BluePrintX

Photography should be about picture-making. That is, after all, why we get into it in the first place (well, most of us). This blog is for photographers, people passionate about making photographs, who want to share ideas and concepts, approaches and attitudes. And yes, there will, from time to time, be gear stuff. Oh, and by the way, while you can download and share this blog, all the material on it is copyrighted. All rights reserved, etc.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

James Nachtwey







"I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated."

-James Nachtwey-

In a comment to the previous post, Anonymous asked what we should “do with our phots”. I can’t answer that. It is different for each of us. But it begins with the idea that we can make a difference and extends from there. It begins with a willingness to try. It begins by asking ourselves why we photograph and using that knowledge to inform what we do.

A number of times I have mentioned people influential in my photography and how we can be informed by what the masters have done. In this post I would like to talk about one who has had a huge impact on me, on my photography and both coincidentally and consequentially, on how I feel about Life.

My acquaintance with his work began when a friend, Mark Racle, invited me to come and see a film called War Photographer, a biography of the work of James Nachtwey, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. I knew of Jim’s work, had followed it at a distance but knew little else. There were a number of us there; including what seemed to be all the press photographers in town. We sat and the projector rolled. Some 96 minutes later we all filed out. Hardly a word was spoken. There was a sobriety amongst everybody that spoke volumes.

The film tracks him through a number of wars, including Kosovo, Indonesia and Palestine. The director has placed micro-cameras on top of the camera so we get a first-person view of him working. We can hear the burning houses, his shutter tripping, people grieving and we are brought literally face to face with what he photographs on a daily basis. The director, Christian Frei, has brought reality filming techniques to a new level.

Through a series of interviews with those he works with and for, we get a better insight into how he works and, more importantly, why he works. He discusses this quite frankly and openly.

In 1985, shortly before becoming a member of the famous photo agency Magnum, then 36 years old, he wrote the following text, a credo about the relevance of his work as a war photographer.

Why photograph war? There has always been war. War is raging throughout the world at the present moment. And there is little reason to believe that war will cease to exist in the future. As man has become increasingly civilized, his means of destroying his fellow man have become ever more efficient, cruel and devastating. Is it possible to put an end to a form of human behaviour which has existed throughout history by means of photography? The proportions of that notion seem ridiculously out of balance. Yet, that very idea has motivated me.


I think it was watching the film that I began to take a harder look at my own photography, to start asking myself why I photographed. Was it just a very expensive hobby for my own amusement or was there more to it than that? Was I merely a dilettante?
( def. dil·et·tante
n
1. somebody who is interested in an art or a specialized field of knowledge but who has only a superficial understanding of it 2. somebody who has a passionate interest in the fine arts (dated) ) adj typical of somebody who has only a superficial understanding of something

I started to look at my own photography, to question why I photographed, and what (if any) legacy I wanted to leave. Here was a man who had spent most of a working life in the hellholes of the world, trying to make a difference. How did reflecting on this inform what I was doing? Was I doing anything, or just chewing up the Earth’s resources?

I watched the film over and over, and each time his example inspired and stirred me, as have the lives of my other heroes, Te Whiti O Rongamai, Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela. It made me see what I was doing in a different light. And to look at my own work in a different light (no pun intended.)



His friend, Denis O’Neill says of him:

"The possibility of a normal life, that's the main conflict... and what he's had to sacrifice to live the life that he leads... He has given everything to the job."

A cynic could suggest that he is yet another Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, and to an extent they are probably right. The apparently natural human trend towards self-destruction seems a juggernaut impossible to slow, let alone reverse. Is it however a greater sin to try and get nowhere or not to try at all, I asked myself? I might achieve nothing concrete or I just might, minimally, move the Titanic away from the iceberg and make a difference.
Hey, it worked for Hine and Adams (see previous post).

Maybe, just maybe….

I find myself watching that film often, every time my commitment falters, every time hopelessness sets in.

Recommend it? Damn right. If your nearest arthouse video shop, doesn’t have it, you can get it here.

Ka kite ano

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

There's been so much in the two heavy duty posts, "Missive" and "James Nachtwey", that it's difficult to know where to start. (And thanks, Tony, for the "What the Duck" site to make us smile - although it looks as if some of that, too, may provide more than just a smile.) At least this discussion through Blueprintx is intended to be on-going, so the ideas in the posts mentioned can be taken bit by bit.

