In his essay his 2003 Essay Safety in Numbness David Campany talks about the changes in photojournalism seen in recent years, where we have seen video almost seeming superseding the still images as the primary source and still images or traditional photojournalism has changed to become what he call Late Photography – shots of the aftermath of an event and the problems associated with it.

Campany’s essay discusses Meyerowitz’ coverage of the aftermath of 2001’s, September 11 attack at the World Trade Centre, to illustrate some of the issues with this style of photography.  Meyerowitz was the only photographer to be granted access to the site of the site and he took his time using a 1940’s plate camera. This choice of camera and approach lead to a kind of theatre to his work which leads to images that reflect the enormity of the unexpected attacks and the sobering loss of life and consequential dramatic effect of the community..

In Campany’s words, the images are, sombre and straight, almost forensic.  He quotes Peter Wollen to describe them as “cool” photograph as opposed to “hot photographs” of an event. Style photographs that summarise or event audits events, often with no people,  with only  remnants of the activity but a style that is not just a passing art “fad” as it is increasingly prevalent photojournalism, documentary, campaign work and even news, advertising and fashion

Campany goes on to talk about the demise photojournalism, which has been in decline since the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970’s; which was the last ‘photographer’s war’, although this change is partially due to the changing nature of war.  War is rarely photographed live with is authorised video being released and those journalists that are embedded and reporting direct more likely to armed with a video camera than a Leica. – with the traditional photojournalists being allowed in afterwards to photograph the aftermath – as happened in Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.

However, what the still photographers can produce is more reflective in nature, allowing it to be printed in newspapers, magazines and later exhibited; news video can show live events unfolding, ‘late photography’ reflects on the impact of the event.  This is why the aftermath is left to the stills photographers.

Meyerowitz was passionate about his recording 9-11 for history, for the New Yorkers who were touched by it, as native New Yorker Meyerowitz himself was touched by it in the Channel 4 documentary about his work you saying how he took a picture on September 7^th, of the NY skyline including the twin towers, he wasn’t too happy with it and thought I’ll retake next week they’ll always be there. Therefore it is understandable why the work was undertaken and how it would be used as a focal point of grief.

Nevertheless, there are concerns that this style of late photography when it is used as a vehicle for morning has other consequences such as indifference and political withdrawal, there are also concerns (not expressed) about using the images out of context. Campany suggests that the purpose of a photography is to aid memory, and is also suggests that late photography can have a banal matter of fact-ness about it. And images such has those of Meyerowitz although banal can fill us with a sense of the sublime just because of what those images represent to the viewer because of their position to the geo-political nature of the event.

Does this shift to late photography mean that as Campany is suggesting photography’s position a news media has been eclipsed and it is now just a 2^nd media – I do not thinks as we have discussed above photographs are more reflective in nature than video and I feel that the audience can recognise that and it through photographs and the memories they recall can society reflect tragedy in far and distant past. Although the images that came out of the Vietnam war were ‘hot’ images at the time – when we look at the now they have cooled and serve a reflective purpose

This is not to say that I think Campany was wrong, Meyerowitz’s images are nice (too nice?) however, I think the essay was written in a different time than we are in now. 2003 the trauma of 9-11 was still raw and also time was move and we have seen more late photography. Particular Paul Seawright’s, work Hidden and Edgar Martins reflection of the house market crash.

 Seawright’s work is similar to Meyerowitz it documents the aftermath of conflict, it is devoid of action and draws the audience to reflect on the inherent danger. But as with Meyerowitz there is an argument that they are too safe for the subject matter.

None of these arguments can be laid at Martins work they subject matter is perfect for late photography as it the aftermath of the house mark collapse that is the news. Having worked in the finance industry at this time dealing with the houses in the US that fell into this category the work perfectly reflects the broken dreams and frozen nature of the market. The reflective nature of the pictures capturing symbolises they time how every connected to stood and looked.

Late photograph has a place – just need reflection by the audience, exactly what trying to provoke, so that it full benefits can be appreciated.

Bibliography

YouTube. (2007). Reflections Of Ground Zero Part 1a. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8hN-aNWWBE [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].

YouTube. (2007). Reflections Of Ground Zero Part 1b. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eKyhfG6MF0 [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].

