(Photo: Pietro Masturzo, Italy)
NPR blogger Claire O'Neill poses a great question in lieu of the recent winner of the World Press Photo contest: Is violence necessary for photojournalism to make an impact? Apparently not, as this year's winner is a very stylistic photograph of women in Tehran shouting the election results from a rooftop on June 24th. This beautiful photograph is imbued with subtle meaning as the lights in all the windows are turned on below and the shouting implies that there are ears across the city on the receiving end. The photo is pregnant with the events that are about to unfold, yet is distinctly different in tone then the majority of photos of protesting and violence that followed.
Some commenters took issue with O'Neill's question because of it's implications that she was blaming the messenger for producing violence. "In terms of senseless violence, any amount is too much. In terms of photographic documentation, there is apparently not enough," wrote commenter Robert Lee.
While I agree that photojournalists are an integral messenger of the catastrophes that occur around the world, it is integral to document an array of images that communicate across a large emotional landscape. It is also interesting to question what values we place on winning photographs.
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