Joel Barnes. War Photographer Reflection

The War Photographer is intriguing and insightful, and after watching the documentary I have gained a newfound respect for photojournalism. Most importantly the film illustrated how photojournalism has the power to create social change. James Nachtwey is considered to be the greatest war photographer of recent decades. The film shows his life’s work, and how committed he is to covering wars and other social issues that plague many countries throughout the world. Nachtwey is like no other photojournalist. He has witnessed firsthand the horrors of war, and with is camera he has captured the most moving and dramatic moments of warfare. Nachtwey made the decision to become a war photographer in the early 1970’s during Vietnam. By simply showing what was going on in Vietnam, Nachtwey made a strong indictment of the war, and showed how cruel and just the war was. His Vietnam photos stirred the emotions of the American public, who were becoming increasingly frustrated with America’s involvement in Vietnam.

War photography fascinates Nachtwey because of the sense of adventure, facing danger, and seeing what happens to ordinary people and their authentic emotions. When asked why Nachtwey puts himself in the most extreme and dangerous situations, Nachwey replied, “because I have to.” In times of conflict most people don’t want anything to do with it, but not Nachtwey. He is right in the middle of the action. Nachtwey pointed to the fact that since the whole world can’t witness a war, it is his duty as a photojournalist to show what is happening and to give the victims of war and conflict, a voice to the outside world. Nachtwey is relentless in taking his photos. He keeps pushing the limits; one colleague of his said that Nachtwey views himself as being bulletproof. During life threatening situations, amidst gunfire and chaos, Nachtwey is reserved, calm, and focused on shooting the best pictures of war.

The power of photojournalism, particularly war photography, lies in its ability to define how the rest of the world views the war. By covering the stories behind war photojournalists paint the picture of what is happening in the war. By doing so the pictures can potentially evoke sentiment, and protest and can call upon people to take action. If atrocities are being committed and a larger number of people are being affected, one photo, at least one Nachtwey photo can be a “powerful antidote to war.” His photos, which were displayed in the film, are sometimes difficult to look at. In addition to war, Nachtwey covers famine, pollution, and poverty. It was depressing to see how some people live the way the do in third world countries.

In all Nachtwey separates his emotions from his work, and any emotion that he does feel he channels into his photography. He also said that he learned how to express his personal feelings in a photo. It is difficult to be an objective observer, when people are dying next to you. In the film his former girlfriend and colleague said, “He has his own library of suffering in his head.” She explained that the photos are only a fraction of what Nachtwey has seen, heard, and felt. Nachtwey has been wounded four or five times, suffered terrible diseases, but he is still fearless in his approach to war photography. Nachtwey said fear is not important, its how you deal with the fear. One thing that I found interesting is when Nachtwey said that the people he photographs are more important than himself. When photographing victims of injustices, Nachtwey tries his best to respect them and the situation they’re in. He stressed how important it is to be welcomed and accepted. When family members are grieving a death it would be impossible to go into their home and snap photos of them, without first being welcomed. Still, those people know they are victims of injustice, and the cameraman is the outlet to show the rest of the world those injustices.

Nachtwey has never felt complete or satisfied with the job that he has done. He says that there is always more to do, and that he can’t be happy because his work involves other people’s tragedy. He has given everything to the job, so much so that he hasn’t been able to maintain a stable domestic relationship. At his testimony, which was sort of like a gallery of his work, Nachtwey said, “I’m a little shell shocked by it all."

Yaman Shalabi, Reflection

In a world where entertainment news and pop culture have become the craze, one journalist devoted his life and career to report on issues miles away from the safe haven of his home. Normal people often run away from danger, this journalist always found himself in the midst of it. As people watched the latest reality T.V shows and movies he was watching a mob slice a man to death with machetes. As people are keeping up with movie stars and singers, this man was trying to stay alive. War Photography is a documentary that follows the life of Journalist James Nachtwey and his journey to “put an end to human behavior which has existed throughout history by means of photography”.

Nachtwey has been able to maintain his humanity while photographing inhumane actions however having a lifestyle that surrounds opposition, hate and cruelty has had evident consequences on his personality and behavior. Reserved and withdrawn after paying witness to despicable human behavior, he hoped to capture pictures that “would be a powerful ingredient of antidote to the war”.

It’s not easy for journalists to send across a message in their work, but Nachtwey dedicated all his time and allocated all his resources to show people what they do not often see. He wanted to take them to some unimaginable place and evoke a sense of compassion to the people he pictured and resentment and bitterness to those that caused them immense pain. He loved his job and wanted to do it well. He said it may seem disgusting that people like himself profit off of people’s pains and agony but he justifies it by saying his hopes are not for the money but to reach out to the world, to tell them of the atrocities, to tell them that someone within their species can commit horrible acts so that maybe people will react positively towards what he’s presenting and help save a life. He wanted his ideas and his feelings about war, destruction, social injustice to come across in his pictures.

I believe that although we are taught to remain unbiased, fair, and balanced, a good journalist is someone who cannot do that. Part of what makes us human is that we are made up of emotions, values, beliefs, opinions, and to be someone who prevents themselves from feeling anything then you, in my opinion, start trekking down a road that will lead to making assumptions, biased remarks and finally to misrepresenting and maybe even mistreating people. A good journalist will know to focus their opinions and beliefs into constructing a piece, whether it is print, photo, audio, or video, that will convey the story and your stance.

Nachtwey is a well-renowned war photo-journalist who has won numerous awards. I think he embodies the reason people go into journalism, to help change the world, to speak out. His achievements provide motivation to upcoming journalists and ambition to continue down the path.

Although the pictures portray an infinitesimal depiction of the actual violence, his art is so provoking, so compelling, and so mind-blowing that it stirs up people’s emotions, it gets them to talk, to pay notice and compel them to make a change.