[Leica] IMGS: Children of the World

[nod at bouncing.org (Philip Clarke)]

Douglas Sharp wrote:
> Indeed not - only in how it is expressed.
>
> Philip, I see your viewpoint, however what you were, as you wrote,
> expecting to see is not what Tina posted, and has little to do with
> the most certainly honorable goals you represent.
>
> Tina explained the pictures and her intent and her integrity is not to
> be doubted one iota.
>
> Depending on the age of the children to whom the pictures are to be
> shown, the type of pictures YOU wanted to see would never have the
> effect that you desire - in fact quite probably the opposite.
>
> What you obviously hoped to see are shots to shake adults into a frame
> of mind that will motivate them to support your (and your wife's)
> goals and the objectives of useful and meaningful international aid.
>
> A noble and important cause indeed - but please refrain from bringing
> this into the same ballpark as a set of wonderful pictures
> illustrating the diversity and common aspects differentiating and
> common to children around the world as shown (and shown without any
> pretense of entering into the politics of international aid).

And that's the bit where you are wrong. From Tina I quote:

> I'm speaking to classes from kindergartens on International Day
and that's the line that she's drawn and is standing on. Politics is
everything, photojournalism should be without bias and balanced, this
set of pictures is not. Although her integrity may not be questioned,
the intent certainly can and should be.

To be a photojournalist means dealing with the subject matter on the
same level, so if the intent is to promote a unity or identification
amongst disparate groups of children, then one should at least try to
identify with the poor kids down the block, as well as the poor kids in
countries with space programs. So the appropriate pictures are not of
guts and gore, but the same form images set in the areas surrounding the
kindergarten, and on that point the images fail.

Cartier-Bresson came to the coronation and took a picture of a homeless
man asleep in a first world country in front of a crowd. One image that
questions the monarchy, class consciousness, poverty down the street. It
does not matter if the pictures came from 53 different countries if they
fail the most basic test of photojournalism, is the portrayal accurate ?
and questioning this one finds that no. Unless the images intent is to
patronize, to place one country on a pedestal and another beneath, then
the series has failed.

So is the criticism valid ? it highlights an important point of what is
wrong with a series when it is unbalanced and the subsequent political
issues and cultural fallout, one has a responsibility to educate and
guide a future generation and these pictures take the children down an
unpleasant path. (You made a nice rebuttal even though it
mis-interpreted the point of which pictures I would have expected to see).