Aria Chehreghani: War Photographer Reflection

After watching the documentary “War Photographer” by Christian Frei, I realize war photography is more complex than just taking photos.

Overall, there were several aspects of war photography the film showed that surprised me. One aspect was how delivering photographs is a huge team effort, comprising of different groups such as forensic scientists and anthropologists. After a village was destroyed in the Kosovo War, a series of preparations had to be done before photojournalists could take pictures and record observations. Forensic scientists would investigate the devastated area as they try to gather the pieces of what exactly happened. Anthropologists would find scattered bones in the area and attempt to place them together with the previous owner. Once forensics and anthropologists gave a stamp of approval, then photojournalists would be able to enter the area and conduct their work. It’s amazing to see how groups of people with different professions all work together for the same cause. I was also fascinated with how photographer James Nachtwey is able to handle his emotions when dealing with tragic situations. During a photography exhibit, Nachtwey said that showing emotions in devastating situations would utterly be useless. Instead, Nachtwey channels his emotions of anger or grief into his photographs to truly show the world how disastrous the situation is. 

Obviously, I find all of Nachtwey’s images very powerful as they tell a different story of a different tragic event. One picture in particular however, stunned me as it made me realize how different one country’s lifestyle can be. Nachtwey went to Jakarta, Indonesia where he took photos of a junkyard to study how horrendous poverty is in the country. What shocked me however were the workers in the junkyard, as they weren’t your average age man; but young children who are considered of elementary school age. These non-educated children work in disgusting positions, as they’d pick up garbage, deal with the stench of trash and wore rubber sandals when walking across the junkyard. Not only are these kids working in hazardous conditions, but also they earn a measly 85 cents a day. Photographs of these young children made me realize how blessed I was to live in a country where kids aren’t required to do harsh labor in dangerous conditions.

Lastly, I believe news photographs play a huge role in shaping world events. As Nachtwey previously stated, photographs from the Vietnam War showed humans what was happening on the ground from the perspective of a soldier. These photographs were a huge contradiction to what military and political leaders would tell their citizens, as photographs showed how violent and cruel the war was. Thanks to photojournalists taking powerful pictures of the war, it sparked several events worldwide such as anti-war movements, where your average citizen would protest on the street against the U.S. involvement in the war.