What would have happened...!!!

If the girl Steve McCurry shot was not from an eastern country like Afghanistan but some European or American country.

Firstly, it would not have created such a stir. If it had, the girl might have filed a case against him and got away with a lot of money. I sometimes wonder what the westerners pov about this issue is. Do these people like to see images of poor people/people in pain...What really happens after the image is published and become famous? What happens to the model (the person photographed)? May be one in million gets some donation or publicity like the Vietnamese women. What about others?

Now take for example - I rarely get to photograph European people or kids. People might call police if they see a man with camera near kids. Whereas images of kids from Asian villages are published without any hesitation...almost as if they are shot in studio. Why this hypocrisy? Will these photographers let me photograph their children like this?

I have seen another problem, which is worse imo, photographers giving small-money for poses.

May be I drank a lot of coffee...but just thought of writing.

Yes - in America poor people from other countries represent "human drama". Local homeless people, however, represent a nuisance.

Guy

I don't know about that! We have a local photographer/instructor at East Tennessee State, he's not from around here, that has made a name for himself by exploiting the poor from our surrounding areas. It just pisses me off to no end! He's won awards and even a Guggenheim Fellowship from this same exploitation. The galleries up north love to view our poor! I guess they get a laugh or two from it. I guess they forget about their homeless! Hell, atleast ours have homes to live in! The funny thing is that no one has really complained much about his photography, well except for me! Here's a link to some of his photography.

http://cds.aas.duke.edu/exhibits/past/smith/index.html

Pretty much everyone knows the photo of the Afgan girl, of course. You have to give McCurry credit--he went back and did something for her and her family. Myself, I just saw it as a portrait of a girl with beautiful green eyes. I didn't see it as some "poor person in pain," but rather someone with grace and beauty despite abominable conditions.

A few years ago on another message board there was one of those "bleeding heart" type guys who had been running around taking photos of the drug abusers that congregate in San Francisco. He posted one photo of a particularly pathetic example and said we should send the guy some money. (Never mind that you should NEVER give these folks cash--you know what they'll spend it on!) I asked the photographer what HE did for THAT individual, personally. His response was he took his photo to show everybody. LOL!!!! There he was, right with the guy he wanted us to send money to, but he did NOTHING for him! I.e., he wanted everyone else to send in their money but didn't spend even a dime of his own! That not only struck me as hypocrisy, but also as arrogant. As you might guess, I shredded the guy on that forum.

I have taken a few of those kinds of shots myself, but my method is radically different. I let them approach me. When they ask me for money to buy food, I tell them I won't "give" them money, but will provide them the opportunity to earn it. That way, they keep their dignity. The deal I make is I take their photo, and I pay them with a meal at a nearby McDonalds etc. After I take the photo, I walk them over, have them order, and pick up the tab. That way I know my money is going to actually help and not do them further harm. It also helps to get across the message that if you want money/food, go work for it like everyone else does. In the long run that's what helps them most.


Kent in SD

"Blessed are they that consider the poor.
The Lord will deliver them in time of trouble."
--Psalm 41:1

Jerry, I am familiar with Mike Smith's work and have never interprited it to be a grand exploitation. Granted, I am not familiar with the area or the culture in that region of the country. However, virtually all area's have their poor it seems...including the northern parts of the country. A simular project could be done in Minnesota or almost any area that I have spent significant time in, with little effort (see Alec Soth's "Sleeping by the Mississippi" project for example). For me, viewing Smith's photos brought an awareness of the human struggles that people face in the region and the realization that these places exist where I live as well. As Guy mentioned, it's an easy thing to overlook during the day to day grind. It seems to me that as much responsibility lies with the viewer as it does with the artist. The two are always linked.

One could easily make the same arguements against nature photography. I have a hunch that we feel that our art has the same relationship to nature as Mike Smith may very well feel his photographs have to their real-world subject. Generally we talk to about our photographs as a means of conservation, is this always the case though? I would argue not.

Kent, I found your ethics to be commendable. As a photographer on assignment in a foreign country, I wonder how much ability there is to really provide...furthermore, how would they decide who to help? Things get complicated in a hurry I would imagine.

Jerry, I don't know the fellow you mention nor am I familar with his work. In the very poor area I grew up in southeastern Arkansas we had several photographers come by our little town taking photos of families. Most of the families in our area were sharecroppers. I guess they like to see kids in clothes with holes in them and no shoes. I don't appreciate it very much either since most of the folks taking the photos don't do anything for the subjects and we never received anything from anyone who viewed the photos either. I guess there is some redeeming value in documenting the poverty in our country but I see very little.

I disagree with the original premise that the picture would not have created a stir if the girl was from a western country. To me, that is a remarkable picture. Not because the subject is from afghanistan, but because of the pose, and the expression on her face, and those green eyes.

I'm sure some people are exploiting poor people with their photographs, but in some cases the pictures can create awareness and help create change. I think a lot of the dichotomy has more to do with people in the west's expectations thay will be rich and famous if they are the subject of a photograph than a desire to exploit people on the part of the photographer.

"- in America poor people from other countries represent "human drama". Local homeless people, however, represent a nuisance. "

I disagree. Consider the photography of Dorothea Lange. Her depression-era photographs of homeless Americans epitomize human drama in photojournalism.

Pete D.

Pete, I agree there's some great humanitarians but I'm thinking of two debates I had witnessed - one in San Francisco (one of the most homeless-friendly cities in the US) and another in Salt Lake City (one of the least homeless-friendly cities) and despite the very different conclusions, both times the majority opinions among politicians revolved around "dealing" with homelessness and poverty as a necessary evils and burden to society, rather than attempting to call out and address the socio-political forces causing them.

Sorry for the run-on sentence there... still working on my coffee this morning.

Guy

McCurry went back to find her 20 years after the photograph was taken. Her name is Sharbat Gula and she is living in the same village where he originally photographed her. The return story was recently published by National Geographic. Here is a link to an excerpt from the article...

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/afghangirl/