The pain of others: Photographing despair

[applemint]

Interesting article on the AFP blog:

The pain of others: Photographing despair
http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?post/The-pain-of-others:-Photographing-despair

I found the article/blog post via a link from the comments section of this article which covers a similar theme and is also worth a read:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/14/boston-bombing-wheelchair-photo-one-year-later

 

[Carl Hall]

That was an interesting read, thanks for sharing. I'm not really sure what to think about the subject. On one hand I think people who are at their lowest points should be left to grieve in private, but on the other hand I think photos are the main bridge between war torn countries and disaster zones, and the outside world that may be able to help.

I will admit to being one of those people that sees news photographers on the tv pointing a wide angle lens in the face of a crying woman and thinking they're emotionless vultures, but after looking at the article and reading about the photographer who was nearly shot by a grieving relative during a civil war, it's certainly given me food for thought.