Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sure. I can't imagine what kinds of delusions the average civilian who has never seen a war conjures about about being a conflict photographer. Marty On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 3:07 PM, Phil Forrest <photo.forrest at earthlink.net> wrote: > Marty, > I was speaking of the very green photographers who have just gotten all > that shiny new gear and their brand new body armor & Kevlar helmet. The > ones who haven't smelled death yet and have only seen suffering through > the works of the greats who went before them. Brand new invincible > photographers. I was one once. The seasoned ones are there and will > remain there to try to effect what education they can on the condition > but like Emanuel said, it's up to the editors and the networks to get > the images out there. > > Phil Forrest > > > On Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:00:40 +1030 > Marty Deveney <benedenia at gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 2:38 PM, EPL <manolito at videotron.ca> wrote: >> > So let's all boycott war photography. Just ignore it. Encourage >> > photographers to photograph love and beauty and to bombard our >> > every senses and our hours with just that, as much as possible. >> > It's the only antidote. >> >> Pretending that only nice things happen in the world doesn't help >> anyone, and it can make things worse. ?Documentation makes it harder >> to pretend in the future that bad things didn't happen, they can >> sometimes be used to aid in restitution or bringing war criminals to >> justice, and some of us _do_ want to see it, not out of any ghoulish >> or prurient desires, but out of a need to be informed. ?I have no love >> for war but am familiar enough with it not to find realistic coverage >> shocking or entertaining. ?But I also want to know. >> >> On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 2:09 PM, Phil Forrest >> <photo.forrest at earthlink.net> wrote: >> > I think they either have a lust for danger and a >> > deathwish OR they have spent too much time in video games and movies >> > where one can simply reset the game or stop the movie if it gets too >> > bad. >> >> I am deeply respectful of your experiences Phil, but here I disagree. >> Maybe those who want to be combat photographers but haven't done it >> yet are like this. ?I'd also bet that very few of them actually ever >> get there - it's hard, as well as horrible and dangerous. ?There are >> noteworthily few civilian war photographers. ?I've met a lot of people >> who regularly work photographing in conflict zones and none of them is >> anything like this. ?Mostly they believe that documentation is >> necessary, and that telling the stories of people affected by conflict >> mean something to the people, the photographer and some of the >> photographer's audience. >> >> I'm glad we still have you, and Ted, and I'm awfully sorry for the >> loss that we suffer whenever there is a conflict, but I'm also glad >> there are people who are willing to document it for us, so we can form >> some opinions of our own. ?To me a flawed set of information is better >> than a vacuum. >> >> Marty >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information