Former students discuss pictures versus words after viewing a photo journal online.
From: Helen Abbo
Date: 8/12/2003
Time: 10:55:42 PM
Remote Name: 198.81.26.138
Comments
After I looked through the pictures in the picture gallery and read an article in spokes man review about war in Iraq. I realized that image is more powerful than essay. Two main reasons why I think picture is more powerful: The first has to do with credibility. There is an old saying says, “seeing is believing”. Seeing pictures of an event is the best thing one can do next to being at the actual event. News with pictures and videos are more credible than with just a written report. Almost all newspapers and magazines have pictures next to their articles. The reason is that most people likely convinced by news with pictures and videos rather than a written word about the same even or news. National Geography magazine wouldn’t have been as successful as it is now if it wasn’t for those exotic pictures on its cover. Images are so powerful that in some courtroom where cameras wouldn’t be allowed, the associate press sends artists in the courtroom to draw what goes on in the courtroom.
Nowadays lots of false news and rumors spread around and for many people its very difficult to figure out which is real and which is false. Pictures sort out those confusion. This is just because of that pictures have a vast demand in our society for creditability. The other reason is that not all reports and essays are very descriptive or at least don’t satisfy every ones with their descriptions. It is very common to see persuasive news that could picture a wrong image in ones mind. Depending on which news source one listen to, my view about the war is different than other persons thought. For instance, some reports written by the reporters from CNN are much different from the one from FOX news or even the Arabic Network about the war in Iraq. But if there were pictures in the news, the news audience wouldn’t have doubt with the credibility of the news but also get detailed and descriptive information about the event. This is not to say that images are not used in manipulating.
If we see pictures from Arabic Network shows everyday rather than the FOX news, we could have a different in take about what is happening in Iraq. There could be many images of an event such as the war in Iraq. We could see images from the FOX news source as the U.S. wining the war but omitting our soldiers’ suffering and losses to win the battle. On the other hand Arabic Network could only show the Middle East audience as the solders captured or the US helicopters got shot down which could seem that the war result was the opposite. Another example is that the pictures on the national geography magazine of those indigenous people live in the Amazon or in Africa with these exotic dress and jewelers. But when actually people visit that place, what they might find it different. They find these indigenous people wearing a regular short and a Nike t-shirt rather than what was on the magazines cover.
When it comes to these series of pictures, the images are powerful as well. It has been said a lot about the Saddam Hussein’s cruelty; yet lots of people didn’t get it until the pictures and videos of the torture, the grief of the Iraqis and the Iraqi children situations are shown in the media. The series of these Iraqi pictures says a lot. Children and women are sad, confused, scared and look very hopeless. It is very obvious that the economical situation in Iraq is rather pity. Thousands of people are so desperate to see their loved ones poisoned by Saddam. The pictures also shows a miserable faces and situations of Iraqis. After seeing these pictures no one could smile. And some even might think that these is all what Iraq is about. None of the images shows the rich ancient Iraqi culture and history. This is why I believe there could be more than image or a look about and event or a subject. Essays could be powerful but they might not always be as powerful as the actual image itself. For best results pictures should support essays. Assuming the essay and the pictures are not persuaded one way of an event, I prefer to see more pictures and less word because I am a visual person.
From: Scott Herrmann agilent297@msn.com
Date: 8/2/2003
Comments
Pictures Can Only Give a Perception
While Words Can Give the Truth
After comparing the photos of Iraq located on the internet at http://www.iraqjournal.org/photo/index.html with several stories written about Iraq in The New York Times, I believe that, though photojournalism is powerful, it cannot convey the message as thoroughly and accurately as a written story. A written story can answer the question of who, what, when, where, how, and why increasing the readers intellect, where as a photo leaves these question largely unanswered appealing instead to the readers emotions. There are many wonderful photos displayed on the Iraq journal web site depicting the people of Iraq, such as the pictures of the children, especially the young girl with large brown eyes in the blue dress eating what appears to be candy and pictures of the apparent poverty like the young boy looking out at a rough dirt road through the barred windows with no glass of what may be his home. Both the picture of the little girl in the blue dress and the boy looking out at the street touch my emotions, but they answer no questions. Who are they, where are they, why are they important, what are they thinking, and what is their story are just a few of the questions that I begin asking myself.
