Can photos change the world
The answer to this question will forever be contemplated as long as pictures exist. There will never be one correct answer, but in my opinion, there is only one logical answer and that is yes. Pictures have the ability to talk to people in a special way that words can’t. Pictures tell stories, share perspectives, teach, and provide evidence and reason. Truthfully, without pictures, everyone would be living in their own bubble and can only imagine what life is like for the rest of the world. They have the ability to show us things that we cannot experience in our immediate life. So to answer the big question of “Can Photos Change the World?” the answer is yes. In his video, Jonathan Klein says, “Images provoke reactions from people and those reactions cause change to happen.”
Throughout the span of this course, I always took photos for granted. I never realized their truth worth until I understood the views of the people that were behind the camera capturing the pictures. In his video, Professor Nordell states the famous phrase, “If a tree falls in the woods, and there isn’t a photojournalist there to take a picture, can it be documented in history?” This question is asked to the listener in hopes that they would understand how important photos are in documenting the history of events. In my opinion, the tree still falls, therefore, the event still happened, but if the event can’t be documented through a picture than it is less significant compared to a historic event that was able to be captured by a photojournalist. Talking about the United States and Vietnam War pictures, The author of the article “Censorship of war casualties in the US” says, “None of the pictures appeared in the United States. The story lasted one day.” By saying this the author is supporting the fact that without pictures, without proof of what happened, people won’t listen and they won’t embrace the stories. With that being said, if an event occured and there are pictures that prove it the event then becomes more significant than if there were no pictures, which goes along with the theory that pictures can change the world.
This is a picture of three African children from an underdeveloped country. The child on the left has a disease called ascites. This disease is common in malnourished kids and even though it looks like he has a full belly, that is just swelling from lack of nutrients. This picture affected me because it gives me a different perspective on life. After seeing that, I no longer take the things I have for granted. This is the effect that pictures have on society. They provide us with different points of view and can even educate us on how to become less naive. Many people that I know grew up as a child in a well-developed area. We didn’t know what it was like to go to bed hungry or not be able to sleep because you are too cold with no blankets to cover you. This is a feeling that any kids experience and seeing pictures of kids that do not have the same luxury that I did make me grateful for all the little things that I had and didn’t realize were so important until I saw kids like this.
Photos can change the world in many ways. They can help change peoples’ mindsets, they can help prove injustice, they can enlighten, tell stories, provide evidence, enforce, and provide beauty and realization. Photos now are more prominent than ever because without them, there is no proof, people won’t listen and connect with stories. In his article on Ferguson Dan Gilmore says, “Video and pictures are an equalizer: they’re not the only ones, and most of the power remains with the state, but they can be essential tools to help restore some balance in a system.” In a place where words can be stretched and twisted, pictures tell the truth. Like Gilmore says, “pictures are tools to restore balance”, and balance being restored would change the world.
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