The familiar and repetitive narrative of war, from the jingoistic excitement to the flag draped coffins coming home and the ensuing resentments and questions of futility. The almost cloned narrative arc of the young idealistic photojournalist - going off to find fame and fortune and prizes through war - then only finding a reflection of themselves, one they find hard to look at…is perhaps a familiar fable. The film Killer Image about Robert King’s own career arc is an example of this.

Like the sad inevitability of war we will always have the narrative of the ‘woe is me photographer’ broken by what they have seen. This is going to sound hard, but, well Mr PJ, no-one told you to go and get your ass embedded.

No-one outside of the adrenaline and career driven voice that said that this is going to be exciting. Perhaps this is unfair, as I’m only using myself as an example here because if I had had the opportunity to go when I was younger I would have gone too.

But perhaps true also is what Robert King says, war didn’t fuck him up…he was already fucked before he went. War just brings it out…because you have to be a little fucked to want to go and see the sights of war.

Anyway, as Ashley Gibson discusses in his film (here) there has to be a new way to examine and discuss war through photography. Click on the image and come to your own conclusions.

N.B. Apologies for the random arrangement of text, growing Vine-like around the image above…Wordpress is an enigma, wrapped up inside a paradox of some unseen Geek’s making - apologies again.

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Perhaps I’m not saying it’s ethically wrong to embed yourself with troops firing live bullets into unarmed live bodies; but it didn’t quite sit right watching the feeds of journalists today. Especially as one journalist I watched on TV didn’t seem to voice much disquiet about what the soldiers were actually doing when she followed them through the barricades.

I’m not mentioning any names - as one doesn’t to get sued - but lets hope you win an award for your mantelpiece.

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I watched Tarsem Singh’s ‘The Fall
‘ recently and found it visually stunning. Its imagery is perfectly combined, below, with the haunting soundtrack of Massive Attack’s ‘Paradise Circus’. Enjoy.

Paradise Circus

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Over 100 billion photographs are taken each year; many of them on one of the one billion mobile phones that engulf our world. Nearly everyone in the developed world has access, and increasingly in the developing, to the apparatus to create and capture their own photographs. In that sense, we are all photographers.
We can all take photographs and share them with the world via our social networks, Facebook, Flickr, and the like, exhibiting and disseminating them as we please. Photography then is easy; you place your camera in front of an object and simply press the shutter release – et viola!

There can be little wonder then that many businesses, especially in bleak economic times, see little value in spending highly on photography – it’s currency of course devalued by its pervasiveness. Why should they spend lots of money hiring ‘professionals’ - they think - to do what any ‘Johnny on the spot’ can do?
But can they?

Anyone can take a photograph; but can they work to the highest standards when there is something riding on it; when there is a deadline, or a brief to be understood and creatively executed? Can they work independently or with direction, work in difficult circumstances and in unaccustomed environments to produce creative and technically excellent images - when they only have one chance to get the image? When they can’t go back and take that image again?

Anyone can take a photograph when there is nothing riding on it – when there is no pressure – when no-one cares if the exposure is wrong, the lighting too flat, the feel is just wrong. Do not underestimate the psychological pressure of knowing that failure is not an option; and when you simply have to come back with that image. An image that has already been art directed to fit into a page layout that has already been graphically designed.

Photography is not easy – it is hard. Years of education, of training, of experiences and thousands of pounds worth of equipment comes with a price. Using the office camera buff to take your images is just plainly a false economy. You will have an image…but will it be the right image you want for your company; what will that say about you and more importantly, what will that image say to your potential clients?

You pay peanuts and well…

…you get what you deserve.

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Perhaps we all need a change in the political climate for us all to see our own homelands in a new light. Below, Nina Berman discusses her Homeland of America in a post 9-11 climate.

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