photoshop geek on staff who does nothing but, and she rips through three rolls of 36 in no time flat. The pictures I get are pretty much postable or ready for e-mail right off the CD.

Something to consider if your time is at a premium. And I can believe that your pictures are helping your family get through the week.

Hello,
Thanks for your tip. I actually have resorted to this practice you mentioned above and am now for expediency getting my film scanned directly on a CD. While some may view such scans inferior technicvally, my family always enjoys the photos.

 

[raid]

Raid Amin,

You are doing the best you can from where you are. What people forget is even when the situation is really dire which it is in Iraq, people still need to smile and your photos are doing that. I take photos of my nephew and send them to relatives in New Zealand and other parts of the world.

Bill

Bill,
One of the most important factors is trying not get depression when living in Iraq (and not get killed either), and simple things scuh as sending photos of family help a lot in keeping people smiling. You are doing the same.

 

[raid]

Don't you want to win the Zeiss Ikon? 😎

Raid, some of my wife's family are still in Tehran---it's really bad there these days, especially for the Bahai's. I sometimes send them pics and video, but not with the mail; because they have to pay to pick up the stuff; and any women that is not covered gets cut out or deleted.

The situations seem to be getting similar between life in Iraq and life in Iran, with the exception that you could get killed any day in Iraq and for no reason but for standing where you are.

Censorship is stupid and can be funny at times:

Many years ago, one of my close friends told me what happend to his father, who was working as one of the major administrators in the Information Ministry, which handled censorship in Iraq. One day, a memo arrived on his desk, with the following statement, attached to an issue of Playboy magazine. Much is lost in the translation here, but it similar to " Sir, attached is an issue of the magazine "Oh Boy, Play!"

 

[brightsky]

Not trivial at ALL! Your photographs are surely the bright spot of your mother's week.

You are creating memories not only for your family in Iraq, but here as well. Those photos will appreciate in value as your children grow up.

 

[Jocko]

Not trivial at ALL! Your photographs are surely the bright spot of your mother's week.

Absolutely. Forget "art" - what higher purpose could a photograph have than simple happiness and love? When my Mum was housebound in the year before her death, I took endless "snaps" for her. Such simple pictures [and we all have them] are like windows to a world of the heart - to realities far higher than the squalor and pain we too readily associate with "great photographs".

I'd like to add that photographs can also help both photographer and subject - this art has a redemptive, transformative function we can never underestimate. Good luck to you and yours, Mr Amin.

 

[sf]

Raid amin - that is a very noble motive for taking pictures. Extremely non-trivial.

 

[raid]

Thanks. I feel like I am doing a good thing when I keep on taking photos of my family for my family.