James Nachtwey: Photojournalist Profile

Hi photojournalists,

For my photojournalist profile, I decided to do my project on the well known James Nachtwey. This is a link to the photobook "by" James Nachtwey comprised of all of his pictures. The pictures have a specific order to them because they tell a story of what it is like to live in a third world country. Below is a zoomed-in version of the book with captions that the website wouldn't accommodate. The profile I created for James Nachtwey is below the images of the photojournal. 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

Both children in this photo were being held what was described as an "orphanage for the incurable."

 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

These two images are taken from Nachtwey's photojournal titles "AIDS." The photo on the is an AIDS victim. The image on the bottom is of a grandmother comforting her HIV infected granddaughter. 

 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

The photo on the top is a survivor of the Hutu Death Camp. The second photo is of a child in ruins after a war. 

 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

The first photo on this page is of an HIV infected child. The second photo is a famine victim being prepared for burial.

 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

Both of these images are taken of famine victims.

 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

The first photo is of an Isreali homeless child, sleeping high on the street. The second photo is the outline of a Serbian body.

 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

This is an image of a man lifting his dead son and bringing him to his grave for burial. 

 

Photos By: James Nachtwey 

The first photo is of a mourning brother who was killed by a Taliban rocket. The second image is of two grieving boys.  

Photojournalist Profile:

James Nachtwey started working as a newspaper photographer in 1976 in New Mexico and subsequently, after that, he moved to New York to become a freelance photographer photojournalist. Since 1984 he has been under contract with TIME magazine which is where most of his works are posted. He has also received many awards for his work.  He enjoys documenting social conflict and wars. Some of the major things he has documented are 9-11-01, war in Afghanistan, famine in Ireland, AIDS, and the current opioid crisis. According to the article by the International Photography Hall of fame, “Nachtwey has also dedicated his career to photographing social issues, like homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, industrial pollution, and global health issues." 

James Nachtwey is involved in photojournalism at a very important time because there are so many crises right now to capture and share with the world. However also during this time, photojournalism is starting to be discredited because of the advancements in technology and because of photojournalists not being in touch with their own biases. Like we have learned, many photojournalists are incapable of determining and hiding their own biases when taking pictures. Pictures are also being discredited because they are being edited through technology, making them no true. TIME magazine was one of the culprits of this. From what I can tell, James Nachtwey is very in touch with his own biases. It is very hard to determine where his biases lie. Being that most of his pictures are of conflict, famine, war, and tragedy it seems like he is very biased towards teaching about the lives of less fortunate and people from foreign countries. In an interview at Dartmouth College Nachtwey says, “I try to photograph honestly but with a sense of compassion so that a mass audience can make a human connection with the people in the pictures. If that happens, then change becomes possible.”

It is no secret that James Nachtwey takes pictures that are very moving to people. A common question is, "What kind of equipment does he have to carry to take these photos?" According to photo.com, James Nachtwey uses a Nachtwey shoots with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II Digital Camera and Canon EOS-1V SLR film Camera. The digital camera that Nachtwey uses allows him to take quick digital snapshots while he taking pictures during war or high-intensity conflict. The film camera allows him to add another dimension to his work that digital cameras don’t offer. 

As mentioned before, James Nachtwey likes to take pictures of conflicts, wars, and crises because he believes these are the types of photos that will change the world. Since this is what he takes photos of, there are many types of different ethical dilemmas that he would encounter because the photos are of sensitive topics. One of the titles of his photo journals was famine, and this shows heartwrenching photos of people that are in so much pain and hunger it is hard to watch. Another one of his conflicting journals was the “opioid diaries.” In this photojournal, Nachtwey photographs many homeless individuals doing drugs. This could be considered unethical because it is exposing someone at a very vulnerable time. I specifically remember one of the images in the photo journal of a man that overdosed. This could be considered unethical because the man cannot give consent to the pictures being taken. 

After looking at James Nachtwey’s photojournals, the majority of his pictures are in black and white. His pictures hold a great deal of emotion in them through facial expressions or just the content of the picture. All of his pictures seem to tell stories and have a lot of meaning behind them. He also almost always seems to have a main subject or subjects and he really blurs out the background so he uses depth fo field. He also often uses a simple background to put most of the attention on the main subject/subjects to express more emotion. James Nachtwey’s pictures have a huge effect on society. He takes conflicting pictures that some people might be afraid to take because of ethical reasons. But his pictures speak great volumes. They are so emotional and powerful. The topics that his pictures cover are controversial and usually not a topic of discussion because they are forgotten about, or not a major part of concern. Trying to describe his pictures in words just doesn’t seem ethically right because I cannot express in words how powerful his images are. His images should bring awareness to society about parts of the world that are forgotten. But in his pictures he presents real people losing their lives or suffering under uncontrollable circumstances. 

As an AIC nursing major, it touches me that James Nachtwey tries to bring awareness to people in America about the way people are living in foreign countries. Not only that, since I am in nursing we talk a lot of the opioid crisis and that is one of James Nachtwey’s most recent photojournals. He tries to bring awareness to people able to addicts, and the way they feel about their addiction. This was really important to me because it will be very relevant in my nursing career considering overdoses have been consistently growing for years. 

Although my opinion is very biased, I think that James Nachtwey is one of the greatest and most influential photojournalists of all time. However, when an individual is famous there will always be criticisms and judgments to be made of about their work.  A source called The Aperture in an article titled Photos Do Not Stop Wars says that James Nachtwey’s work is very moving and important, but it will not stop from happening what has already happened. They said, “James Nachtwey’s work needs work, but necessarily that of the photographer.” Meaning possibly the content of his work needs fixing. Contrastingly, another source called Euro News says,” James Nachtwey is one of the greatest photographers of our time. For almost four decades he has been observing suffering face to face, documenting poverty, famine, disease, and conflicts.” Those are Just two opposing quotes that I found. It proves the idea that even excellent photographers with an uncountable amount of awards still have critics and people that do not like their work.