Can Photographs Change the World?

Can Photographs Change the World?

Have you ever stopped and looked at an image and this image, flashed  memories, made you think, or made you shed a tear. I know i've seen certain images, that were breath taking full of "news" as i call it.  Thats why i believe that photograph's can change the world. Take photojournalism, as I discussed in my previous posts its about an image that tells a story or news. A photojournalistic image creates a story. This image for example:

photo by Johnny Nguyen, AP http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/image-black-boy-hugged-white-ore-viral-article-1.2027689

 This image is of a Portland Police officer embracing a young black boy, after a Ferguson protest. This image is so powerful, it tells us a story. The word equality comes to mind, equality because to do this day racism is still a problem. Although we have overcome racism in the United States over the past 60 years it still lingers. This image shows us that we are equal and as michael jackson sang " It doesn't matter if your black or white."

Are photographers always available? are they at every event that happens in history? The simple answer is NO. They can not be everywhere, so we rely on everyday citizens to submit photos. It's being called "a civic duty in today's America" according to Dan Gillmor. 

Quoting Gilmor  again he stated" Ferguson isn’t the first example of this kind of citizen journalism, which has been going on for years in any number of other places including Iran, Egypt, Occupy Wall Street and Syria."

One image that has effected me personally was :

photo by a soldier:https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~kmmurray/The%20Longest%20Day/Landing%20in%20Normandy.html

      If this photo was never taken, would i know how those soldier's felt, what the war looked like in their perspective? This image means so much to me,  it shows the soldiers preparing and storming the beaches of Normandy during what we call D-Day, my grandfather served during WW2 as well. It is a very powerful image and shows the strength of those soldiers and what they endured that day for our freedom. 

     Thinking of this image i cam across a quote from Ted Rall who stated "The test for Congress, particularly for those members who support the war, is to require all who enjoy the benefits of our democracy to contribute to the defence of the country. All of America's children should share the risk of being placed in harm's way" Seeing this quote i begin to think how our country's military was formed, from volunteers, those who wanted to join not those who were forced to join, now fast forward almost 30 years to Vietnam where those soldiers were drafted and forced to fight, such as my father. Does Ted make a point? I don't particularly like that quote, because I believe America was built on the freedom to make your own choice. 

     Ted also makes a good point when he says "What pictures will turn Americans against their nation's wars against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen or Somalia?" We see images all the time of the war, but those are the images that the government shows us, do we ever get to see the images of rape and murder. The harmful acts that our soldiers have done in those countries? no we don't . Ted has a point, because I'm sure those images would turn a lot of Americans away and disprove of what we are doing overseas.

MB

Introduction to the History of Photojournalism

       Photojournalism simply put is the “telling of a story through a photo” according to Cameron Knight. Photos are very helpful in telling a story, they add a special touch to any article, book, or paper. Visualization is key in helping to get the point or story across.

So why is knowing the history photojournalism important? I personally think going through a book with no pictures would be boring and you wouldn’t be able to feel like your standing there with them. Michelle Wanke said “ Can you image reading a newspaper or magazine that was void of images? How would you react if you had to watch television news broadcasts that didn't include a stitch of video? These entities would be incomplete without pictures. Photos make or break media products.” Photos are apart of our history, without photos we would not be able to find out about a lot of things that happened in the past.
      Imagine those who are little kids now. They weren’t around for 9/11, but the photos that were taken will always be here. When they learn about the attack on that day, they will see the photos and feel apart of that day. I found an interesting quote from ukessays.com that read “From its inception in the 1850’s, photojournalism has played a major role in shaping American history. Photojournalism, broadly defined, is the communication of news through pictures. It has extended our sense of understanding of things previously unknown."
If you take a look at the image below, you see a soldier handing a bottle of water to a  little boy, Noora Kotilainen titled it " the humanitarian soldier in action" its a very powerful image. When I took a look at it I immediately thought of the words caring, help, and peace. As far as photojournalism goes it shows the soldier doing an action, a verb. The soldier is giving the boy a bottle of water.


photo by Noora Kotilainen: https://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/

This next image of war shows soldiers in action, storming through the beach during D-DAY in WW2. Another very powerful well taken photojournalistic photo that evokes great meaning. The history behind this day is very important and thanks to the photographer generations are able to learn about this day and visualize what happened and place themselves in the shoes of those photographed.

photo by Robert F. Sargent: https://photogo.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/what-it-means-to-be-a-photographer/

September 11,2001

NYFD raising  flag at Ground Zero

photo by:©2001 The Record, (Bergen County, N.J.). 

Thomas E. Franklin, Staff Photographer http://staugustine.com/stories/082802/nat_944282.shtml