"Photography Can Change the World" ~ OK, Sure. What Does That Mean?
(Photo: National Geographic).
CURWOOD: There’s another theme of this special edition, your anniversary edition of National Geographic, and that theme is ‘relate’, and I’d like to call attention to a really striking image of that segment. It's a couple in Afghanistan on their wedding day. The groom is 40, the bride about 11, and the caption says close to half of Afghan girls marry before they’re 18. But I think this has to be a classic case of a picture being worth a thousand words.I've italicized the interesting claim. I don't want to dispute it. I think Leen is right. What I want to do is ask if we can descend from the platitudes. What does she mean? How can that happen?This anniversary will give the nice folk at National Geographic a huge audience. It is a shame to see them squander the chance to say something meaningful.
LEEN: Yes, Stephanie Sinclair who took that image, she has been working on the issue of child brides all over the world for a number of years. This particular image I find to be almost chilling when you look at it, this adorable little girl trying to imagine her being married to this guy. You say he's 40, but he looks like, older than 40, his beard, and kind of craggy, but this is the custom there. Photography can help you relate and connect to other people and get you (sic!) care about things, and I think once you start getting people to care about things you can get them to get involved and maybe even help change the world, and I think that's definitely one of Stephanie's missions.
Labels: documentary, National Geographic, photojournalism, Political Not Ethical
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home