There is an inherent and inescapable ethical tension in photojournalism. On the one hand, these images are part of a market- they are bought to sell advertising, clicks, newspapers. That’s grubby, dark shit. On the other hand, they’re vital to public understanding and action. That’s as noble as any calling. But that tension attracts quite strange and often unbalanced people to the role. I read the Bang Bang Club year…
> The worst thing is to feel that as a photographer I am benefiting from someone else’s tragedy. This idea haunts me. It is something I have to reckon with every day because I know that if I ever allow genuine compassion to be overtaken by personal ambition I will have sold my soul. The stakes are simply too high for me to believe otherwise. and > The act of being an outsider aiming a camera can be a violation of hum…
Re: How Photojournalism Killed Kevin Carter (2015)
#21I met Nachtwey once. In the early noughts. He struck me as a kind but broken man.