by Amy Weston/Wenn.com via NY Mag
To borrow a line from The Clash, “London’s burning”. And the photographs of the mayhem are stunning. The above shot here is by Amy Weston/WENN.com, as seen in NY Mag. (That image and a bunch more images from NY Mag here).
I’ve been been near riots of this magnitude on two occasions – Paris in 2005-6 and Seattle WTO riots – neither of which I photographed. I’ve also seen a guy get hit by a car and had my camera at the ready but did not shoot. And plenty of other things that I’ve not wanted to photograph. As a pure photographer, only-career-I’ve-ever-had guy, I’m not sure what’s in me that doesn’t pull me to want to shoot so many of these photos, even when I’ve had the chance (like this post). I’m deeply moved by such images -ala London riots, or trama, or the war in Afghanistan. Often times these images are so important to our culture, but at other times it’s shallow and cold to shoot them. I’m especially conflicted with the images coming out of London.
How about you… When do we shoot? When do we help or decide not to spread the horror?
UPDATE: Interview with the photographer (Amy Weston) that captured the stunning photograph in the earlier post below in an article over here at my Google+ page …offers some insights into what she was thinking and plays well with the ongoing discussion here on the blog and over at my Google+ page. (Add me to a circle if you’re G+ing so I can meet you too).
besides….when did pain and suffering become a taboo subject for artists….. or do photographers no longer consider them selfs artists anymore?… just a thought
Many of the images are both amazing and horrific at he same time. I’m a huge fan of great photojournalism, as it evokes emotion and causes viewers to pause and reflect…and even react. Without photographers like James Nachtwey, Steve McCurry, Kevin Carter, Robert Capa, Matthew Brady we might be less informed or in touch of the reality of such atrocities. I’ve recently watched the Bang Bang Club and suggest anyone responding to Chase’s blog should check it out…it actually touches on this topic.
This is an easy one, be nice? if someone is hurt and you can help them then help?…. However if a potentially historical event is unfolding in front of you terrorist attack/ riots etc and you choose not to pick up your camera and take the shot then your failure to bear witness to these events and preserve them for future generations, denies that these horrific atrocities ever happened, and as history has show if we ignore the mistakes of the past then we are only going to repeat them in the future,…….. what if Abraham Zapruder had put away his camera?
You can never know what kind of man (or women) you are until faced with the decision. I feel a lot of photogs use the camera as armor against the horror. These things will always happen as long as we are human, and just as interesting history is to us, it will be to the next generation.
Like so many things, motive is key. If you were doing it to be sensational…If you were doing it for a big payday (image of a starlet stumbling out of a nightclub)…If you were doing it for some sort of personal gain, then you shouldn’t.
If, on the other hand, you are a career journalist, or you have the opportunity to document something that might enlighten us (images of starving children in Africa), then you must. She is there to do a job. One that might be difficult at times, but a job that needs to be done.
I wouldn’t want to be there. I wouldn’t want to have to be there. I’m glad she and many like her are.
AND, given all that was going on around her, this is simply a miracle of photography.