When we watched the trailer for War Photographer in the photography slice of this class a couple of weeks ago, I jotted down the title in my notebook, making the mental note to watch it one theoretical day in the future but realizing that it would probably get pushed behind endless essays and readings for classes. So naturally when I heard that we were going to be watching it in class, I was excited to get a chance to learn more about the working process of a professional photographer, and rightfully so. Having a video camera attached to the top of the camera while he was taking photographs was a fascinating journey into James Nachtwey’s mind.
Watching Nachtwey work, not only through the video camera on top of his camera but also through the video camera being held by those accompanying him, gave an example of the best a war photographer can be. He didn’t just photograph things or places, he photographed people: people trying to escape from oppressive government, people trying to repair towns in the aftermath of war, and people just trying to get by in desperate poverty.
With the constant barrage of newspaper and broadcast coverage, it is easy for Americans distanced from war to become somewhat numb to the idea of atrocity. It begins to seem natural that such things occur; it’s just a part of everyday life that people are dying in mass numbers in faraway lands. But photos like those taken by Nachtwey make you stop and think about what is actually happening. The photo of just one man standing in the ruined streets of a town is so much more real than numbers and statistics about how many are suffering.
The amount of dedication Nachtwey gives to his job is truly inspiring. Being a war photographer for him is more than a job or a profession. It’s his entire life. He does not have a family or a wife, he just has his camera and his photographs. This allows him to dedicate his entire self to being the best photojournalist he can be, which is inspirational in terms of how much he cares, but also depressing in terms of what it may take to be the best in any journalistic field.
In the documentary, Nachtwey suggests that war photography is part of the “antidote to war,” which was a strong message that really made me think. As someone whose father is in the Navy and thus has spent and continues to spend his career focused around war, the idea of finding an antidote to war had not necessarily occurred to me in such a way before. But the photographs shown in the documentary were so powerful that suddenly it seemed absurd to be anything but a pacifist.
This, of course, is Nachtwey’s goal: to have his photographs stand on their own and help, even a little, in the effort to have peace win out over war and destruction. He says in the documentary that if everybody could spend just one day in one of the places he has been, then there would never be fighting again. But because this isn’t possible, he is the one who goes there, and he brings his photographs back as a way of taking us there. After looking at his photographs and hearing him speak about them, his goal is undoubtedly accomplished.
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