Philip Jones GriffithsWe've talked about photojournalism especially in wars during the class and sometimes we criticized the photographers angrily, sometimes we agreed that they were right. However we've never seen one of them.
Philip Jones Griffiths, one of the significant figures in the history of Welsh photography who died on March 2008 was known the best by his coverage in Vietnam War. He was a member of the Magnum Photo agency which is an international photographic cooperative. Maybe you don't know him but you'll recognize some of his famous photographs.
While we're focusing on that topic we should also think about what should be the photographers roles about?
In my opinion photographers should be objective at some point but to be totally ignoring the situtations, especially in front of a bitter scene in war or something similar to that, is not a proper behaviour to take. For instance, as in Serra Orey's post which was entitled "Observe or Participate" a very crucial decision is waiting for the photographer; Observe or Participate, being objective or interfering. That's an endless dilemma which we all can have totally different answers in different times after having saw different kinds of photos...
Wow, these are some powerful photos. Can you blog a bit about your reaction to them, Begüm? And what you think the proper role/roles of the photographer could be?
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to look at these pictures.. They reflect the darkness of the human soul.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is really disturbing to see these images since they make you realize that this kind of stuff can actually happen to someone :((