Exercise: Seeing and believing.

Exercise: Seeing and believing.

After downloading and printing out the Panos Picture files I laid out each set on a table to get an overall feel of what the photographer was trying to say.  I didn’t look at each image in detail at this stage as it was the theme of each set I was interested in. 

Dirven:  Dismissed as all black and white.  Pity, as it was an interesting set of images.

Nelson:  A familiar story retold without originality.  Lacked a cohesive thread.

Vitale:  An interesting subject but retold without any original variation.

Teleman:  A great set of pictures telling a good story, but a story that is as old as man himself; where to find sufficient potable water.  A great deal of money has been invested in fresh water projects in Africa, but until the problems of burgeoning populations is solved there will be no lasting solution.  

This left me with the sets from Hinton and Telemans.

Hinton:  It is here that I will look at approach made to the subject of education and it’s importance to families in Guatemala.  

Information: Without the accompanying words I would have gained no information from these images.  They are a series of charming mother and daughter pictures shot in domestic and rural settings.  There is no educational context.  

Aesthetics:  Good technical images that, as I said above, informing us of very little.  No where do we glimpse at aspirations or a possible improved future.   

Expression:  What is Hinton trying to tell the viewer?  Is this about hope, despair,

governmental  neglect or world indifference?  A good set of images should be able to carry their own message.

Telemans:  These images tell of the aspirations of the young in the town of Chimbiri in Ethiopia.

Information:  Even without the supporting text the viewer can see that these children are communicating with us.  They are giving a hint at what they want from life and are shot within a context.  The text gives additional information but the message in each image is there already.

Aesthetics:  Beautifully shot.  The face of the little shopkeeper is such a powerful image, and although obviously set up shows no sign of  overt control.  The young farmer pictured with his plough illustrates how hard these people need to work just to survive.  

Expression:  The set, as a whole, expresses hope.  We are all well aware of the bad times these people have lived through, and this series of mini stories show that they look to a better future.

Conclusion: When I first looked at the images I saw only what I wanted to see,  pictures of third world countries and their problems.   It was only after I sorted the images by photographer that I was able to see the different approaches.  The images were made stronger by involving the subjects and by framing them within a context.  By doing that the additional text only had to add to the available information and did not have to tell the whole story.

The old cliche about a picture being worth a thousand words is true only if the picture is allowed to tell the whole story.