YouTube. (2007). Reflections Of Ground Zero Part 2. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vAZDBDDtz0 [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].

Campany, D. (2003). Safety in Numbness: Some remarks on the problems of ‘Late Photography’ – David Campany. [online] David Campany. Available at: http://davidcampany.com/safety-in-numbness/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].

Dunlap, D. (2009). Behind the Scenes: Edgar Martins Speaks. [online] Lens Blog. Available at: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/behind-10/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].

Seawright, P. (2002). Hidden. [online] Paul Seawright. Available at: http://www.paulseawright.com/hidden/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].

“…which political battles have been fought and won by someone for someone else?”

(Rosler (1981) in Bolton, 1992, p.307)

 

Martha Rosler believed that the social conscience of well-meaning photographers such as Lewis Hine was not helping the social situation because it reinforced the gap between rich and poor. She argued that the need for the poor to rely on the rich for sustenance and social change is not beneficial in the long term and that it’s simply a way of reinforcing hierarchical structures imposed by capitalism.

Is there a sense in which work like this is exploitative or patronising?

Here I look at my own experiences shooting in Nepal – I was drawn to the poorer elements not necessarily beggars per se, and it was great dramatic images that my friends and work colleagues would be impressed by. I avoid “paying for” these pictures because I don’t want to contribute to the industry of organised begging that has happened for example with the Hindu Sadhu who encourage you to take their picture then try and charge you. So in a sense, I was exploiting the people I took images of because the gained no direct benefit. Although I did contribute but purchasing vendors etc – after reading Rosler article I will consider my shots more carefully

Where do we draw the line between exploitation/patronisation and a good cause? 

Where do we draw it indeed;  Hine’s intentions were to try to do good, and he did not benefit then I believe he was neither being exploitative nor patronising.  In mu case I had no intention to exploit or patronise, however,  I did because benefited although not with money but “likes”

Can photography change situations?

Although Lewis Hine’s work helped to bring change in the child labour law, these changes were ruled unconstitutional this giving weight to Rosler’s argument of reinforcing hierarchical structures imposed by capitalism.  It could also be argued that without Hine, a change would have happened eventually anyway, but it seems likely, as Hine thought, that bringing the abuses and injustices of child labour to a wider audience in a way they could see for themselves the public would demand social change.

Nick Ut’s photograph the Napalm Girl can be argued as instrumental in bringing about political change; given the momentum, it provided to the anti- Vietnam War movement. The exposure brought by the photograph brought with it help Kim Phuc; a well as the Pulitzer price for Nick Ut. Alimurung, G. (2016) and Vietnam: The real war: (2013).

In summary, while the right image at the right time may change the course of events, it far more likely that photographs are just one part of a greater mechanism that causes change.

 Does this matter if someone benefits in the long run?  

If the victims are benefiting by genuine change – not charity, then it is worthy; if the beneficiary is a publisher then that is exploitation and back into the realm of Rosler’s argument supporting the capitalist hierarchy.

Do you think Martha Rosler is unfair on socially driven photographers like Lewis Hine?

Perhaps, as clearly there are worthy causes that benefit from photographers efforts, but there are also situations where the publisher or/and the photographer are the only beneficiaries.

Rosler’s argument that charity (encouraged by documentary photography) is the problem as it promotes the privileged classes giving of a little to pacify the needy while preserving the class divide, and not encouraging self-help is valid one, if all photographers are trying to manipulate the audience / and exploit their subjects.

If charity was that Hine (and others) brought about it was un-intentional,  they are guilty of supplying the elite who control the media fuel to maintain class divides.

2.   COMPASSION FATIGUE – SUSAN SONTAG

“In these Last decades photography has done at least as much to deaden conscience as to arouse it.”

 

Sontag argued that bombarding the public with sensationalist photographs of war and poverty was a certain way to numb the public’s response. She believed that the more distressing images people saw, the more immune they became to their impact; viewers became reduced to inaction, either through guilt or a dismissive lethargy towards making a difference.  Sontag reversed this view in Regarding the Pain of Others (2004), but ‘compassion fatigue’ is still used as an argument against war imagery today.

