My post, Staring at Death, Photographing Haiti got a lot of attention. It was a simple format – an extensive collection of links to online photography coverage of Haiti. It was posted a week after the earthquake and very soon after was out of date.
It may have been apparent from my other posts on Haiti [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] that I appreciated words alongside images.
I was grateful for the interviews by the New York Times of Damon Winter, Maggie Steber and Daniel Morel.
Well, add Lynsey Addario to that list.
Even Orphanages Spawn Orphans in Haiti is the type of approach and reflexivity I admire in journalism. It is a great salve to the overly-anxious who worry that photojournalism has lost it’s soul.
Of course, I have a few buddies who’d insist that Haitian voices be heard also, so I don’t want to suggest that PJ audio interviews are the crowning point of crisis reporting – they obviously aren’t but they are a necessary component.
To hear the photojournalist’s voice and responses to their subject reminds us that photographers are not camera-wielding automatons operating in vacuums.
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March 13, 2010 at 5:55 pm
duckrabbit
Hi Pete,
I totally agree. I think it is important to hear from photographers when they have something to say. They just need a half decent journalist to interview them and edit the material (The Times has plenty of them).
I always enjoy listening to the photographer David Gilkey on NPR who is really thoughtful.
Also From Our Correspondent on the BBC is one of the all time great radio programmes, so there is a great tradition of this kind of thing.
All that is to say is that reporters, whether photo or otherwise, are really important.