Matt Birchenough, Favorite Audio Piece

I really love this piece remembering Bob Sheppard, the longtime public address announcer for the New York Yankees. Sheppard, who died in July, had a legendary voice that became a key part of the experience of going to a Yankees game. His longevity and the eloquence of his voice made him one of the few P.A. announcers whose name was just as well known at the players he introduced during the games. This NPR piece captures the unique qualities of the man who became known as "The Voice of God." NPR used the audio of his actual game announcements to give an idea as to why he was so unique. The sound bites from the interview with Sheppard explains why he adopted that style and revealed parts of his job that one would never really think about, such as the enjoyment of saying certain names. I also like how it ended on the fact that Derek Jeter will continue to have a recording of Sheppard introducing him before every at-bat at Yankee Stadium for the rest of his career. It acts as a way to extend the story and Sheppard's legacy into the future.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128470514

Matt Birchenough War Photographer Response

The film War Photographer tells the compelling story of the career of photographer James Nachtwey. The film documents his work in places such as Kosovo, Indonesia, and the West Bank, areas torn apart by war and political turmoil. Nachtwey points out that his main objective in covering war and tragic human events is to convey the hardship and emotional toll that war takes on people throughout the world. Still photography can present people’s raw emotion more effectively than other forms of media in many cases. Nachtwey argues that this portrayal of emotion and of the utter destruction caused by war gives people a voice in the outside world.

One of the most interesting factors presented in War Photographer is the amount of danger that photographers encounter in their job. Nachtwey has become a successful photographer, in part because of the danger he puts himself in every day. Nachtwey puts himself in the center of the action, no matter how violent, while other photographers are shooting from afar. Despite displaying a fearless nature while working, Nachtwey acknowledges that fear always exists when in a dangerous situation. He just channels the fear into his work rather than let it negatively affect him. He also used this technique for any sort of emotional response that may have interfered with his ability to take effective photos. It is almost unfathomable that a man could be placed in such situations as the Rwanda massacres or the fighting in West Bank or in the squalor in Indonesia and not cave in to feelings of sadness or fear or pity.

However, it is this ability that makes Nachtwey’s work so astounding. He almost seems to lack human characteristics of feeling by the way he can so calmly walk through a violent mob or a village of mourning women simply snapping pictures, but his ultimate goal is to capture the human side of those he photographs, which is significantly more valuable than any feelings he can express. Nachtwey establishes a sort of bond with those he photographs because they understand that he is doing it to give them a voice in a world that has mostly ignored them. This creates a sort of paradox in the profession of a war photographer. One cannot let their emotions get the best of them while they work, yet the photographer also cannot do this job without emotionally connecting with those he photographs. Early in the movie, it was almost uncomfortable to watch how close Nachtwey got to take pictures of the people involved in the burial in Kosovo. However, when he later said how he establishes a sort of personal relationship with people, it makes his actions seem far more appropriate.

In the film, Nachtwey said that the coverage of certain stories must be taken very seriously because the way they are covered may define how the rest of the world sees those stories. For example, coverage of the Vietnam War, which Nachtwey said inspired him to become a war photographer, molded the opinion of much of the American public that grew weary of an endless war in which many young Americans were dying. I believe that in many ways Nachtwey’s photographs have the similar ability to shape public perception of certain events. His powerful photos of mourners in Kosovo, bawling at a man’s burial and wandering aimlessly through streets of rubble, focus solely on the emotions of war victims. They say nothing of military tactics and positioning of opposing forces or any political ramifications that the war has on the United States or any other country. All that these pictures are saying is “Look at the pain and suffering caused by war.” The photographs of corpses in the back of a dump truck evoke images of utter brutality and destruction. These pictures can have no other effect than to cause people to cringe or cry or speak out against war, and Nachtwey believes that if they cause enough people to cringe or cry or speak out, then maybe something can be done to stop it.