Can great photographs still change the world?

[mfunnell]

Originally Posted by Pherdinand

Aside of the life of a few people closely involved, I don't think these images changed anything about the world.

I'm not sure what you want for "changing the world". Regarding the prison photos, many people changed their attitudes about the conduct of the war in Iraq as a result of viewing those photos and understanding the story behind them. (The impact of the September 11 photos seems, to me, too difficult to disentangle from many other aspects of those events.)

These changed attitudes are widely believed to have contributed to actual political changes. If that doesn't meet your requirements, what would?

...Mike

[MartinP]

When we have all mentioned the "story" told by a photograph, I am reminded of what Winogrand mentioned in the film-clip linked in another thread recently.

To paraphrase, a photo doesn't tell a story - it is just showing how some objects appeared at a particular moment.

I suppose he meant that the "story" aspect is added by the mental baggage of the viewer. The same picture can "mean" different - even opposite - things, or nothing, depending on what the viewer already "knows".

It would be a very remarkable picture that transcended this. Can anyone recall seeing such a still-picture ? Bearing in mind that the world is bigger than North America and Europe, of course.

[VinceC]

>>But back to your original examples, can you pls explain me how the ABu Ghraib photos CHANGED the WORLD? And how the images of people jumping from the twin towers did?<<

If there had been no images of people jumping from the World Trade Center, there would have been no Abu Ghraib abuses to photograph. The imagery surrounding the World Trade Center created a U.S. mood of vengeance.

[migtex]

"We don't change the world, we just photograph it".. now I got to find what photographer said that...

[Rob Skeoch]

I don't think the photos of people jumping from the world trade centre moved the people in power to start the war. I think it was the attack that moved them. If the 911 attack had happened at night and just as many died I think the war would have happened the same... even without the photos.

To Chaser.....
Your right, the only reason I said people should become nurses is because of my time with Doctors Without Borders... we always needed more nurses and fewer photographers.

[VinceC]

>> I think it was the attack that moved them.<<

But the attack was defined, to the public outside of New York City, as a kaleidescopic series fo iconic images. Not a single photograph or series of photographs, but a multimedia experience. The planes crashing. The towers aflame. People jumping. The towers collapsing. The wall of smoke and rubble. The strange reverence of iconic photos taken at Ground Zero, to include the firemen raising a flag against gray rubble which became the first-ever U.S. postage stamp to depict people who are still alive.

In the case of Abu Ghraib, there had been a number of public reports over several months of abuse against Iraqis in U.S. custody. It took the photographs to define the nature of this abuse and make the public take notice.

[1dave]

I believe that still images have the power to change man's mind in so many different ways; and that can change the world. Photojournalism is nowhere near dead, and still have a large role to play in affairs, and opinion forming.

[Calvin]

Photos taken by journalists in every corner of the world do send messages to us, esp when you are not living on the other side of the world. No matter which format it gonna be, like newspaper, online posting ... a picture is worth more than thousand words!

[Pablito]

Photojournalism is moving away from the still image. In papers all over the country, photographers are being issued cameras that caputure motion and sound. Yeah, video cameras capable of high-rez still images. The priority is the web, not the paper.

I've yet to hear a photojournalist working today for a major media outlet say he/she believes their work can be the principal factor in changing anyone's mind about anything.

On the other hand, what of the legacy of Lewis Hine? His work was a major contributor to the creation of child labor laws in the USA.

There is no yes or no answer, only a sea of in-between.

[VinceC]

>>On the other hand, what of the legacy of Lewis Hine? His work was a major contributor to the creation of child labor laws in the USA<<

Lewis Hine did not work for a commercial news agency. He was employed by a child advocacy nonprofit group chartered by U.S. Congress. He was what Americans call a "lobbyist" -- someone whose job is to influence Congress to pass laws on behalf of an interest group, in this case the rights of children.

[Rob Skeoch]

It's true about papers moving into video.... I would say every major paper in the west is making the shift. At the dailly I work picturedesk shifts at we had no budget this year for new still gear but all the video we could use. I even shot a video of a road race the other day for the papers web.
We always had tight budgets for still photo freelance but there is no limit to the web budget as papers try to figure it out.
-Rob Skeoch