Material for my dissertation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/nov/24/kenya-wangari-maathai-legacy-trees

This article will be useful for my dissertation, but it is heartwarming to read that someone I admire so much is finally getting the appreciation and honouring she deserves.

Shaped by war

Don McCullin is known as one of the greatest war photographers of our generation, over the last 50 years his black and white pictures have introduced the world to people whose lives have been ripped apart by war. It is daunting and emotional looking at these photographs, but photographers like McCullin are there to make people realise the devastation that humans cause in the name of war.

The collection, Shaped by War on display at the Imperial War Museum until the 15^th April, exhibits McCullin’s work ranging from 1961 to 1991. After spending the better part of my morning in a world that McCullin made possible for people like me to witness, albeit decades after the events occurred, I left the exhibition with so many questions I would like to ask the photographer. The next best thing to interviewing McCullin was someone who worked with him solely regarding his work and his feelings and that would be none other than the curator of the exhibition Hilary Roberts who has worked with McCullin for the last 3 years.

The photographs that seem to have had the most effect on me as they are still on my mind days after seeing them are of a family in Karantina, Beirut in 1976. McCullin photographed women and children being led out of their home by Christian Phalangists, minutes later McCullin witnessed the men of the family being executed. McCullin of course is sensitive enough to not have taken pictures of the men being shot but it is hard to take in that McCullin was present when something so tragic happened, I wondered how someone can walk away from something like this. Naturally this was the first question I asked Hilary. “Don was shocked to the core and he remembers thinking how every day is different but that particular day was a terrible day. That war in Beirut was a civil war and civil wars are particularly savage.” Hilary also pointed something out to me that will affect me in my career and it is advice that I have taken on board: “…as Don said he hated working with the Phalangists and he very quickly could not believe that men like them called themselves Christians, but to fulfill your duty as a war photographer access is the most important part of your job…”, and with this I realised what lies ahead of me and the decisions and people I will have to work with to move forward. 

In the 50 years that Don has been photographing, to me he has fulfilled a duty that not many people would take on, he may not be able to stop war, poverty and human devastation but that is not the point. He has campaigned more than any other person I can think of, by giving people most affected by our world’s most terrible events, notice in the rest of the world’s eyes. It is through his pictures that awareness and understanding in everyone who sees them is created. 

The converting of a purist

I am a self-proclaimed purist, I love all things print, and occasionally I find myself rubbing pages between my fingers to appreciate the high quality of the paper. That is why it came as a bit of a surprise when I was given the title of interactive editor.

For those who know me, methods and the ever advancing of technology does not come naturally to me. I own a Toshiba and I believe Macs are an unnecessary expense. As far as social media goes, lets just say Facebook was a result of peer pressure.

When it came to online journalism I treated it with suspicion, like a child views their future stepmother, could online journalism be the end of my beloved newspapers?

Four weeks later and I am thriving in a world of print, online journalism and social media. The four weeks have opened my eyes and brought me the realization that online journalism does not mean the end of print, instead they compliment each other. Online news is quick and free of charge (bar The Times), print journalism is a lazy Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea.

Just as our lives are speeding up there are many forms of news to keep up with us however much time we chose to put aside.

Now after these four weeks that have tossed me in the deep end of the future of journalism would I still call myself a purist?

I’m too busy to tell you now, I’ll tweet it later.