The photographer who made what must be the saddest man and nature photograph ever could not go on. I admire and respect photojournalism, but, man, some of that stuff must really get to you.
And what effects you, you can't help but photograph. Photojournalists serve an important purpose, but often at a high price. Kevin Carter won't be forgotten and neither will his images. I had not viewed that particular image before, but I must say it's as powerful and telling as any I've ever seen.
Check out War Photographer if you want to see a man affected by his work yet driven to continue with it. James Nachtwey is an amazing photographer/photojournalist, and he's seen the worst of the worst.
When you see this & read about it really makes getting the top of the line camera, . and pretty much everything else meaningless.
We all need to take a step back & remember how damm lucky we are.
God bless him
JG
Posted by Cory Freeman on July 26, 2006 at 9:37 PM
Here's an article I read during my recent trip to Hawaii. It gives some insight on a photojournalists struggle with doing what's morally correct, or getting the shot. I don't think I could do that kind of job.....link
Posted by Richard Wong on July 26, 2006 at 10:20 PM
I read that guys story on several websites. He really lived a rough life. I worry for a lot of these people coming out of school with dreams of doing war / famine photography.
Like Gordon, I'd recommend seeing War Photographer. It's the most disturbing video I've seen and yet well-made. See the expression and hear the tonality in Nachtwey when he speaks. It's almost as if his soul died years ago. I think that's what helps him be able to do what he does. Kevin Carter it seemed wasn't able to block out his emotions unfortunately.
How tragic - I know ugliness is all around: man on man, man on nature, nature on man, nature on nature. And although portions of my life have been completely undesired, I feel blessed for not having to experience the brutality of war or genocide. Like Cindy, I would also be unable to document these experiences. It would rip my soul apart.
I cant help but feel a deep sense of understanding and camaraderie but at the same time find it hard to express my feelings clearly. One thing that is clear to me is that we must never let this legacy be forgotten.
Hunger and genocide are still prevalent in the Sudan today, while the world's attention is divided among so many other things. Certainly not the only cause worth suppporting but if nothing else I would suggest that each of us pick at least one organization they consider worth helping and make a small donation.
Guy
Posted by Bill Chambers on July 27, 2006 at 10:26 AM
I honestly don't see how anyone could be a photojournalist for long in those conditions. Unfortunately, hardening one's self to death from crime, accidents, etc. is not that hard, and can be dealt with easier emotionally, but hardening one's self to horrible, unending suffering is on another level altogether. I might could attain the necessary hardness if I were there to help (ie, Mother Teresa style), but I don't think I could if I were there just to record the suffering. I realize that recording the suffering is important, and that this picture may have helped bring in millions of dollars to help relieve others' suffering, but personally I just couldn't do it. I think I too would end up with the same fate as Kevin Carter.
Posted by Kent Staubus on July 27, 2006 at 11:16 AM
I've had a long time interest in these sorts of images. The first photo book I ever bought was "Hearts of Darkness" by Don McCullin. I also have Nacthwey's "Inferno" and a couple of other books. While I have a strong interest in the photography, I never wanted to do it. I'm away from home too much as it is. Whenever I see photos of starving people my thought is always, "OK, so what did you do besides take the photo?" I would have carried the child on to the food distribution center if possible. The way I look at it is I am only one person and there's no way I can possibly help all in need, but I can certainly help those within ten feet of me. As for Don McCullin, he finally reached a point where he walked away from it all. He took up taking landscape photos instead. His landscapes are every bit as somber and downbeat as his earlier work though.
Kent in SD
Posted by David Redding on July 27, 2006 at 10:59 PM
I was just wondering..........Do you think he helped that child after taking his/her picture? Did the child need his help, or was this just an instant that was such a heart wrencher that it actually made me cry for the first time in years (man Ive become such a wimp after my son was born ) or was this poor child actually on deaths door?
That is one job I just couldnt do........It would ove whelm me.........It would make me want to pick up a gun and kill anyone with a gun
"Unfortunately, hardening one's self to death from crime, accidents, etc. is not that hard, "
Knowing from experiance, I can say that many of you do not know just how right you really are.
In war, killing gets easier with each one you kill, and with disasters and any other kinds of horrors,
they get easier to look at the more of them that you are around. I couldn't even begin to count
how many dead I have dealt with in one way or the other, and to me now it is just one other part of life.
The LAST part.
Like it or not, the second you are born, you start to die.
It's not a matter of if, or how. It's just a matter of WHEN!
To me the real sad part of this kind of thing is with how Hollywood has totally desensitized people,
and especially the young, to not think twice about killing others. And all for their greedy profits.
