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Behind the Scenes: How Conflict Photographs Come To Be

Posted by timothy on from the have-you-tried-throwing-left-handed? dept.

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.

6 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Simple rule of thumb by JazzHarper · · Score: 4, Informative

    All photography is staged unless the image has been captured unintentionally or accidentally.

    1. Re:Simple rule of thumb by justdiver · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:Simple rule of thumb by UnknowingFool · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.
  2. I've seen this before by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pallywood anyone?

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  3. Been going on for years... by bobaferret · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I used to frequent Medellin, Colombia in the 90's after my mother moved there to teach English. This was during the period of time where there was a large amount of violence due to Pablo Escobar and company. Lot's of bombings etc. (Side note... Bombs happen on the quarters of the Hour, thunder any other time)... We we're driving by a recently bombed, mafia owned, apt. building from night before, and noticed some of the CNN crew from our hotel in the parking lot of the building closely surrounded by about 12 people. The camera guy was on his knees. The rest of the lot was pretty much empty. A cleanup crew here or there. The reporter was on the outside of the circle directing folks around. Later that night, we happen to see the footage produced.... it was a riot... No seriously... CNN portrayed the 12 people as a massive riot of frightened locals in complete panic. They weren't even from the building.... Mafia families who pay $1,000,000 for an apt. in that building don't tend to stick around, much less dress like laborers. Nothing like being a rural mid-western teenager spending his summers in a third world country.

  4. Pictures are not that much different than words... by Gavin+Scott · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Journalist observes and then writes words that try to communicate his/her understanding of the situation.

    The Photojournalist observes and then takes pictures that try to capture the essence of the situation as he/she understands it.

    If you don't want someone else interpreting and summarizing for you, then go there yourself.

    We read and view the work of journalists because we want to understand but we don't want to do all the raw data collection and reduction ourselves. To the degree that journalists exhibit biases of one sort or another, we try to chose sources that exhibit similar biases to our own such that their interpretation and analysis will likely be the same (or at least similar) to our own. When the bias is for sensationalism, that's simply not journalism.

    G.