Without some kind of written explanation, I can only make assumptions. In contrast, The New York Times offers a photograph on page A6 of the July 28, 2003 issue in a story written by Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Robert F. Worth. The picture is of an Arab man in traditional clothing shaking his fist. Though the title of the story, “3 Iraqis Killed as G.I.’s Set up Raid in Hunt for Hussein,” can cause the reader to wrong assumption about the photo, such as it may be the scene of the dead Iraqis, the story gives several facts that are not apparent about the photo. One fact is that it is the home of prominent tribal leader Rabia Muhammad al-Habib who was “respected” by and frequently visited by Saddam Hussein. The reader is also informed that al-Habib’s home was raided by crack U.S. troops referred to as Task Force 20 on the hunch that Hussein may have been there and that when he was found not to be, the house was searched for evidence of Hussein’s whereabouts.
The purpose of the picture becomes much clearer with the written essay. Sometimes the essay comes up short in the explanation of the featured photograph though. A closer examination of the picture of Mr. al-Habib raises questions that are not addressed in the text of the article. For example, looking at the reflection in the mirror of the ransacked desk in the background reveals a gathering of many people, including a photographer, in the room which makes me wonder how much of the media event was staged. The point I’m trying to make by pointing this out is that a photograph can supplement an essay, in essence keeping the essay honest. A written essay is intellectually powerful, a photo essay carriers emotional power. The written essay can provide needed facts; a photo essay provides the documentation to support the facts. Used together, a written essay and photojournalism can provide an undeniably powerful argument for the author. By themselves though, a photo cannot provide the whole story as well as an essay.
by Scott Herrmann
From: Judee Fisher cjfisher7@juno.com
Date: 7/31/2003
Comments
As I took a look at the photo journal, I had some interesting emotions that stirred. First of all, when I heard the idea of photo journal, I was expecting an American journal that featured an all-American family in the park. When I visited the site, I took a moment to just look at the pictures that were all together at the top of the screen. So I will begin to share the different thoughts that crossed my mind. My first thought was about the expressions of emotion on the faces of the children. I made an assumption about the picture of the two little girls that were together. I wanted them to be sisters. It never occurred to me that they might not be related. The bond that they share seems to be strong because of the glint in their eyes. They seemed truly happy and innocent, full of life and wanting to just have fun. Next, I thought about the two men that were together.
My first thought was that they looked a little bit on the shady side. What an incredible judgment I passed on two men that I know nothing about. As I pondered this emotion, I quickly realized why my thoughts went that way. The media has given us incredible coverage on Iraq. I personally would like a lot less coverage. The coverage has been based on a lot of searches for war criminals or the “Bad Men” of Iraq. I realized how easy it is to become a prejudice person if I allow the “first glance” at a person to be my base for character knowledge. When I read the caption at the bottom of the page where it said that the two men were very humbled to think that the photographer wanted their picture.
Could it be that their self esteem was so low about their own image or the image of their country. Maybe, they are just shy. The picture of the elderly person that looked like he was in a market place. I analyzed the market of books behind him and realized how grateful I am for the blessings that are so bountiful in the way of public buildings and markets. The other analysis was the clothes of the people in the background. There were some very nice clothing on some of the people indicating some financial success,. I also thought about the books and the idea of public education and wondered if Americans really know how good we have it. After viewing this photo journal I went to one of the New York Times newspapers instead of a magazine because that’s what was available in my time crunch life as I am trying to get ready to leave to go out of town. I read an article about establishing new currency in Iraq and the pictures I saw were of a whole different emotion. T
he emotion was cold and partly to do with all of the text that was readily available for me to read right beside it. The cold emotion I received from this article was the very emotion that was responsible for the quick judgment of the two men in the previously mentioned photo journal. I like the idea of a photo journal because it allows us to see and capture real emotion of real humans. I like a little bit of caption but not a lot. The photo journal allows a person to experience a different kind of emotion. I began to feel for these people as if I had been right there in their world. I realized they are just like me and my family who want a future full of hope and happiness. The newspaper image that was painted was one of gloom and doom. It was interesting to compare the two. In a few short minutes, I learned a lot about myself and how easily I am influenced by what I see and read. Without doing more research on the subject, I am left with the very images and ideas that I saw and imagined. Are they accurate? Not necessarily.