Saigon Execution, Eddie Adams, 1969
“Saigon Execution”.
In the middle of a dusty street, a man in a plaid shirt with his hands tied behind his back is grimacing at what has just happened. To his right, a man in a military uniform calmly holds a gun to his head after having just pulled the trigger. The photographer caught the split second between life and death. To the right of the military man is a stunned officer, caught off guard, looking on, maybe not quite registering what he’s seeing.
“It’s an honor to be a journalist. If I care about something, I can make half a million people care.” –Stan Grossfeld, multiple Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist. This photo epitomizes this thought. It was said that after this photo was published, people began to think differently about the war. From this picture, you would gather that this is a Viet Cong prisoner and that his captors decided to execute him rather than imprison and try him. You don’t know specifically what he’s done. But this photo makes you feel for his humanity. It’s traumatic and it’s uncomfortable and that’s exactly what this photo is supposed to be. Good photojournalism can make you uncomfortable and question your beliefs.
Napalmed Girl, Nick Ut, 1973
Napalmed Girl.
Terrified children are running down a road toward the camera. Behind them are three soldiers scurrying away as well from the massive gray cloud of smoke in the background, the result of a bomb. Your eye is completely drawn to the center of the picture. A naked girl is running, crying in pain. You can see the flesh burned from her left arm. She may have ripped her clothes off because they were burning as well. There are no parents with these children, so it’s easy to envision that beyond the smoke behind them, the scene must be even worse than what is captured in the photo. You will be terrified for her. She must be in horrible pain. It all looks so senseless. These innocent children are caught in the middle of a war that has nothing to do with them.
“Everyone has a story. And we sing their song. If we don’t do it—if the journalist doesn’t do it—who’s going to do it?” –John White. This photo epitomizes photojournalists’ job of telling someone else’s story, often at their own peril. When you see this photo, you wonder how the photographer wasn’t also affected by the napalm and how he was calm enough, after he’d just captured bombs being dropped, to pull out his camera and capture the story. This photo has become one of the most iconic photos of all time. It contributed to the anti-war movement and the eventual end of the war.
Colombia Mudslide, Carol Guzy/Michel duCille, 1986
Frank Fournier’s photograph, Columbia Mudslide.
In this photo series of the Colombian mudslide of 1985, in which over 20,000 people died, one photo clearly stands out. In murky green water, the head and arm of a young girl, Omayra Sanchez, stick out. She’s looking at the camera with bloodshot, helpless eyes. You see arms reaching out to help her: one has her wrist in his hand, the other has a rope. You see that they are trying to rescue her, but her face looks like this has been going on for a while. She looks almost resigned to her fate and you can feel it. It’s a heart-wrenching photo because it appears as if they could just pull her up. You want to will them to pull her up. But when this photo was taken, she had been trapped for three days and eventually died, because they didn’t have the equipment to free her. This photo is the most haunting of the series.
(When witnessing a disaster) “You rage inside at the helplessness. To try to deal with it, you seek out elements of humanity and courage.” –Carol Guzy. This photo evokes all of the helplessness that you imagine everyone in this situation felt. It comes through in the photograph. You empathize, and you feel helpless, but you marvel at the courage of this child as her life slowly ticks away, trapped and on display.
Barcelona Olympics, William Snyder/Ken Geiger, 1993
This is a photo series from the historic 1992 Olympic games. Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley are embracing, laughing, celebrating their gold medal win as part of the Dream Team. They are wearing their gold medals and Magic is clutching a flag in one hand. They are overjoyed, having beaten the entire world with unarguably the best basketball team ever assembled, the Dream Team.
“If it makes you laugh. If it makes you cry. It’s a good photo. You look at a film and you see it and it’s over and it goes on the shelf. But a still picture is in front of you all the time…. The most powerful weapon that we have in the world is a still photograph.” –Eddie Adams. This photo embodies these words. There’s joy in looking at this picture. It’s nostalgic. This picture has a sense of taking you back to a happy time in our history, of witnessing an event that will likely never be repeated.
Each of these pictures is a work of art, and photojournalism is just that: art on film. It feels odd saying that, because some of these images embody true terror and horror. But they capture milliseconds of life that elicit so much emotion, good and bad. Photojournalism is more than a profession. It’s artistry with a camera. Only true artists can do that, can make you feel what they see.
