Slashdot Mirror
Behind the Scenes: How Conflict Photographs Come To Be
First time accepted submitter benro03 writes "Airing photojournalism's dirty secret, Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori demonstrates how conflict photography is often staged by the photographers themselves. He spent a significant amount of time in East Jerusalem studying the role that photojournalists play in what the world sees. Ruben is about to graduate with dual majors for a BA in International Relations and Anthropology/Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel." Some commenters on the linked story defend much of what's shown as ordinary aesthetic and editorial decisions; doubtless a parallel documentary could have been shot from a few hundred yards away with an opposite slant.
Do we really need "?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PetaPixel+(PetaPixel)" at the end there, or are you getting paid for this story?
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Pallywood anyone?
Life is not for the lazy.
I was going to say that if those in the photo are unaware the picture was being taken then it isn't staged, but on second thought, the framing of the photo, the time at which the photo is taken, the angle and placement of the photo, what is cropped out or left in the frame, all of these things are left up to the photographer to decide. So yes, I would agree that even photos where the participants are unaware the picture is being taken can be called staged. The photographer is staging the photo by leaving our or including certain details.
Even when not staged there is always some bias and complexity. Take for instance the "looting" vs "finding food" photos in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The "finding food" photo showed two white people wading in chest high water with food whereas the "looting" photo showed a black man with food wading in chest high water. According to the "looting" photographer he labeled it looting because people were going into a flooded grocery store and taking things. The "finding food" photographer said people were taking food that had floated out of a flooded grocery store. In reality everyone was technically stealing food for survival but there are different perspectives.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
The pretense of the article seemed to imply that the events or photos were "staged" or something by the journalists. Nothing of the sort was happening in any of these photos.
Are we supposed to be shocked to believe that there were photojournalists on the scene when these photos were taken?
Inane.
If you want a more comprehensive view supporting this guy's work, check out Pallywood. You'll see it's all staged.