When I posted three similar photos of soldiers in DRC a few different people responded that journalists shouldn’t travel in packs. While I generally agree, in a situation like when these photos were taken (probably in the Kivus circa Nov 2008) insecurity was a major issue. Traveling in packs is safer. Additionally, as newspapers and magazines cut costs, few journalists can shell out for their own vehicle and fixer and most will often have to pool resources. This is a reality of the industry, unfortunate as it may be.
The Lens even makes mention of this (the safety part, at least, but not the money part):
“For their safety, all of the photographers work together,” Mr. Leroy said. “In the same situation, the same scene, Dominic is better.”
What makes me upset is that the same types of photos receive praise and accolades again and again. The Lens, which is a great, great blog about photojournalism, has featured two stories from Africa, total. One was about Dominic Nahr, whose image I borrowed for this post. The other was about making a movie about the Bang Bang Club, a group of photographers who covered 1990s apartheid violence in the township in South Africa.
Both are about violence, of course.
UPDATE: Thanks MK for a correction via email. The Lens has also featured Tim Hetherington’s Liberia work (silly omission on my part, since I love his work) and a few images among their daily selections.
So really, my issue isn’t with Nahr at all. Clearly, he’s a great photographer. I guess I’d just like to see what would happen if he turned his lens somewhere else.
Always taking, displaying and praising images of violence or about violence limits the possibilities of the visual vocabulary that describes Africa. For example, photos of soldiers trump Finbarr O’Rielly’s amazing photos of Congolese hair styles. I posted one of his photos among the three images of soldiers, but to me, that’s some of his least interesting work. This great series of Congolese hairstyles by O’Rielly is the truly “new” work coming out of DRC, from a photographer who has worked there on and off for years. They tell a similar story in a very, very different way.
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Glenna, thanks for articulating this so well. I feel the same way about some of the stuff Lionel Healing was doing a few years back, especially a series on a Congolese train – it was a completely new way to tell a story that really doesn’t change much, but that needs to be told.
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[...] O’Rielly is at it again. The last time I wrote about his excellent work, I posted a couple of his series of hair dos in DRC and suggested that they tell a similar story about war and conflict with a different visual [...]
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