Can Photographs Change the World?

 

Photo by: Tyler Piccotti


    one of the things that amazed me after finding out about photojournalism is how one image can change the way you see things or give you another perspective of things in life just from one picture. 

    This picture of this young lady holding a trophy is Coco Gauff, she is the first tennis player since Serena Williams to win a US Open. I think it is mind-blowing because this little girl used to watch Serena Williams play in the US Open as a little girl but now at 19 years old she won the event herself. her dedication and love for tennis made her practice and put her heart and everything into this sport and after all of the efforts she put she won the US Open as a 19-year-old, I might be repeating 19 years old a lot in this paragraph but it is mind-blowing that someone my age just won one of the biggest tennis events. not only it is breaking the world record it also gives motivation to people who also love tennis and aspire to be like her. After seeing this picture I want to put more time into my tennis practice because she gave me the motivation that I never had before, it was like she showed me an example of what I wanted to become and seeing how she made her dream come true it motivates me to make my dream come true just like how she did it.

    my research on Can photographer change the world? Many major events happened throughout our lives and over the years of history. photography helped enforce the history by using visual evidence. we only remember major events because they are articles or photos of the events which is why photojournalism is important when it comes to remembering a historical event.

    I believe that photographers can change the world. There are so many historical events that are captured throughout history. a photo that was captured can contain moments, emotions, and events that can be inspiring or uninspiring. pictures that photographers have taken can raise awareness of an event, celebrate, document history, educate, or influence.  in the video that Professor Nordell provided for us one of the moments that a photo to influence a group of people was the iconic photo of Boris Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert by Alexander Timonin Janko. it was convenient that the Russian public was healthy enough for another term and helped tip the election in his favor. This is just one example of how an image can change the world.it is also important how the image is presented with the right caption and content to the image to convey the right meaning to the reader and because of social media nowadays photographers can influence society as a whole with just one picture. One of the articles that Professor Nordell provided us. Lveta said " With millions of pictures taken every day we can easily get lost in the vast world of images " With the reach of social media being in our hands, it is an amazing thing that we can share media and pictures across the world with just a snap of our finger but because of how easy it is they can be misinformed or have the wrong information attach to the picture. which is why social media started to have restrictions and censorship. 

    One image with the wrong caption or content can convince and change people's minds on a subject, for example, one of the articles that Professor Nordell provided to help us with this assignment mentioned war and how we take war lightly and don't give media cover of what is going on, Ted Rall mentions that "American citizens are morally responsible for the wars and the war crimes committed in their name. The sad truth is, however, that they don’t know what’s going on – and they don’t lift a finger to find out."  because of the lack of coverage of the war in the US, even though there are thousands and thousands of gruesome of pictures of war and sexual pictures of the soldiers, these pictures never get on us mainstream to show how gruesome war is. the lack of coverage makes the US viewers not think much of the topic even though it is something that is affecting the world. but social media has its perks of how fast they can spread pictures and content. after social media became popular, especially when everyone is stuck in quarantine, social media has been amazing at spreading awareness about things that usually go unnoticed like how the death of George Floyd started black lives matter and how people are more aware of how police treat black people. since people are more aware of it they try to bring justice to it which is amazing. an article from Dan Gillmor's column news mentions "when Twitter user @TheePharaoh posted pictures immediately after a police officer killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown – have helped bring international attention to both Brown’s death and law enforcement’s disproportionate response to the ensuing protests." because how fast the internet respond to news or information it brings the light into this unfair situation which leads to a protest and bringing justice into the situation. after all of this information i still believe that photo can change the world it just depends on how you use your media and how you promote your media.





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