Download The Purpose Of War Photography

Running head: THE PURPOSE OF WAR PHOTOGRAPHY
The Purpose of War Photography
Mritunjay Singh
UNIV 112-003
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During the second World War, young men from all over the world were drafter and asked
to participate in the army. The young minds of these men were filled with patriotism of their
country. The act of fighting a war was made out to be one of joy and valor through propaganda
and other government tactics. However, as we know today, the realities of war are nothing as the
ones described to these men. Without the help of photographs, billions of people who do not
fight at the frontlines would have no idea about the true realities of war. Photographs are a
special medium because their mode of expression is quite literal. There is no heavy interpretation
needed, the viewer experiences the exact emotions as the photographer was the moment he or
she captured that one moment in time. The photographer chose that one specific moment because
he or she knew that it would resonate with many viewers. War photography helps viewers realize
the horrors as well as the humanities of any conflict.
Photography has been a major aspect of wars since their invention. Most of the wars
fought have some form of preservation in the form of photographs. From early wars such as the
American Civil War, portraits have been used to capture the human beings who led and fought
these battles. In his essay “War Photography, the Face, and Small Acts of Senseless Kindness,”
Alex Danchev pulls examples from wars as early as the American Civil War (2011, p. 120).
Although there were no portable cameras at the time, portraits had an effect on the war and
creating propaganda. However, if wars not involving the United States are seen, one of the very
first wars that was affected by photography was the Crimean War. It was “a general, easily
accessible, European conflict, that first produced a large corpus of photographic images”
(Marwil, 2000, p.1). Cameras were only used to take scenic shots which may seem drab now, but
back then shed new light on the battlefield. Furthermore, more than just capturing the scene,
cameras also captured deaths. The camera played a major role in what was arguably the most
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influential war ever fought, World War II. In his essay “Deploying the Dead: Combat
Photography, Death and the Second World War in the USA and the Soviet Union,” Kevin Foster
compares the photographs taken from the United States and the Soviet Union (Foster, 2014, p.5).
The media still relies on photographs today during modern warfare to spread the brutal reality of
war to the average citizen. DeGhett’s essay, “The War Photo No One Would Publish,” describes
how photography alters civilians’ views on the Gulf War and the Desert Storm conflict. His
depiction of the photograph of the burned victim portrays that the war is gruesome to the
unsuspecting audience back home. (DeGhett, 2016, p.160).
Mainly, photographers were paid to capture images of dead enemy soldiers as well as
their own. On the other hand, the photographs had a much deeper meaning to them. During
World War II, photographs were taken of dead soldiers in order to distress the enemy country or
to construct propaganda and encourage their own country (Foster, 2014, p.14). Not only did
these photographs determine the death toll in the battlefield, it also served as a grim reminder as
to how many people are dying. This was one of the first times when the horrors of war were seen
in such quality and not as an artist’s interpretation. On the other hand, portraits, a different kind
of photography, of army generals and colonels help portray the humanity behind the brutality of
warfare (Danchev, 2011, p. 114). Photographs are not only taken to assess battlefields. Portraits
alter the view on a war by providing a face to the war story. Words do not express the emotions
that are easily expressed in a portrait photograph of an army general telling his or her story.
Nowadays, fighting a war has turned away from individual people and more towards machines
and drones. In a tie such as this, photographs from the war are quick to illustrate that the war is
not all machines and people are still dying (DeGhett, 2016, p.160). In a war where the majority
of deaths come from drone strikes which hit from miles away and behind machines, it may be
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difficult to realize the deaths; however, photographs such as the burned man show how real the
war is and how people ae horrifyingly affected.
One of the main reason why photographs are taken is in order to document the war. Not
only that, but also document it and expose it to the civilians back home. By making the aftermath
and battles of war transparent, photographs incite a reaction from common people. Photographs
can be easily turned into propaganda based on how the issue shown is manipulated (Foster, 2014,
p.12). The country which sees dead enemies gets a morale boost while the country to witness the
deaths of its men loses courage. This way, photographs pushed the war forward by increasing
morale of troops while also exposing them to the horrible conditions of the war. Photographs
taken during the war were popular at the time of the war because “people had been eager to look
at when the war was in progress they wanted to forget once it was over” (Marwil, 2000, p. 1). By
viewing photographs, regular civilians were able to catch a glimpse of fighting at the front lines,
sympathizing with fellow troops. However, as soon as the war was over people were quick to
forget about the great tragedies. In a relatively modern war, it is easy for an average citizen to
forget how devastating the effects of an unmanned strike may be because there is little risk of
failure. In such cases, photographs show the reality and gruesome deaths caused by unmanned
strikes, some of which spark controversy (DeGhett, 2016, p.161). These photographs bring out
sympathetic reactions from civilians because the people dying are, in fact, humans too. Some
photographs are so gruesome that some media companies had decided to not publish it because it
would invoke too much fear into people.
As expected from controversial imagery, there are often times where significant media
backlash is present regarding war photography. During the Gulf War, the media refused to
publish a picture if a burned man’s body (DeGhett, 2016, p.159). This was most likely done
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because it would have been too disturbing to let out in the public. Counter arguments could state
that everyone has the right to know about the burned man because it is something that was
caused by the war. Media intervention was also significant during World War II as photographs
were turned into propaganda. The American government often displayed photographs of the
defeated and dead soldiers of the axis power to raise hope in their soldiers (Foster, 2014, p.1417). The media of both countries treated the war photographs of dead troops as propaganda to
terrorize or motivate citizens back home to comply. It could have been seen as a way to boost the
economy by having citizens comply by scaring them. The Nazi propaganda sometimes focused
on scaring the population by the death of soldiers; thus, people would support their soldiers in
hopes of staying safe (Foster, 2014, p. 17). The media outlast caused by the war photographs
impacted the world.
In conclusion, the art of photography during a conflict not only keeps track of the wins,
losses, and lives lost, but also does much more. Throughout most major wars seen by the world,
war photography in all of them has served a deeper purpose. It exposes the bitter and gritty
realities of the war as experienced by the eye of the photographer because they are raw images,
untouched by the opinion of an artist. They impact the citizens back home by sparking
controversy as to which picture is appropriate and should any be censored. Without war
photography, a very real war may still seem distant and artificial.
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Works Cited
Danchev, A. (2011). War Photography, the Face, and Small Acts of Senseless Kindness. Journal
for Cultural Research, 15(2), 113-129. doi:10.1080/14797585.2011.574051
DeGhett, T. R. (2016). The War Photo No One Would Publish. Focused Inquiry 2016
2017, 157-164.
Foster, K. (2014). Deploying the Dead: Combat Photography, Death and the Second World War
in the USA and the Soviet Union. War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of
the Humanities, 26, 1-17. doi:10.1080/14797585.2011.574051
Marwil, J. (2000, June 6). Photography at War. History Today. Retrieved October 20, 2016, from
http://www.historytoday.com/jonathan-marwil/photography-war