I think there is a possibility that photographs can change the world. I am not sure if there is one photograph that actually has changed the whole entire world, but I can think of a couple types of photographs that may have changed a wide variety of people thoughts and opinions. And this then can change the world. It’s not actually the photo itself that changes the world, but is the response to the photo that can change a thought or an action, then changing people, then changing the world. Some popular photos which may have changed the world are war photos, or photos of people injured, fighting, or something that shows us something about the world we live in that we didn’t know. For example in the video of TED it shows us a picture where we are looking at the earth from a view we have never seen. This has in response “changed the world” because we were all shocked to see that was the world we lived in because we had never seen anything like it before, changing everyone’s thoughts and opinions had then changed the world. Or the pictures that were shown from Guantanamo had a major result. As Ted Says “the publication of those images had a major impact as opposed to the images themselves, caused a government to change its policies." Showing just how powerful a photograph can be.
Photo by: Sarah Callahan
This photo has affected me and my life personally, because it is a picture of my new niece I will be meeting in just a few short months. This picture represents a big change for me and my family so it affected all of us, my sister especially who is currently pregnant with her new baby to be. My sister, already has one daughter so this will be her second daughter. This picture represents the change my sister, Sarah and her daughter, Madeline and my parents, my sister’s boyfriend, his family and many others are going to experience by having a new little one to care for. This photo also represents happiness, excitement and enjoyment for all of us, in such a simple photo. An ultrasound photo is seen every day by multiple people but represents so much change, excitement and a whole bunch of emotions for a person. Another photo like this one that has affected many people’s lives, is the famous photo of Borisin Yeltzer dancing at a rock concert. Such a simple photo people don’t really think about it “changing the world” but it did. Due to this photo, people saw that he was healthy, which was a question of interest before, and potentially is the photo that made him win the Russian presidential race.
Photo by: Abdul-Hakim-Shabazz
Image Source: http://indypolitics.org/2016/03/18/indiana-senate-candidate-writings-call-hitler-a-great-leader/
One photograph I believe has changed the world is this one of Hitler. If I showed this photo to pretty much anyone there is not a doubt in my mind that they would know who it is, and what is going on. Not only making this a nationally known photo, but has also changed the world for many reasons. Hitler saluting has become a symbol for the holocaust and this time period. The meaning of this photo and what it stands for, has not only changed the world, but has shown us where we have been, and how far we have come. Without pictures like this one, I think it wouldn’t be known as such a landmark in history. Another thing to note while looking at this photo, is how lucky we are to be able to get photos like this one. As compared to how the media is changing today, we were lucky to be able to get this much exposure to real images. Today there seems to be the issue more and more of media hiding the truth, or sugar coating it even in photos. For example in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars tens of thousands of American soldiers have been badly injured and killed. “Images from these "real" wars have been studiously sanitized to the point that a well-informed news consumer could be excused for thinking that their country's latest wars are virtually bloodless." And even though events like this one were a bad time, and maybe something we don’t want to remember. We need to remember it to be able to never experience anything like it again, and realize what we had been through as a nation.
Photojournalism is there to spread ideas, to spread thoughts and to help provoke reactions and possibly then change the world from these reactions. Photojournalism is about having the freedom to show these situations, even the images from the really bad and scary situations that maybe some people don’t want the citizens to see. But thanks to freedom of the press it makes it possible for us to be informed and to make a difference through seeing photo journalistic images. Though we are free to take, and see what we want, the issues with actually having exposure to these life changing photos are arising. According to professor Nordell, this is because all the small newspaper, book publishing and all the media sources like that ,that used to keep us informed, have pretty much all been bought out by the six corporations. One of them being Time Warner which “owns news sites read by millions of Americans every year.” and as professor Nordell says with his take on the whole situation, that this can “constrict the flow of information.” Meaning that basically these big corporations pick what they want to show, so we potentially could not be getting all the information that we want, and need to be shown to feel safe, and change the world. Instead often we are only being shown what the corporations want to show. Mainly being photos that will make them money, or make them look good. It's seeming more often its not about what the viewers and the citizens really want to know about. Real photographs of real events need to continue to be alive and shown, and not hidden and played down by big media corporations. In order for us to make history, learn from it, and continue to make photo journalistic pictures that change the world, there needs to be more then just these big corporations running the business.
One photograph I believe has changed the world is this one of Hitler. If I showed this photo to pretty much anyone there is not a doubt in my mind that they would know who it is, and what is going on. Not only making this a nationally known photo, but has also changed the world for many reasons. Hitler saluting has become a symbol for the holocaust and this time period. The meaning of this photo and what it stands for, has not only changed the world, but has shown us where we have been, and how far we have come. Without pictures like this one, I think it wouldn’t be known as such a landmark in history. Another thing to note while looking at this photo, is how lucky we are to be able to get photos like this one. As compared to how the media is changing today, we were lucky to be able to get this much exposure to real images. Today there seems to be the issue more and more of media hiding the truth, or sugar coating it even in photos. For example in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars tens of thousands of American soldiers have been badly injured and killed. “Images from these "real" wars have been studiously sanitized to the point that a well-informed news consumer could be excused for thinking that their country's latest wars are virtually bloodless." And even though events like this one were a bad time, and maybe something we don’t want to remember. We need to remember it to be able to never experience anything like it again, and realize what we had been through as a nation.
Photojournalism is there to spread ideas, to spread thoughts and to help provoke reactions and possibly then change the world from these reactions. Photojournalism is about having the freedom to show these situations, even the images from the really bad and scary situations that maybe some people don’t want the citizens to see. But thanks to freedom of the press it makes it possible for us to be informed and to make a difference through seeing photo journalistic images. Though we are free to take, and see what we want, the issues with actually having exposure to these life changing photos are arising. According to professor Nordell, this is because all the small newspaper, book publishing and all the media sources like that ,that used to keep us informed, have pretty much all been bought out by the six corporations. One of them being Time Warner which “owns news sites read by millions of Americans every year.” and as professor Nordell says with his take on the whole situation, that this can “constrict the flow of information.” Meaning that basically these big corporations pick what they want to show, so we potentially could not be getting all the information that we want, and need to be shown to feel safe, and change the world. Instead often we are only being shown what the corporations want to show. Mainly being photos that will make them money, or make them look good. It's seeming more often its not about what the viewers and the citizens really want to know about. Real photographs of real events need to continue to be alive and shown, and not hidden and played down by big media corporations. In order for us to make history, learn from it, and continue to make photo journalistic pictures that change the world, there needs to be more then just these big corporations running the business.
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