In class Sonja showed us some photos and she asked about three things listed below:
1) What you see
2) Questions / issues that arise
3) The role of the photographer
Therefore I will upload (if I could :)) some photos and respond to these questions.
http://www.treehugger.com/nuke-war-h001.jpg
1) In this photo I see the smoke of a nuclear bomb. If I did not know that it is a nuclear bomb I would probably think that it look nice but unfortunately it is not a natural event, it is a bomb.
2) I think this is the whole idea of war: Why a person kill another person? I mean maybe you would be that much angry at a person so that you kill him but during wars you don't know your enemies in person. So how come you could kill someone even you don't know his name? What kind of commitment is this? In this photo, a person doesn't kill another person, a person destroys a village, a city, lots of families, trees, maybe ducks or any other thing that you can think of. It is very hard to accept this truth.
3) Here the photographer is on an airplane I guess because the smoke and the photographer are at the same level. I cannot make an assumption if he could stop those people but I guess he can't because they are killing a society, it won't be very hard to just kill a photographer.
http://www.treehugger.com/nuke-war-h001.jpg
I don't want to make personal response for this photo because it just make me think that soldiers are also human beings and they need something to relax. This photo says us that they relax by listening the radio. You might wanna check this out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/war_tech_gallery_09.shtml
http://www.startrekexhibition.com/storage/004VietnamWar_468x382.jpg
1) I see that some soldiers are carrying another soldier hardly. The black soldier looks very tired, his expression is very impressive. The one on the right is not aware of that he is carrying another person. He looks like he just carries an object. The two soldier on the left were just looking forward and they look like they became heartless. Also at the back we can see two helicopters.
2) This first question arises in my head is, is he dead or not? What happened to him? I know this is a war everything is possible but what exactly happened to him?
3) The role of the photographer. I really don't want to comment on this but I feel like I have to. What was his aim? I guess he was very close to the soldiers. He was just doing his job I believe. I took my first photography lesson at 9th grade and we talked about this issue. At that time I was certainly agree with the idea that the photographer should stop taking photos and help the soldiers but at the end of that lesson they convince me not to think of it. Therefore today after 4 years I still don't think of it. Maybe because Turkish people are tend to be more obedient, I don't know.
It's so great to see you applying the concepts we discussed in class here on your blog. You've chosen some very appropriate images to blog about.
ReplyDeleteCan you add the links to the sites where you got these photos? And you can make the link to the BBC web site live so visitors can just click on it.
I don't think "radio" is used as a fun tool. It is used to encourage soldiers or do a brain wash. By the way my comment goes to he 2sn picture.=)
ReplyDeleteSonja
ReplyDeleteI really don't know why I did not add the links, sorry for that and I will add them.
Mbo
Thank you for your comment. You might be right but think about this; you kill people in the morning and at night you need something that would keep you busy so that you don't think of the people you killed that day and maybe the radio keep them busy.
I'd like to comment on these photographs and your comments on them by asking the questions I've asked on my 5th post. I don't know if you've read it or not but my stand at this ethical situation is quite firm. I just beileve people make this common mistake by making it personal.
ReplyDeleteI read your post and I glad that I read it because you are right. People (sometimes I) make it personal and miss the real point. For your questions, I wish I know the answers. For your first question, I guess noone has the right to judge the other. I believe that for everything we can find a logical explanation. I totally agree that we should do something for the people dying every second and we should be more sensetive what is going on around but usually it doesn't help. We can't do anything for the others, I can't find the cure for cancer or I can't stop the wars. I used to be a more idealistic person but as I grew up and face with the painful truths now I became pessimist and I guess I could only give happiness to other people by just smiling all the time, nothing more than that.
ReplyDelete