[Leica] A few uploads

[walt at waltjohnson.com (Walt Johnson)]

Tina:

Your work is beautiful. I know you would not be making the sacrifices 
you are called on to make for any other reasons than the right ones. 
Resnick's write up makes several strong points which I certainly agree 
with. He also makes several I'd argue about till hell freezes over. 
Young idealists may well lose a lot of verve over the years but even the 
most humanitarian soul can develop callouses. To attribute that to a 
strictly financial cause seems superficial.

To speak of "hidden stories" as he did really begs the question. Who, in 
even the most backwoods area of Earth, doesn't know the scale of human 
suffering which has always existed? I was on an island off the coast of 
Haiti with a group of missionaries who set up a makeshift clinic. One 
child was ill from lack of good nutrition and died. Later that same day 
another came in who appeared as if he might follow suite. The nearest 
decent medical service was hours away by trail but much closer by boat.

A neighbor of the sick child's family had a boat but haggled 
relentlessly over money for the trip. Very mercenary but hardly unusual. 
This kind of thing can be witnessed more often than not in these 
situations and it certainly can tinge our humanity with cynicism. Yet, a 
numberer of good people, such as yourself, continue the effort and that 
is commendable. You all do make a difference and even if it is only in 
one families well-being, that makes it worthwhile.

Walt

p.s. The Baughman Pulitzer story can be made short and sweet and if I 
recall it had to do with setting up images. Of course time does have a 
tendency to flavor our impressions...Good Morning America (I believe) 
set us straight on one misconception, making Judas Iscariot a nice guy. 
:-P Well hell, why not? Da Vinci turned out to be a secret agent for the 
Pope, didn't he? The next big multi-million dollar flavor of the day 
story might go something like this; Hitler was really a nice guy and 
liked Jews and communists.


Tina Manley wrote:

> At 07:03 PM 4/6/2006, you wrote:
>
>> Remembering what some of those people had to live as their chance at 
>> life still bothers me. After two trips I decided never to go back. 
>> I've come to believe no matter what is photographed, published or 
>> prominent in the news, it helps little if at all.
>>
>> Walt
>
>
> Walt - I hope that's not true. Maybe not in the news but published 
> photos in some venues can raise awareness and result in real changes. 
> I know for a fact that the money that we have raised in our Dimes for 
> Hunger campaign has made real changes in the lives of people in 
> Central America and here in our presbytery. I know the people and I've 
> photographed the changes for almost 20 years. Here is an article about 
> making changes with photography that explains it better than I could:
>
>
> Rambling With Resnick
>
> Changing the World with a Camera
>
> Can photography make the world a better place? I certainly hope so.
>
> By Mason Resnick
>
> I recently had the privilege to put together an on-line exhibit for my 
> employer, PhotoHighway.com, featuring the work of Tina Manley, a 
> photojournalist who has spent years photographing desperately poor 
> children and families throughout the world. She will live with a 
> family for a week at a time, becoming part of their daily routine and 
> giving her unprecedented access into their lives. When I showed some 
> friends the work, many of their comments were along the lines of ?oh, 
> how ironic, there she is with photo equipment that?s worth more than 
> what her subjects will make in a lifetime.?
>
> Manley?s response to this is telling: ?I think the reason the families 
> let me photograph them is they really believe I can make a difference 
> in their lives.? She speaks of how one of the groups that sponsors her 
> photographic treks will donate livestock to families as part of a 
> program to encourage self-sufficiency in Central America. Imagine a 
> family that lives on beans and Tortillas suddenly getting a dairy Cow 
> that they can use for milk and cheese. And it comes to them because 
> someone in the US saw their photos and was moved to action.
>
> I think the true irony is that the photographers who go to poor 
> countries on behalf of news magazines (which run on the ideal of 
> helping the world by publicizing hidden stories) and similar 
> organizations don?t have quite as direct a positive effect on their 
> subjects, while photographers sponsored by missionary and aid groups 
> are actually making a difference.
>
> Many of today?s photographers start off idealistically, but this 
> idealism is tempered by the need to make a buck. That?s why you see so 
> many photographers going in ?packs? to get the news. Look at the 
> hordes of photographers covering presidential campaigns. There is very 
> little original, visually interesting content any more in presidential 
> campaigns, but the issues are still rich in photographic 
> possibilities. Not enough photographers are going after these stories, 
> and the reason is that they haven?t been given sufficient financial 
> incentive to do so. Too much risk involved, while George W. is always 
> going to be there.
>
> Once upon a time a photojournalist named J. Ross Baughmann (who once 
> won and then had taken away a Pulitzer Prize?it?s a long story) said 
> that the best photojournalists don?t run with the pack?they run away 
> from it. And when they rejoin the pack, they have the more interesting 
> photos.
>
> We need to encourage more photojournalists to run away from the pack, 
> like Tina Manley did. Maybe some poor family in Nicaragua will get a 
> goat or two as a result?and that can make a difference.
>
>
> About the author: Mason Resnick is the editor and publisher of Black & 
> White World and the community webmaster of PhotoHighway.Com. You can 
> reach him at <mailto:bwworld@mindspring.com>bwworld@mindspring.com.
>
>
>
>
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