Paul, Im not sure if I pity you or envy you. Myself, I could see scenes like this and although it would effect me, it just wouldnt effect me they way it does now. All I see is my pride and joy, my son (turning 2 years old in a few weeks) laying there, not some kid that I don't know.
Im just wondering if a harding of our emotional fortitude is needed for today and in the future. It wont be long before alot of the earth is no long inhabitable and the people that dont have the money to migrate will be the subjects of a million more pictures just like this one. With more and more people moving to occupy a smaller and smaller plot of land, aggression will become more rampade and the pictures of mass graves will be more common place then a Coke advertisment.
So I guess we should be thanking Hollywood for hardening use all to scenes like this, other wise we will be all a bunch of crying wreaks in the future
Life has always been tough on Earth - it's just we're a species capable of being fully aware of that fact. Species come and go, but Earth and the life it carries lives on.
Yes, we are fortunate to live the kind of life we do, but I often wonder how much longer it will last.
In all honesty, I think that anyone who believes they are truly hardened to such traumatic experiences is simply whistling to keep their spirits up. Traumatic experiences never go away; they lurk in the background, and as each new experience occurs, the emotional toll is greater.
Post traumatic stress and critical incident stress are very real and, in my opinion, each of us needs to deal with it in order to be healthy. If you believe you may be having emotional issues, contact your doctor or a mental health professional. You'll be glad you did.
I think the true value of discussions such as this one is that each of us, in our own way, is reaching out and allowing our feelings to be known. Personally, I am glad that such frank and honest discussions occur here at NPN!
For myself, the images that I make do affect me in a very positive and supportive way. I am a fire fighter, and have witnessed many critical incidents over the last 20 years, and prior to that, military service during the Viet Nam era. My own photography and my music serve in no small way as a balance on the emotional teeter-totter.
I started this thread because it gave me a new perspective on the saying "The camera points both ways." I always thought of that as meaning that the final product, the photograph, was a result of what the camera was pointed at AND who was pointing it. A camera is a window between the world and the photographer. The story of Kevin Carter made me realize that things go both in and out that window.
Cindy - - You seemed to have missed the point.
I didn't think I would have to explain a fact of life,,, about,,,
"Like it or not, the second you are born, you start to die."
I was talking literally about "Life" not "living". The second you are born you begin to AGE, and aging is nothing more than the process of dying. I said nothing about suffering, or any other way of it happening, and I said nothing about how you spend the time until it happens. The quote I replied to was about DEATH, not living.
As for other replies,,, Most of the dying I was talking about was in WAR although I have also been on the scene of two major air disasters in Calif. and that can be an even worse sight than in war, which I have been a part of. At least in war most of the time you still have most of a body to deal with. When a jet liner crashes you are lucky to find much of anything you can recognize. An accident is not war, or the kind of death you see in starving countries, but death is still death in the end. Having been a part of many search and rescue teams in most of the places I have lived, the bodies add up real fast there too.
When you come right down to it, "Life is all just a game that everybody looses in the end."
I was also NOT talking about a family death, which would be totally different for anyone.
This post started about images of war and the starvation that goes with it.
That is what I replied about. NOT how people live their lives.
And anyone who believes that being hardened by "Hollywood" killing is good is an even sader case.
Not a week goes by that I don't hear about some kid who shoots someone because they have seen so much killing on TV that they think that is the way everyone deals with problems, and they have no feelings at all for others because the characters on TV don't have any. I have worked around the Hollywood business most of the 30+ years I lived in Calif. and I know how phony they are, and how they could care less what effect they have on society, just as long as they make a big profit. Then the two-faced SOBs will tell you they just recreate what society is already like. You may think that there is a Die-Hard type Bruce Willis in every state, but I have yet to ever see a single one in any country, let alone any state. But then again I don't know what Hollywood "Twilight Zone" some people live in.
David - - "That is one job I just couldnt do........It would over whelm me.........It would make me want to pick up a gun and kill anyone with a gun"
Does that mean yourself too, since you would then also be just like them?
That kind of logic reminds me of the old saying;
"We kill people, who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong."
Kind of sounds like the same kind of logic that we get out of Washington every day.
Not that I am in any way against capitol punishment, which I AM NOT.
Posted by Darren White on July 31, 2006 at 12:58 PM
2 years ago my wife spent 31 days in Africa in some of the poorest regions there are...although she is not any kind of a photographer she came home with some images that reallllllly make you appreciate what we have here in America...... We also spent 8 days in Bora Bora in the south pacific and although its outer islands are the most beautiful places on earth....the main island and village is dirt poor and very much an eye sore.....
I will just stick with Waterfalls, sunsets and the like....they make me happy and thats how I like to be......
