Ian
priscilla 1War Photographs That Changed the World
November 29th 2010 05:50
War photography can be very powerful. Throughout history is has been used to sway political opinion in both directions, or simply to depict the horrors and truth of war. Brainz.org put together an extremely good piece detailing 10 War Photographs That Changed the World Forever (click to visit). Below are some extracts from that article.
The raising of the flag at Iwo Jima is perhaps the most famous war photograph ever. The flag was raised by five US marines and one navy corpsman atop Mount Suribachi in 1945. Few are aware that this was the second flag; the first was too small and couldn’t be seen by the Marines on the island, and photographer Joe Rosenthal, who received a Pulitzer Prize for the image, only arrived in time for the second shot.
Iwo Jima was the first piece of Japanese national soil to be captured by the Americans – hence the area was heavily fortified and required four days of bloody battle before its mountaintop, Suribachi, was captured. The battle persisted for a whole month, in which three of the flag raisers were killed. In 1951 the picture was used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the USMC War memorial just outside Washington, D.C.
This classic is undeniably one of the world’s most famous photographs. It depicts the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki, known as the Fat Man mushroom cloud,
on August 9th, 1945. The US bombing of Japan, in the final stages of World War II, obliterated three city miles and killed 70,000 people immediately and many more through radiation exposure in the years to come.
At the time, news of the atomic bombing was heartily greeted in America and highly publicized with this image (and the censorship of photographs showing death and human sacrifice). Years later, however, documentaries and photographs were unearthed and the world was made aware of the human tragedy. From then on this photograph has come to represent the true nature of war and the extreme potential of human invention.
This photograph has gone down as one of the most hair-rising, heart-wrenching images of modern history. The naked girl at the center, Phan Thi Kim Phúc, is a victim of a South Vietnamese napalm attack; she is running away from the bombsite whilst literally burning alive. In 1972 South Vietnamese planes, in agreement with the US military, dropped a napalm bomb on the village of Trang Bang, at the time occupied by North Vietnamese forces. The photo earned photographer Nick Ut a Pulitzer Prize despite the public and President Nixon’s initial doubts as to its authenticity. Adamant he would prove a naive world wrong, the photographer made public the details of the small Barksy Hospital in Saigon where 9-year-old Kim Phúc was being treated for over 14 months. The girl survived and became the founder of the Kim Phúc Foundation in 1997, providing medical and psychological help to child victims of war.
This Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by Eddie Adams is among the most famous war photographs of all time. The man with the gun is General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the Republic of Vietnam’s Chief of National Police, while the man about to die is Nguyen Van Lém, a Vietcong soldier. Story has it that the prisoner was found near a ditch filled with the bodies of 34 police officers and their relatives, including those of the General…
The uproar created by this photograph opened an entire chapter in the world of photojournalism: “a picture is worth one thousand words.” The image soon became an anti-war icon, but Adams replied: “I killed the general with my camera… What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?”
This is a memorable war photograph? Indeed it is, for this too played a part in the grand scheme of things, on August 2nd 1945. Signs of affection and happiness were greatly encouraged by photographers during wartime; they provided a positive image amidst all those of calamity and destruction, bringing strength and hope to soldiers and marines. This particular photo, however, commemorates the spontaneous event that occurred in Times Square when victory over Japan was proclaimed by President Truman. Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt wrote in his book: “I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make a difference.”
Since then, the photograph has come to represent VJ Day and the end of WWII - and can be seen almost anywhere from postcards to Hollywood films.
The Most Reproduced Image of All Time, 1945
Iwo Jima was the first piece of Japanese national soil to be captured by the Americans – hence the area was heavily fortified and required four days of bloody battle before its mountaintop, Suribachi, was captured. The battle persisted for a whole month, in which three of the flag raisers were killed. In 1951 the picture was used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the USMC War memorial just outside Washington, D.C.
Fat Man Bomb, Japan, 1945
on August 9th, 1945. The US bombing of Japan, in the final stages of World War II, obliterated three city miles and killed 70,000 people immediately and many more through radiation exposure in the years to come.
At the time, news of the atomic bombing was heartily greeted in America and highly publicized with this image (and the censorship of photographs showing death and human sacrifice). Years later, however, documentaries and photographs were unearthed and the world was made aware of the human tragedy. From then on this photograph has come to represent the true nature of war and the extreme potential of human invention.
Burning Alive in Vietnam, 1972
General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong prisoner, Vietnam, 1968
The uproar created by this photograph opened an entire chapter in the world of photojournalism: “a picture is worth one thousand words.” The image soon became an anti-war icon, but Adams replied: “I killed the general with my camera… What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?”
The Legendary Kiss in Times Square, V-J Day, 1945
Since then, the photograph has come to represent VJ Day and the end of WWII - and can be seen almost anywhere from postcards to Hollywood films.
| 52 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
