I still think that what he did was wrong. I don't care who he was or anything about his life. The point is that instead of dropping his camera and running over to help that little girl, he took a picture. Took a picture of someone at their very worst. Took a picture that brought him a PRIZE. Had he forgotten the picture and helped her, his "prize" would have been much greater. I feel nothing for the man. Any decent human being would have dropped that camera the moment they saw that girl fall. She could have died right there of a heart attack but he wouldn't have known because he was busy photographing her demise.
what happened to the bird?
I totally agree and couldn't have done what he did
- but saving her would have saved one life (maybe) and that image could sting a lot of consciences and save many. If people don't see the horror they won't believe it. I don't see why he couldn't have helped her after taking the photo of course and maybe he did? newspapers as we all know don't always tell the true story.
It's a sad bad world.
It has the same iconic quality as that picture of the little girl on fire from the napalm in Vietnam.
i mean the child died
the photographer committed suicide
but did the vulture get a good meal?
I think this is a fair question
Steve, Steve, Steve...
*bermbits shakes head*
Likely it did, from that child and others.
so bird life flourished?
so pleased
not
The 80s ushered in what are known as "The African Years" for Pulitzer prize photojournalism.
Carter was part of the "bang bang group" -- four photographers who traveled to the worst areas of Africa to record what was (is) happening there.
Fellow bang banger Greg Marinovitch won the prize just a couple of years before Carter did - with his photos of a man being beaten, stoned, stabbed and set afire.
Pulitzer Prize winning photos are rarely pretty, especially when they explore social issues.
Saving her, carrying her to what hospital? what plane? and leave all the others behind? (see my second link, re planes and relief goods, and the first one, where the scene is pretty well described by a colleague.)
This fellow was no saint, but he was a conduit of information to the chairsitting magazine reading world, and that was one strong photograph.
No ones a saint but we can do what we can do. And feeding one is better than feeding none.
Hmmm, anyone seen the movie Under Fire? Not that these are analogous situations..
jesus f-n christ.
those burst your peaceful image of the rest of the world.
ossobuco wrote:With what food, Bella?
Anything. What was he eating that day?
From that site:
Caption: A starving and ill Somali child waits to die in an NGO centre in Baidoa. This room was for children too far gone for the aid workers to waste precious food and medicines on them. Photo by Greg Marinovich.
Not likely much, they weren't there long and I doubt carried much; a long part of the time relief planes weren't allowed to land, and as steve has noted corruption was rampant and an obstacle to what relief there was. No scrap would help that girl.
I am not cruel hearted, I am as horrified as you are, not to estimate or vie about levels of horrified. I just don't think you understand the breadth of the horribleness, no pun meant.
That's gonna leave a mark.
I cannot imagine staring at this situation for 20 minutes just to get a photo. On the other hand twenty minutes in any area clinic would probably have proven that the child was too imaciated to be nourished properly. Not to mention the damage that was already done to her system, her organs, her bones.... Atleast he brought a picture to the world that moved millions and opened their eyes to the suffering of the children in third world countries.
I cannot hate him for what he did, those situations are so much bigger than the one person you see near you. There are crowds of mostly dead people, bodies of people recently dead. Death and dying are such a huge factor in most other countries, poverty, filth. Its overwhelming. Personally I would have wanted to atleast TRY to comfort that baby. Try to do something. Even if it meant holding her until she died.
Also, the guy killed himself, so its not like there is really a lot that we can say to make him feel any worse, or anything that we can do to make him seem any more terrible. And when it comes down to it, how many of us have seen a photo like that and still havent sponsered a child, or put together care packages. Hell, how many people have left their own lives of happiness and comfort to live among them as a true sacrifice.
When we walk away from a photo we carry with us the image. That man not only carried with him that same image, but every image of that girl for the twenty minutes he stared at her, the smell of the decaying earth, the taste of sickness in the air, the hot draining sun that beat down on them, and feeling of hunger that was in every face he saw on that trip. Their suffering tormented him enough to end his own life, and all we can do about it is bitch about how horrible he was. What would we do when thrown into a situation we've never encountered, how many of us have seen war torn desolate lands, breathed death and decay and listened to the dying moan even as we sleep.
For cripes sake we cant even handle rush hour. get some perspective people.
Those photo's make me want to cry. Every baby should have a chance to grow up and be pricks like us.
