It’s hard to look.
The Boston Globe’s photo blog, The Big Picture, advertises itself as “news stories in photographs.” The photojournalism is breathaking. The images are sharp and focused. They tell a story, and often, quite a moving one. But bear in mind that photojournalism is tricky, and it takes a few moments to discern the photo’s subject, and maybe even several more moments to grasp the photographer’s intentions. In the end, the magic of photojournalism is its power to transmit infinite messages to viewers, each arriving with a different perspective, each departing with a different emotional reaction.
Check out this post, Israeli Settlements in the West Bank from June 17. Looking at these photos was heartwrenching for me, and left me without a clue as to what to think, what questions to ask, what position to take. Read the captions; note the ways the words “Israeli,” “Jewish” and “settler” take on distinctive meanings. Who is who, and what are they doing?
You don’t have to have an opinion. I myself have a hard time straightening out the mess of Israeli politics in my head. Sometimes it’s too difficult for me to figure out who it is I’m judging in these situations and what the “right thing” really is.
These photos, allegedly valued at enough words to fill books, did anything but spell out the answers for me. These photos are but images of people who could be my relatives, people who the media have vilified, people who exercise their strength with sorrow, anger, and innocence. No, their faces bear no “answers” for bombastic public figures engaging in controversy that twists at newer, more obscure angles by the day; rather, their faces are simply faces of human beings trying to live their impregnable passion. That’s the story I saw in these photos. I’m sure you’ll see something else.
