To get the ball rolling again, whilst I was ill and wrapped in a blanket, I typed up a brief overview of one of my favoured subjects in photography, without going into much detail, as a reference so people can see where I get some of my inspiration from.
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War Photography
The subject of war photography is one of my more personal interests, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is how well action can be captured, right in the thick of it. This action, such as a bomb exploding, would be difficult to recreate in a controlled environment and would lack the intensity as it would appear staged and superficial, lacking the urgency that can only be captured in the heat of the moment.
Secondly, the element of danger captured by war photographers, the same danger that they themselves are experiencing is such a unique testament to their bravery and dedication to covering the conflict in question. Rarely in photographs from war zones where there is action happening, will you find the photographer in a prime location, such as on top of a hill or another advantageous spot which would give a better view of the scenes unfolding in front of them. More often than not they are hunkered down in ditches or behind cover with other soldiers trying to take refuge from the conflict, a constant reminder that they are still human in a very real situation that could kill them.
Thirdly, they depict the dark, horrid truth of war. It is this nitty, gritty truth of young men who have sustained hideous injuries, civilians being uprooted from their homes and fleeing in fear for their lives and lines of corpses of those who have fallen during the conflict. These images are often either censored by the media during the time of the conflict, or overlooked by the general public refusing to acknowledge the true horrors of war. War photographers go and seek out these truths in order to capture it to show those who are willing to see, the reality of war; young men with horrific disfiguring wounds, civilians fleeing for their lives and the lines of corpses of those who have fallen in the conflict.
Lastly, I believe that it is during these times of attrition that true emotions can be captured, not hidden away or disguised as many people do with their emotions to retain a sense of anonymity in modern culture. War brings out the worst, and the best in people. For every image taken that really captures someone completely broken and destroyed by the conflict, there is another image of someone who still retains the sharp spark of hope in their eyes, the refusal to let go and give in and to carry on fighting for what they believe in.
I thought I would include a small section on war photography, after having looked through my copy of "Frontlines" by Sean Smith again.
There have been many war photographers over the years; here I shall merely place a few examples of war photographers and their work using photos that are easily recognizable from the journals of history.
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| "The Falling Soldier" - Robert Capa |
This well-known photograph was taken by Robert
Capa, supposedly on the 5th September 1936 and is thought to depict the death
of a republican soldier during the Spanish civil war. This photograph was
accepted until the 1970's as being a true documentary image; however recent
research suggests that this image was in fact staged. Either way, it remains a
very well-known photograph depicting war.
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| Image by Horst Faas |
Injured Vietnamese receive aid as they lie on the street after a bomb explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, March 30, 1965. Smoke rises from wreckage in background. At least two Americans and several Vietnamese were killed in the bombing.
This image really shows the gritty truth of war and the aftermath of an attack on a public area, proving that enemy soldiers are not the only targets in war, but civilians too, in order to instil fear and terror into the general population.
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| Image by Horst Faas |
A Vietnamese litter bearer wears a face mask to keep out the smell as he passes the bodies
of U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers killed in fighting against the Viet Cong at the Michelin rubber plantation, about 45 miles northeast of Saigon, Nov. 27, 1965. More than 100 bodies were recovered after a human wave assault by guerrillas.
Not the sort of typical image you found find in a news report, however this is a true journalistic capture of the aftermath of an attack. Corpses, lined up, waiting for disposal, it really gives a sense as to the waste of life that war causes.
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| Image by Eddie Adams |
The emotions captured in Nguyen Van Lem face as General Nguyen Ngoc Loan fires his pistol is a brutally true reflection of the last thoughts that pass through his mind, intense fear, surprise, disbelief, grimacing in preparation for the pain, it's all there. But this emotion is in stark contrast to the lack of emotion found on the General's face, perhaps he has simply had enough of the conflict with the Viet Cong and wishes for it to be over, or perhaps he has gotten so used to killing people it has numbed him to the fact that he is killing another human being.
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| Image by Nick Ut |
South Vietnamese forces follow after terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc (center left), as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places, June 8, 1972. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. The terrified girl had ripped off her burning clothes while fleeing.
The terror and fear captured in the faces of these young children is a direct insight into how the conflict in Vietnam affected them, and millions of others like them. Uprooted from their homes by a napalm attack and fleeing for their lives seeking aid. The war devastated families, killing innocent civilians and children or leaving them with horrific wounds such as Kim Phuc and the napalms burns she sustained all over her body. These sorts of photos rarely make it into circulation in the media, as they do not portray war how the involved governments wish it to be viewed, all a part of propaganda. After all, if images such as these cropped up time and time again showing injured children fleeing for their lives after losing everything, how long would it be until the government in question lost all support from its citizens in regards to the war?
England had a hard time earning the support of its citizens to back them in the war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and still struggle to justify their actions to their citizens. This was with very few images of the true horrors of the attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan making it into the media; would they have struggled even more if scenes as horrific as the children in Vietnam started making it to the public eye on a daily basis?
Even the images of soldiers fighting, showing camaraderie and acting as brothers looking after one another didn't often make it into the media, perhaps due to the injuries also captured in the same images;
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Image by Joao Silva
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Images such as the one above, depicting a soldier who has sustained a horrendous injury (he is missing what appears to be a fairly large portions of his left leg) being dragged to safety by one of his comrades, who is potentially risking his own life to save a friend. A true act of valour in my opinion, one of the very few actions in war that should be recognised and rewarded, yet these sorts of images rarely make it to public view and any rewards or recognition are usually kept very low key and private.
Ref -
http://nexgadget.com/2010/11/15/support-joao-silva-the-war-photographer-who-lost-his-legs-to-a-landmine-photography/
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/vietnam_35_years_later.html
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