Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Arthur, the question 'what change has come about...?' is an interesting one and one that I've thought about quite a lot. Nobody's photographs were able to stop the situations in Rwanda and so on from taking place but in the case of, for example, the Ethiopian famine of 1984 the photographs and films of, for example, Mohamed Amin, Salgado and others were instrumental in motivating the Band Aid movement. The photographs of people such as Salgado and Nachtwey are crucial in maintaining a level of public awareness that at least keeps charity coffers filled so that somebody can do something to help. You don't have to be in countries like Ethiopia very long to see how much work the aid agencies are doing there, even Band Aid 15 years after the famine. Given that these things have to be covered by a lot of photographers it's certain that some photographers will be more effective than others, and that no 2 photographers will share an exact set of motives. They can't all be Don McCullin and fortunately they can't all be Kevin Carter either. What would you like to do? Vet each photographer to see that he shares your views before he goes out there? Or perhaps you'd rather no photographers covered this sort of event at all, that we turned a blind eye to it because photography is apparently so useless. And if you don't want the photographers there, what about the TV, radio and print journalists? Do you want to stop them going too? If not, why do you make an exception for photographers? Or perhaps it's just *good* photographers you object to? What do you think the world would be like without Nachtwey or Salgado or McCullin or Rodger or Peress? Criticising Nachtwey is all very well, but what is the alternative? I don't believe he's doing it for the benefit of his, or your, or my or anybody else's 'spiritual benefit or progress' he's doing it in the hope of putting a stop to as much of the torture, abuse, famine and suffering as he reasonably can. Regards, Bob >From: ARTHURWG@aol.com > >OK, John, the Nachtwey photos make you ask questions. But what are the >answers? What moral, ethical or spiritual "progress" have we made as a >result? What have those photos done to make things better? Are we better >for >seeing them? If so, how so? What change has come about as a result of >Nachtwey's actions? > In 1945 we had pictures of the death camps in Germany. In 1995 we had >pictures from Rwanda. When the "unthinkable" happpens next week, next month >or next year, Nachtwey will probably be there to take pictures. > >As much as I'd like to think otherwise, all this now comes under the >heading >of "entertainment." Arthur _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.