This
essay is going to compare two war documentary images, one image is Napalm Girl
by Nick Ut and the other is an image from a project by Hosam Katan which won
the IAFOR Documentary photography award. This essay is going to compare the
actual photographs themselves, the effect and impact both images have had on
people and how documentary photography has changed.
(1)
(2)
Both
images are very similar, both contain effects of war, real situations and in
both images the main focus is a child who has been severely hurt and effected
by the situations they have been born into, both pictures are also award
winners with Hosan Katan winning the IAFOR documentary photography award and
Napalm Girl phenomenally winning every major award in 1973 including the world
press photo award. Even the photographers are very similar with both being 21
years old when the images were taken and both being documentary photographers
and photojournalists, the only difference is that Nick Ut is a photographer who
was specially sent to the Vietnam war to capture images where as Hosman Katan
is a Syrian who wanted to show what it is like to live in Syria and have to put
up with the events that he has been placed in. even though both images and the
photographers behind them are very similar the effect and the impact both have
had on people throughout time has been very different, even though the photo by
Hosman Katan is still fairly new and has only had around a year in the public
eye it is still an award winner, but it isn't an image which has become recognisable
and an image which has been shown throughout the news and other media outlets.
This is very different to the photo which it is being compared and contrasted
against, Nick Ut's image Napalm Girl is one of the most recognisable pieces of
war time documentary and appeared on the front of almost every newspaper and
magazine towards the later years of the Vietnam war and since has been recently
revisited by media outlets such as People magazine, Daily mail, the Guardian,
abc news, CNN and many more.
Because each image have both had
very different media coverage and a very different sized audience it has meant
that they have not had the chance to make the same impact on people, there are
many reasons why this could be, one could be the changing times and how used to
controversy people have become and another could be the fact that photography
and documentary photography has become much more of a popular thing.
Because controversy
and controversial moments are more visual now days due to the internet, Television,
magazines and newspapers it could be that we are more used to seeing them which
means that when we see a piece of film or a photography which contains
something unusual or could contain something horrific and emotional like the
images which are being contrasted it could mean we don’t notice them like we
should and could mean that they don’t hit us as hard as they should, Peter
Adams who is a photographer said “Great
photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.”(3) which could back up the point and the fact that when people
are looking at images which contain something unusual, horrific and emotional
and have been show and exposed to his kind of media a lot they could lose
feeling and emotion towards certain images causing them to not get the recognition
and attention they might deserve like the photo taken by Hosam Katan, the photo
taken by Nick Ut could also back up this point because during this period of
time the public wasn't flooded by the media and internet with images like this
which contained controversial things.
There are many reasons we are more familiar with
the controversial moments and photos, for example the fact there are more types
of media than there used to be for example the internet and things on the
internet such as social media sites, videos sharing sites, photo sharing sites,
ect, another example is that cameras and devices which contain a camera or a
camera function are much easier for the public to get their hands on, almost
everybody has a phone or another devices which has a camera mode on it. Both of
these things have changed documentary photography and photography in general,
these factors could also be big reasons why both the image by Hosam Katan and
napalm girl by Nick Ut have had such different effects on people.
Due
to the fact there are more cameras available to the public than there used to
be and due to the internet, a platform for people to showcase and show off their
work that didn’t used to be there when photography was still in its early days
as a profession, it means that when browsing and looking for photos there is a
much bigger gallery to look through meaning a good photo is much harder to find
and notice which could be a massive factor to why the two photos which are
being contrasted have had such a different effect, the fact that more images
and photos can be show can also be a very good thing because the photographer
and the public have more control of what they show to the world and they don’t
have any media sources choosing what images should be shown and what images
shouldn't as it could cause people to feel a certain way or lean towards a certain
opinion and side. Software though could be a massive downfall
to documentary photography as images could be manipulated and changed and the
main point in documentary photography is its suppose to tell a story or tell the audiences
something and get a specific point across, for example the images which
are being contrasted are there to show the harsh reality of war, the real
effects of war and what it can do to innocent people involved. This could be a
reason certain images don't get notice and enough recognition as
audiences and viewers might look at an image an think it has been tampered with
and edited meaning if there’s an image that is supposed to have a hard hitting
story behind it, it may not hit them like it should. An example of someone not believing in documentary
photography and believing that facts and things can be manipulated and edited
in photos is an art photographer who said "When I lie, I am closer to the truth than documentary
photography."(4).
Overall
because times have changed and things which effect photography have changed it
means that photographs which have had a certain effect and have had people feel
a certain way about them, at the start of photography and even 20-30 years ago
will have a different effect and status in the modern day photography field.
there also aren’t just a few things which have changed since the last couple of
years there has been a lot such as, the internet being a very big platform for
photographers, journalists and artist to showcase their work, a lot more photographers
out there even if there not professional they are able to capture images, image
manipulation, editing software and trust issues with certain photographs especially
a document photograph and even people becoming more familiar with controversy
and other types of images. it could be because of all these factors and more
that images like the ones that are being compared don’t have the same effect
and impact. it could be that the Napalm girl image by Nick Ut became such a
famous photo because photography was younger and less photos had been taken
meaning an image like this was a new concept and audiences were attracted to
it, the photo by Hosam Katan may have been moved aside and not given the recognition
it deserves because images like this have become a familiar site in peoples
everyday lives, meaning people are hit as hard as they should. another big
thing which could have played a massive part is the politics of it all, when napalm
girl was taken it was near the end of the Vietnam war, a war that a lot of
people and communities protested against, whereas the image by Hosam Katan is
capturing an event during the conflict in Syria, a war that isn’t that well
known about and if anything is being backed by modern day media meaning certain
news channels and paper may not choose to show such a gruesome image. but when
it comes down to it if the images where swapped and napalm girl was taken in
the modern day era and the image by Hosam Katan was taken in 1972 they results
and impacts could have been very different, so over all it maybe the change of
documentary photography and also the increased popularity in photography, which
is a sad thing because there are images out there that have a hard hitting
story or something behind them that people should know and they aren't given
the chance to be show due to how small that one image is in the whole world of photography
and the catalogue of photographs and even if certain images do get noticed like
the image by Hosam Katan and even win an award there may be certain reasons why
they don’t get more publicity for example it may contain gruesome details which
will put newspapers and magazines off featuring them.
Bibliography
(1)http://i.imgur.com/YZnE1aP.jpg
(2)http://iaforphotoaward.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/09_Hosam_Katan.jpg
(3)http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/6727405-great-photography-is-about-depth-of-feeling-not-depth-of
(4)http://www.photoquotes.com/showquotes.aspx?id=852&name=Stano,Tono
