PhotoJournalism

Photo 1              
              The subject of the photograph is an Afghan woman who is crying and waiting outside the NATO headquarters in Kabul for news on her husband that was involved in an explosion. The woman is very upset in the picture and distraught is apparent on her face. The photo was taken in Kabul in 2009. The photographer that is credited with this photo is Nikki Kahn who is a documentary photographer.. She graduated from Syracuse University and has worked at Knight Rider Tribune and the Indianapolis Star. She currently works for the Washington Post.(http://nikkikahn.com/#/confronting-aids/jose-redo) The photo originally appeared in the  Washington Post online version and was published in August 2009.

            There was not a news story that went along with this photo. It was located in a series of the photos titled Women’s Rights in Afghanistan that tells the story of how the rights of women there may be taking a step backwards from where they were. There are pictures similar to this photo that come out all the time, so many people are used to seeing them. There really wasn’t any controversy about the picture for that reason.

            The news values that this photo has are impact and conflict. The photo has conflict because of the story the photo reveals. This woman is crying, waiting on news of her husband and no one is there trying to console her. The viewer doesn’t know how long she has been waiting, it could have been hours or even days, but she is still there waiting patiently and trying to deal with her grief. The story also has impact because it affects many emotionally. The photo pulls at your heart because you feel so sorry for this woman because of what has happened to her. It impacts people because you have the tendency to place yourself in other people’s shoes. The feelings of ‘what if that happened to me,’ come up and it takes people to a place where they can empathize with the woman in the photo.

Photo 2

The subject of the photo for this picture is the burning oil rig that caused the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. You can see the oil floating around the ship and the sheer amount of smoke and fire that is coming off the oil rig is astounding. The photographer that is responsible for this photo is Gerald Herbert. He has been a staff photographer for the Washington Times since 1999. He has covered many conflicts from Haiti to the Middle East. (http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0112/herbert.htm)

The picture and the news story that it goes with both appeared on CNN’s online version. They both ran on March 30, 2011. In the story it talks about whether the executives at BP are going to face criminal charges for what happened in the Gulf of Mexico. In the article it argues that the company heads will most likely not be charged because it is hard to charge someone without a whole lot of proof. Again, there is not a lot of controversy about the picture because there are so many like it already out there. The executives at BP aren’t trying to stop it because people already know what happened and how bad it is, so it would be pointless for them to try. 

The news values that the photograph has are impact, proximity, conflict, and currency. The photo has impact because the oil spill changed a lot of people’s lives. The jobs that they once did cannot be done anymore because of the disaster. Proximity also plays a factor because this is something that has happened to Americans. It is not a tragedy that happened across the ocean, it is something that occurred on our territory. Conflict is a major player because you can see the oil creeping out into the ocean while the tanker is still burning. This shows that while BP is losing money on the tanker that is on fire, people’s lives are going to change drastically because of the damage that is happening because of the oil. Currency is in the picture as well because people are still engrossed by what is happening. They want to know what kind of progress, if any, is being made.

Photo 3

The subject of this photo is Alton Verdin who is a shrimper in the gulf who's life has been devastated after the oil spill. He is seen with his granddaughters Emily Verdin, 3, left, and Johenna Duplantis, 2.  By looking at the picture you can tell that Verdin doesn’t have a lot of money, so the money he makes from shrimping is very important to him. The photographer’s name is Jennifer Zdon. She is a graduate of San Francisco University and has done photos all over the world from Europe and Columbia to even the south here in America.  She has won several awards including photographer of the year in 2002. Her most recent focus is the aftermath of Katrina.(http://jenniferzdon.com/)

  The photo and news story that accompanies it originally appeared in the New York Times online edition on April 19, 2011.  The story itself tells about the troubles that Alton Verdin has had to go through and what he is still facing. Since the oil spill happened last year and the picture was of a man affected by the tragedy and not the actual oil spill itself, the picture was published without too much hassle. 

 The news values that are represented in this picture are impact, proximity, conflict, and currency. The picture has great impact because the man’s face is so heartbreaking. You can see that he loves his grandchildren and wants to give them what he can, but you can also see the look of desolation in his eyes because he knows that his life has changed because of the oil spill. Proximity because the oil spill something that has happened in America. Even though we aren’t right next door, viewers realize that this is happening right at home. The picture shows conflict because you can see the side of the shrimper and the side of BP. Both sides want to get things accomplished, but they aren’t having the best of luck. This picture shows the conflict of what is really happening in the gulf. Lastly, the picture has currency because this is something that American people are still interested in. They want to know what is happening and what is being done about it. 

Photo 4

The focus of this photo is a woman who is mourning the loss of her mother after the earthquake in Japan. When the woman went back to her home to see how badly it was damaged and she finds that her mother was discovered in the ruble. The photographer was David Guttenfelder who is based in Tokyo, Japan with his wife and two young daughters. He was named photojournalist of year in 2006 by NPPA and has worked for AP for the last 12 years. Guttenfelder is currently the AP Chief Asia Photographer, so he did experience this tragedy first hand.(http://www.immf.org/2007/david-guttenfelder/) The original publication of the photo was on the New York Daily News online edition.The photo is in a collection of photographs that show the destruction from the earthquake in Japan. The photo was published on the website on March 21, 2011. There was not a news story that accompanied this photograph, but it was paired with other photos from the destruction that happened from the earthquake and tsunami.

The news values that this photo has are impact, timeliness, conflict, and currency. The photo has impact because of the destruction and damage that you can see in the photo. When looking at the photo you can imagine yourself in that same position. The photo really brings things into perspective for viewers. The photo has timeliness and currency as well because this is something that has just happened and people are interested in it. These two elements are very important because they draw people into looking at the pictures because they want to see what is happening.

 

Photo 5

            The subject of this photo is a group a people mourning a peacemaker who had been killed by a masked man. You can see that there are several people lying on the casket, physically expressing their grief over the situation. From the looks on the bystanders’ faces, you can tell that many of them think that this event is a terrible tragedy and are severely distraught. The photographer of this picture is Ariel Schalit who is an AP photographer. He grew up in the Gaza area and is currently working in Gaza for AP.(http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/photographers_gallery/depth_gaza/index.html)

            The original place the picture appeared was News Week. There was not a full length story that was included, but in the short summary beside the picture it tells that the man, Juliano Mer-Khamis, was a peacekeeper and actor that was killed because of an internal war going on in Israel. There wasn’t any controversy about the photograph that could be located. The picture itself really isn’t controversial. This is simply a moving photograph that shows the dangers and realities that occur when a war is going on.

            The news values that are in this photo are conflict and prominence. There is lots of conflict in this photo because of what is happening. There are many people weeping in the photograph over his body. This is conflict in itself because there is so much emotion and drama going on. If you think about what would happen next if the photo could change into the next scene, you get the feeling that there would be people yelling and screaming causing the drama level to rise greatly. There is also prominence in this photo. The man who was killed was a famous actor and activist for peace.