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."

Lareine Karpouzian. War Photography Reflection.

When I think of journalism, I am reminded of a profession that values truth above all else. To rightfully call oneself a journalist is to exhibit those qualities of honor, of privilege, and of genuine devotion to the craft.

            The documentary on James Nachtwey and his influence on war photography blew me away. Images of starving and emaciated children, grieving women, and war-torn villages truly amplified the meaning of being a war photographer. Nachtwey’s stoic exterior and calm demeanor may, upon first glance, suggest an uncaring and cold attitude, but if one were to look closely enough, Nachtwey’s boundless devotion and love for his craft are revealed.

            We live in a society that has begun to idealize superficiality and celebrity culture. Although causes and people who support those causes still exist, they are rapidly becoming outnumbered by pop culture bloggers. The societal atmosphere has become one characterized by shallow pursuits, covetousness, and selfish opportunity. Photographers like Nachtwey who attempt to bring forth the agony and authentic raw emotion that exists with war are doing society a grand favor. Nachtwey and his colleagues bring to light the devastation and famine that exists and is swept under the rug so many times.

            Nachtwey’s photographers in particular touched my heart. I found myself in silent tears as he photographed the grieving woman who lost her son, the emaciated mother and child, and the man missing an arm and a leg. Each of these photographs holds a story, and we were able to witness the tragedy behind the art. Nachtwey’s compositions are truly remarkable and unique: his photos speak volumes. A journalist can always speak about an issue and call attention to a societal conflict or problem, but a photo of the event or occurrence indicates power beyond words.

            This documentary and Nachtwey’s work holds a profound place within me and has caused me to acquire a new respect for the field of photo journalism. Not only is it a dangerous profession, but it is also a rewarding one. I could sense Nachtwey’s feelings of accomplishment and pride after showcasing his brilliant work, and I could also see his quiet stoicism and grief for those subjects he photographed. War photography is something that should gain more attention simply for its brilliance and expository qualities.

            

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.

Posting Future Audio Assignments to Audio Dropbox

Posting Audio to the iTunesU DropBox (4 easy steps)

Ok, here's a step-by-step guide to posting your audio pieces to the drop box:

* Step 1: Moving file from your recorder to your computer. This depends on which audio recorder you've purchased or borrowed, but for most, just plug the device into the computer or connect with a cable, find the audio files you created, and then drag them to your Desktop or favorite folder. See the instruction manual on your recorder if you hit a snag on this.

* Step 2: Converting the file to a .mp3 format. Some audio recorders can be set to tape in mp3 format, in which case you can skip this step. If you do need to switch from .WMA or .WAV to .mp3, there are many ways to do this, so choose the one that is easiest for you.

* Method 1: Stand-alone converter program: There are free software programs you can download to your home computer. My favorite program for the Mac or PC is Switch. If you can't get the free trial to work for that, another one for PC is Free mp3 WMA Converter. And for Mac you can try All2Mp3.
* Method 2: Online converter method. If you can't install software, there are free Web sites that will do it, but they have some pop-up ads (which won't hurt your computer but are annoying). The best I've found is zamzar.com, but let me know if you find a better one.

* Step 3: Rename your file. Find the mp3 file on your computer and rename it so that you use your name, an underscore, and then the name of the assignment as listed on the syllabus. Make sure the file still ends in .mp3

* Step 4: Place in iTunesU Dropbox. Click on the dropbox link and log in using your university ID and password. Then choose, open with iTunes. Click on "Upload and Manage Files" at the top right. Then click "Add new file" and click "Browse" and select the file from your computer. Then Click "OK." The file should then slowly upload -- might take a few minutes -- don't close your browser until it reaches 100%

Let me know if you have any trouble.

-Jeff

Nancy Pham | War Photographer reflection

James Nachtwey is a man of little words.

But he can take one hell of a photograph.

War Photographer depicts the work of this extraordinary man - who still remains a mystery to me - who finds a way to connect his subjects’ emotions with his own so he could accurately portray their life through his lens.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting such a dreary, gloomy film, but at the same time, it was so powerful and eye-opening.

I’ll admit, at first, I thought Nachtwey was being a bit cold because here, you have these women pouring their heart and soul due to a loved one’s death, and Nachtwey was always in the face, not even a foot away, taking photographs.

It, in my opinion, was supposed to be a private moment, but how else are you supposed to capture these peoples’ emotions without getting right in their face? How else are you supposed to tell their story? Nachtwey says that you have to be accepted by the people you’re being photographed to capture all the emotion. If he were to come into a random person’s house, his photographs wouldn’t have the same effect. If you’re going to be a photographer, a war photographer, you have to respect your subject, Nachtwey says. By allowing your subjects to take you in, you have the task of showing the rest of the world what destruction is going on out there. Nachtwey’s photos give the voiceless a voice.