Are images of war necessary to provoke change?

War is a violent way of one regime of overthrowing another or expanding territory – showing your neighbour “who is boss” – in these days they usually “backing” of the United Nation to remove an unjust regime – e.g, the Iraq conflicts.

Do images of these wars provoke change in the Leaders minds who started these wars? Highly unlikely, once a leader makes up their mind to enter into a conflict they are there to see it through to the bitter end.

However, public opinion may be swayed by a barrage of horrific images and as with the Vietnam war, it might be that as part of a weight of evidence the governments are forced reconsider there position. Images of atrocities are necessary to bring evidence at war crimes tribunals and this may be considered part of the change process.   Photographs are proof.

Do you agree with Sontag’s earlier view that horrific images of war numb the viewer’s response?

Of course, the first horrific image we see is disturbing and something we would wish to do something about.  However, as we see more and more period of time it becomes normal.  And sadly this desensitising is seen other areas of the media – bad language is so commonplace now in cinema for example and it almost in conceivable to for us to imagine the shock of the word “damn” be used in 1939 Gone with the Wind.

Also as the numbness of the audience increases the photographers and news editor will seek out images that will be more shocking than the last, just as Horror film directors seek to make there next film even more shocking. However, will this every increasing appetite eventually lead to photographers fabricating or embellishing a situation just to hit the front pages,

3.   INSIDE/OUT – ABIGAIL SOLOMON-GODEAU

 In her 1994 essay ‘Inside/out’, Solomon-Godeau argues against a binary insider/outsider approach to documentary photography: either voyeuristic and objective on the one hand or subjective and ‘confessional’ on the other. A way forward would be to avoid both these positions and produce work which provides a distanced look at the subject as well as offering some sort of ‘truth’, which may not be the truth. She offers Robert Frank’s The Americans and Ed Ruscha’s work as good examples. She also believed that Martha Rosler’s way of depicting the Bowery was shifting the debate from an inside/ outside one and into the realm of representation, which she saw as stemming from art photography. 

Do you need to be an insider in order to produce a successful documentary project?
The simple answer is here is no.

Susan Sontag’s statement that many photographers are “supertourists, …..visiting natives and bringing back news of their exotic doings and strange gear”.  (1977) suggests that to be outside of a group is wrong and that by being outside a group you cannot fully understand the truth of their lives. It echo’s Roslers thoughts on patronisation exploitation, particularly if you consider the work of Diane Arbus. However, Robert Franks The Americans and most of the work of Martin Parr would fall under the category of outsiders.

The polar opposite to Arbus is the work of Nan Golden who recorded he life and that of her friends, showing the full scale of drug use, sexual promiscuity and domestic violence leaving nothing to the imagination – there no way she can be looked on as an outsider, her images come from within a tortured soul. Solomon-Godeau argued that Insiders are inherently more truthful and real.

Both. these styles of photography have produced meaning full and thoughtful however either style is only successful I the photographer is true to there own ethics and ideals

Bibliography

Alimurung, G. (2014). Nick Ut’s Napalm Girl Helped End the Vietnam War. Today in L.A., He’s Still Shooting. [online] L.A. Weekly. Available at: http://www.laweekly.com/news/nick-uts-napalm-girl-helped-end-the-vietnam-war-today-in-la-hes-still-shooting-4861747 [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].

National Archives. (2017). Teaching With Documents: Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor. [online] Available at: https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].

En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Lewis Hine. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hine [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].

Npr.org. (2018). NPR: Robert Frank: The Americans. [online] Available at: https://www.npr.org/multimedia/2009/01/frank/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].

Aperture.org. (n.d.). The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. [online] Available at: https://aperture.org/shop/books/nan-goldin-ballad [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].

La Grange, A. (2013). Basic critical theory for photographers. Oxford: Elsevier Focal Press.

Sontag, S. (1977). On Photography. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.

Open College of the Arts (2015) Context & Narrative: course handbook. (2015). Barnsley: OCA.

Time.com. (2014). Syrian Torture Archive: When Photographs of Atrocities Don’t Shock. [online] Available at: http://time.com/3426427/syrian-torture-archive-when-photographs-of-atrocities-dont-shock/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].