Susan Sontag

• Do think images of war are necessary to provoke change?

Personally, my view on this may be slightly one-sided due to my profession. When you’ve witnessed first hand what war/conflict or whatever word you choose to describe it. It’s horrendous. No words can describe things I’ve seen, friends I’ve lost and injuries sustained both physically and mentally. So to say pictures provoke change, in today’s world I believe they have and will do. Public support has been key over the last decade.

Both press and military media photographers have been able to show so many sides of conflict/war. Good the bad and at times ugly sides. It’s a business whether people agree with what I say. Wars create work and money by employing people to support be that locally employed civilians to military procurement companies. Images taken portray life on the frontline at time harsh but at times it shows life isn’t that bad and soldiers can be enjoying what it is they are doing. Creating a safer place for people to live and work.

• Do you agree with Sontag earlier view that horrific images of war numb viewers’ responses?

I sort of agreeing and disagree with this one. Looking back through the history of war images that are horrific there’s a side that does numb the viewer as over the times it can be viewed as normal. This is only until something changes. Be it the trench warfare and shell shock. To individuals being in contact with mustard gas.

Vietnam and children running away with horrendous burns caused by napalm, or worse still the use of agent orange.

What I believe changes individuals view is when the image is of a young soldier or child. I recall David Bailey’s portraits from troops in Afghanistan he took. Some left as boys and returned as men aged by conflict and war. These images I believe change peoples perspectives I don’t believe it’s numbing. They provide the viewer now with a connection to emotions soldiers feel I believe.

I thought id like to add to this part from a personal perspective. Images from conflict are at the time the ones you see in the papers. Soldiers have been capturing life on the frontline for decades. Please see a small selection of what I have taken over the years from circa 2007 – 2010. The good times and the bad.

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Bibliography

Bailey, D., Interview, A., & 07.10.10, I. (2010, October 8). David Bailey – Afghanistan Interview 07.10.10. YouTube. Retrieved January 11, 2020, from https://youtu.be/kAW3303Xl2Y

(n.d.). BBC News – Today – David Bailey’s Bastion. Retrieved January 11, 2020, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9066000/9066434.stm