I see two broad issues in those posts, and two challenges: one challenge is to seriously think about the ways in which we are damaging our physical and social worlds and to change our habits accordingly [I mean "social" in the sense of "being concerned with the mutual relations of human beings"], and the other is to consider what we, individually, can do to bring about a beneficial change in the way we live in our culture by using our photography, or any other art form we may practise.

First of all, I thought Anonymous made a good point in the comment posted on "Missive". Any change must begin at home and maybe the establishment of organic gardens to supply food to residential institutions is one part of the general answer as to how we should use our resources wisely. But I also think that change has to begin even closer to home than that. It has to start with us, as individuals. It may not be easy and it may not be comfortable - at least in the beginning. What are we prepared to do, to not do, and what are we prepared to give up, in the interests of making things better for everyone? We're not going to be able to make a radical change to even our own personal behaviour overnight, but if we each take small incremental steps, with enough of us doing it, even that will quite quickly make a difference, a difference which has the potential to grow exponentially.

Here's an example of a very small change I made. Two or three years ago I went to some discussions supported by the local council on "Sustainable Households". One thing that it made me think about was what I used for household cleaning, so instead of buying a refill for the Toilet Duck dispenser, I rinsed it out thoroughly and refilled it with a mixture containing white vinegar and a little environmentally-friendly washing-up-liquid concentrate. (The washing-up-liquid isn't necessary but I like the bubbles! Culture conditioning?) The acid of the vinegar kills bacteria (it's why we use it for preserving food) without the more harmful effects caused to the environment by the much stronger acids used in proprietary brands of toilet cleaner. Its lower strength has got to be better for the sea when it eventually gets there. What's more, it's a lot cheaper.

We have to be prepared to put a bit more time into becoming greener, too, and that's something that seems to be in short supply for so many people these days. Just sorting things for the recycling bin and washing out containers takes longer than chucking them dirty into the rubbish, but that extra time is something we've actually come to accept ever since most local councils introduced recycling to some degree or other. Recycling still has a long way to go, but here, less than ten years ago, it didn't exist at all. That's progress.

The crux of the matter is to get enough of us changing our habits for the better, even if what it is we each do seems pretty insignificant in the whole general scheme of things. (Ever thought, or heard anyone say, "Well, it wouldn't make any real difference if I did that,"?) What we need to achieve is Critical Mass - like lots of those little Roman rods bound together so that in their unity they are strong and have power. Enough people thinking the same way and putting pressure on government can then bring about change at the political level. I think there are a lot of individual people and groups out there who do have concerns with what is happening to the world, but in their isolation feel powerless. How can we get them linked together?

That brings me to the second challenge I see in "Missive". James Nachtwey and other courageous people have photographed the horrors of war and have been influential over the last forty years or so in bringing about a change in public attitude towards war. Ansell Adams photographed beautiful landscapes and helped save wilderness areas from being spoilt or destroyed. But there are few James Nachtweys or Ansell Adamses, and Anonymous probably expressed what all those of us who like to photograph but aren't of the calibre of the "greats" are asking ourselves: how can we use our art - and for many of us reading Tony's blog that's our photography - to further the Dream of a world which is sustainable both physically and socially?

Is this something we could discuss in this forum? Toss ideas about - even wild ones? The answer to the question will not be the same for everyone. We differ in the sort of photography we like to do, we differ in the lengths to which we are prepared to go, and we differ in what it is actually possible for us to do. But an idea put forward by someone just might spark a new idea in someone else's mind thus helping them to their answer. Regarding my own photography, I would have to include myself firmly ensconced in the "dilettante" category at present, and maybe that's why the excitement and passion I felt for it several years ago has diminished. I lack a sense of direction. Just maybe these posts of Tony's are the kick I need to go out there photographing for a reason. Is there anyone else who feels the same?

I'd like to know what other people think about a sustainable world, about how its achievement might be at least helped along its way, and I'd also like to learn about ideas people have for using art to bring about change. Someone - lots of someones - out there must have something to say!

Mon Oct 16, 04:25:00 pm GMT+13  
Blogger Tony Bridge said...

Lesley:
Many thanks for that. Whew! what a response!
Yes, you are quite right. We can't all be Richard Branson and donate billions to find alternative sources of fuel. But we can do something.
I ma working on ideas. I am currently involved in a number of art auctions, wher a % of the sale goes to a worthy cause. Imagine if each of us donated aour best image, and the sales went to say, for example, the save the kiwi campaign in South Westland. Why not build a website, www.globalvillage.org or something like that and auction the work online?
Just a thought.

Mon Oct 16, 07:37:00 pm GMT+13  

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