Nachtwey says that “fear is not what’s important;” it’s how you manage it. And whatever fear he has when he witnesses all the evils and misfortunes out there, he manages it quite well.
I find Nachtwey’s dedication to his work remarkable. He’s not just about snapping photos and then leaving the premise. He gets IN on all the action. He surrounds himself with his subjects, so he can understand what is going on. You can’t truly understand what’s going on if you’re 30 feet away.

One prime example shown in the documentary was when a mob chased a man with machetes and ended up murdering him. While all the other cameramen and videographers were watching from a far distance, Nachtwey was in the scene of it all. He ran with the mob. A major issue that journalists find is taking a photo of an act of injustice or preventing the act from happening. Nachtwey does both. Not only does he get great shots of the murder, he tries and begs the mob to not kill the man.

Nachtwey says that his “photographs are only a fraction” of what he’s experienced, and he’s experienced a lot. The way he internalizes everything is incredible. His job may be a bit extreme, but he’s trying to save lives in the process of it.

Rachel Karitis: Movie Reflection

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.

War Photographer

Few words in the world resonate as loudly as the word “war”. Such a short word can be more powerful than the longest word. It has power. It shakes us to our core, targeting images of death and destruction. It reminds us of the gaping holes in the conduct of mankind. Few choose to think about the word often because of the amount of hate and hurt it holds in its three short letters. But James Nachtwey has made it his life.

He is a war photographer. One of the most demanding and detrimental jobs a human could have, it forces him to confront that small, yet powerful word every day of his life. It forces him to enter into the world’s battlegrounds and become a part of it. With his camera, Nachtwey immerses himself in a dangerous world, putting his life at risk. Even more so, he puts his sanity and humanness at risk.

James Nachtwey’s War Photographer is a unique film that captures the spirit of this profession, or at least the spirit of Nachtwey, better than anything else could. The movie is a compilation of raw, real photographs and video clips from Nachtwey’s life photographing war. The images are difficult to look at. The ones in the action are morbid, horrifying and shocking. The ones that capture the effects of the action, namely the emotions, are depressing and heart-wrenching.

While watching this movie gave me an appreciation for Nachtwey and his profession, I do not agree with it. Nachtwey says in the film that he photographs war so he can show the rest of the world just how cruel people can be and hopefully change the world. I think it is admirable to want to take it upon yourself to end war, but I also think that it is foolish. Photographing war may inspire some people to protest it, but I do not think that it can do much more than that. I suppose with something like war, where everything is chaotic and unclear, there is not much else to do but raise your voice. And Nachtwey has done just that. He has a loud voice through his deeply touching photographs. They are beautiful in a sad way and ugly in that they are reality. Nachtwey hopes that with his widespread circulation of war photographs, he can force people to know what they pretend not to know and face reality and stop war. 

But unbelievable photography is not the answer to war and Nachtwey may spend the rest of his life never seeing satisfying change. I think that he has dedicated himself to the cause and as long as his photographs are being published he feels that he is making a difference, and he just might be. But I think that he lost himself and the rest of his life in a field that showed him only sadness and misery. Not only could I not view some of his photos, but I cannot imagine being there for the moments they were taken. I am one of those who shutters at the little word “war”. I could never bring a camera into a battlefield and “work” while others die in front of me. I could never flash an intrusive white light in the eyes of someone who is grieving at the loss of their child. If I saw a man get shot in front of my face, my emotions would overpower any journalistic purpose I had. That may not fit in to the black and white ethics of journalists but we are human beings first.

A good journalist is supposed to be detached from their subjects in order to accurately report a story. But how is it possible to detach yourself from war once you have already been exposed to its disturbing images. I think that Nachtwey had a problem doing this as well. He became so consumed by the terror that it sucked the life out of him. He did not want it to affect his journalism so he buried it inside him. But it was still there haunting him. In all of the solo shots of Nachtwey, it looked like he had just seen a ghost. And he had seen thousands of them. He persevered through the pain by dehumanizing it. But that, I think is against the whole point of his journalism: to provide a human aspect to war that forces people to sympathize and make a change. Nachtwey held the power of a million war photographs and videos inside him and it seems like the war took him as a casualty. The woman who was his former girlfriend was important insight into his lack of humanity due to his job as a war photographer. He couldn’t smile, he couldn’t relax and forget about work for a second.

I really enjoyed the movie because it showed me something I could never have known without seeing it with my own eyes. Nachtwey’s photos of course made me more against war than I ever was. But, they also disturbed and upset me, even watching it from a journalistic point of view. It kept me wondering how disturbed and upset he must be deep down. I was able to walk out of my journalism class let the beauty of the world help me forget about the horror I had seen. Nachtwey cannot walk out on war. It is a part of him forever. I must say that I respect him and think he is a wonderful photojournalist, but I worry where journalism ends and life begins.