Discussion
18 repliesPete D.
We all need to take a step back & remember how damm lucky we are.
God bless him
JG
Like Gordon, I'd recommend seeing War Photographer. It's the most disturbing video I've seen and yet well-made. See the expression and hear the tonality in Nachtwey when he speaks. It's almost as if his soul died years ago. I think that's what helps him be able to do what he does. Kevin Carter it seemed wasn't able to block out his emotions unfortunately.
Hunger and genocide are still prevalent in the Sudan today, while the world's attention is divided among so many other things. Certainly not the only cause worth suppporting but if nothing else I would suggest that each of us pick at least one organization they consider worth helping and make a small donation.
Guy
Kent in SD
That is one job I just couldnt do........It would ove whelm me.........It would make me want to pick up a gun and kill anyone with a gun
Knowing from experiance, I can say that many of you do not know just how right you really are.
In war, killing gets easier with each one you kill, and with disasters and any other kinds of horrors,
they get easier to look at the more of them that you are around. I couldn't even begin to count
how many dead I have dealt with in one way or the other, and to me now it is just one other part of life.
The LAST part.
Like it or not, the second you are born, you start to die.
It's not a matter of if, or how. It's just a matter of WHEN!
To me the real sad part of this kind of thing is with how Hollywood has totally desensitized people,
and especially the young, to not think twice about killing others. And all for their greedy profits.
Im just wondering if a harding of our emotional fortitude is needed for today and in the future. It wont be long before alot of the earth is no long inhabitable and the people that dont have the money to migrate will be the subjects of a million more pictures just like this one. With more and more people moving to occupy a smaller and smaller plot of land, aggression will become more rampade and the pictures of mass graves will be more common place then a Coke advertisment.
So I guess we should be thanking Hollywood for hardening use all to scenes like this, other wise we will be all a bunch of crying wreaks in the future
Yes, we are fortunate to live the kind of life we do, but I often wonder how much longer it will last.
Post traumatic stress and critical incident stress are very real and, in my opinion, each of us needs to deal with it in order to be healthy. If you believe you may be having emotional issues, contact your doctor or a mental health professional. You'll be glad you did.
I think the true value of discussions such as this one is that each of us, in our own way, is reaching out and allowing our feelings to be known. Personally, I am glad that such frank and honest discussions occur here at NPN!
For myself, the images that I make do affect me in a very positive and supportive way. I am a fire fighter, and have witnessed many critical incidents over the last 20 years, and prior to that, military service during the Viet Nam era. My own photography and my music serve in no small way as a balance on the emotional teeter-totter.
Best regards,
-PB
Pete D.
I didn't think I would have to explain a fact of life,,, about,,,
"Like it or not, the second you are born, you start to die."
I was talking literally about "Life" not "living". The second you are born you begin to AGE, and aging is nothing more than the process of dying. I said nothing about suffering, or any other way of it happening, and I said nothing about how you spend the time until it happens. The quote I replied to was about DEATH, not living.
As for other replies,,, Most of the dying I was talking about was in WAR although I have also been on the scene of two major air disasters in Calif. and that can be an even worse sight than in war, which I have been a part of. At least in war most of the time you still have most of a body to deal with. When a jet liner crashes you are lucky to find much of anything you can recognize. An accident is not war, or the kind of death you see in starving countries, but death is still death in the end. Having been a part of many search and rescue teams in most of the places I have lived, the bodies add up real fast there too.
When you come right down to it, "Life is all just a game that everybody looses in the end."
I was also NOT talking about a family death, which would be totally different for anyone.
This post started about images of war and the starvation that goes with it.
That is what I replied about. NOT how people live their lives.
And anyone who believes that being hardened by "Hollywood" killing is good is an even sader case.
Not a week goes by that I don't hear about some kid who shoots someone because they have seen so much killing on TV that they think that is the way everyone deals with problems, and they have no feelings at all for others because the characters on TV don't have any. I have worked around the Hollywood business most of the 30+ years I lived in Calif. and I know how phony they are, and how they could care less what effect they have on society, just as long as they make a big profit. Then the two-faced SOBs will tell you they just recreate what society is already like. You may think that there is a Die-Hard type Bruce Willis in every state, but I have yet to ever see a single one in any country, let alone any state. But then again I don't know what Hollywood "Twilight Zone" some people live in.
Does that mean yourself too, since you would then also be just like them?
That kind of logic reminds me of the old saying;
"We kill people, who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong."
Kind of sounds like the same kind of logic that we get out of Washington every day.
Not that I am in any way against capitol punishment, which I AM NOT.
I will just stick with Waterfalls, sunsets and the like....they make me happy and thats how I like to be......