WAR AND PHOTOGRAPHY
From the Lecture
You may not want to read this, and that is fine

I did a Keynote/Powerpoint presentation covering the subject of War and Photography with three points of focus

1. The history of advances in photographic technology.
2. The impact of war photography on the human perception of war
3. The control of war photography by governments and the media

It was important to me to establish my belief that in general students in Europe
 1. Live close to the hotspots of conflict today
2. For the most part, are more cosmopolitan.

I have chosen a few slides from the 238 to give a sense of what I said

I believe we all have seen so much of war imagery that I have to start with unknown images that can show the power of viewing

In 1916 over 10,000 adults and children gathered to witness the lynching of a young black man.
He was hung by a chain over a fire and slowly burned to death
I want to establish the power of images to affect and create effect
A discussion follows
Moving on to the history
Photography was to slow to reveal action. We know the "still" images of the civil war

In 1898 Teddy Roosevelt took his Rough Riders up San Juan hill. A movie was made ot the charge. The director said after the hill was captured that the action was not dramatic enough, "would you please charge the hill again for the camera"
The flag was placed at the top

The first World War was hellish
What we are supposed to see
What we are not supposed to see

The technology was more advanced than it had ever been, We were told about but did not see
Gas being used to maim the enemy
The picture was possible because of the airplane.

From this.....
to this -- IN 12 YEARS

The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
This was a new kind of image, made with a small mobile camera that allowed both a presentation and creation at the same time.
We see the soldiers shooting, we see the observer and sandbags. Fact
But the vantage point leads us to be inside the head in front of us participating in the experience.

The 35mm film "Lecia" allowed true photojournalism
Robert Capa titled his iconic image "Moment of Death"

WW II  A global conflict
A Soviet trench
A German trench

The flag raising on Iwo Jima
not dramatic enough so back six hours later to stage it
and one of the iconic war images of all time
An iconic image that became the cover for Life magazine

Vietnam ........
Two images
by Larry Burrows
Kent State

Today
James Nachtwey "working" in the middle of live shooting
An image made by a photojournalist during the explosion that killed her
One of the thousands of images used on the internet
Showing the portrait of his dead son

If you choose to view more contemporary work insert this URL in your browser

Thank you for watching


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