Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/12/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sal DiMarco,Jr. said: Subject: [Leica] OT- War Photography. > Verbal Combatants... > The photo you are referring to the burnt Iraqi in a truck, was never > offer to the wires because it was shot by Ken Jareck(Sp?) who was working > for TIME. > If, I remember correctly his military "minder" did not want him to make > the picture in the first place and they "had words."<<<< Hi Sal, "Been there.... had the same kind of words!" 1967, Sinai desert and destroyed Israeli tank with bodies. OOPS!!! Wrong subject with an Israeli military minder along. However, made a few frames from a slightly discreet angle and it appeased the officer. His concern was for the families of the soldiers than anything else. Well OK that's what he said. But I feel we should shoot the pictures when we are motivated by what we see. Trust me you are always motivated by shock if nothing else. What happens to them later is someone else's call. However, in some cases I've been so emotionally over come I've put the camera down and walked away because, "is my picture going to make any difference?" Not likely, certainly when I had the choice of many bodies grotesquely burned and twisted and is one more horror picture going to make the politicians stop ordering young guys and gals off to kill other young guys and gals? Not bloody likely. I believe two things happen in these situations, you have the controlling government not wanting to show dead soldiers of the nation, therefore they want visuals to be as little as possible and showing victory if at all possible. Or long shots without the in the face teeth showing with face burnt away! Or there's a sensibility thing of newspaper editors not running the shot because it would upset their readers. This is done all the time and has nothing to do with war scenes! I have two feeling about this. It's not likely any war horror pictures, still photo, is going to move very many people to have the government change their political minds and call a war off. The other is, war is horrible to photograph, done two and though asked to do others, I've refused because nothing is accomplished by the pictures except make people become less immune to the horror of it all. Much like the violence we see on the tele these days, it makes younger generations and some older, less concerned when a kid gets beat up in a school yard and killed. "Well gee whiz we saw it on the television the other night and it looked cool!" No matter what anyone thinks, photographing war isn't worth a damn, it can leave you scarred even though you were not a combatant, and you'll wear a mill stone for years. And some of the guys somewhat revered as war photographers are a touch of a fruit cake if the truth be known and they'd admit it if you could get them to do it.. or they're dead!! Sorry a bit long and not a Leica note to it. However, I did use Leica's '67 & '68! ted - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html