How was society affected by war photography during World War One?
The eyes are said to portray a window into a person's soul. In comparison, photography can be described as the window into society. Without the development of photography in the 1800’s the world would be in the dark, as photography sheds light on many important subjects including war. Prior to the development of photography, society was unaware and borderline ignorant about about the true horrors of war considering war imagery was a taboo concept. Photography greatly impacted society and had the capability to change people's views through photographs of war. However, war photography harshly impacted society by educating the general public about the true brutality of war, specifically World War I, that they would generally not hear from their local newspaper or politician.
Photography, unlike other art forms, is not easily altered, therefore it could be proposed that it is the ultimate representation of both reality and the eternal permanence that is history. Photography is used to illustrate the consternation of war, and to enlighten the public regarding the affairs of war. However, there were conflicts between the militaries and the photographers that were attempting to document The Great War. The governing bodies of the countries at war attempted to heavily censor and regulate the photography occurring on the fonts to promote the obsession of war secrecy. Because of the fascination with secrecy “the professional documentary photographers were required to have a permit and occasionally were restricted to working in designated areas... (while still) being vulnerable to arrest and harassment by authorities,” who were reluctant to authorize photography for any non-military reason (Roberts). Censorship was introduced immediately by a majority of the countries, but comparable to modern day it failed to make a great deal of difference as small cameras such as the Vest Pocket Kodak were easily sneaked into the battlefield. Soldiers who managed sneak in cameras were court-martialled for owning cameras in a war zone and often faced penalties. The photographers, regardless of the adverse reaction from the governments, became extremely influential to society. (Badsey) The way the newspapers reported war and how the general population viewed wars was influenced immensely by war photography. The public struggled to understand the entirety of the war antecedent to observing the uncensored images from the fronts. War photographers would unfortunately throw themselves into the middle of a raging battle in order to capture a good imagine, but a result of this was that the photographers would occasionally be targeted, abducted, or executed. The photos derived from photo shoots like the aforementioned produced images which were questioned for being too graphic for the general public to see. These images became controversial and parallel to modern day where graphic images are still controversial. After 1916, in an attempt to control the spread of the truths of war there were profuse rules and regulations put in place to control what could be shared and what was not allowed to be distributed to the general population. (Roberts) War photography eventually coined the term “a photo is worth a million words” due to the graphic, emotional nature of these images. Whereas, most of the war photographers were civilians with camera their images did not have a bias and did not support either of the opposing forces, therefore producing a visual form of news which does not lie. War photography influenced society overall in a positive way by shedding a light on a topic that was not commonly discussed and by educating the general public on the horrors that is war. |
Bibliography |
Roberts, Hilary. "Photography." International Encyclopedia of The First World War. N.p., 08 Mar. 2016. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
Written for the general population, by Hilary Roberts who is the photography curator at the Imperial War Museums in London.This is a long and highly detailed article overviewing the history of photography before the war and between the years 1914-1918. It begins with a history of photography before the war then moves chronologically through the years 1914-1918. The article was most useful for the many details it provided me which in the sections “Photography during 1914 - 1915” and “Photography during 1916 - 1918”. The article also provided me with several examples of photographers and links to their work which benefited my paper. Allen, Craig. "Photographers on the Front Lines of the Great War." New York Times. N.p., 30 June 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. Written for the general population, by Craig Allen who is a photo editor and writer for New York Time newspaper who is also a former photographer for Getty Images. This article briefly discusses the history of photojournalism and the types of cameras they could use. It began with the the background on photojournalism then went into more depth on type of camera,Ernest Brooks, and the styles of photograph used. This article was most useful for its details about Ernest Brook and the information about the cameras it provided. The article was easy to read and featured examples of work from Ernest Brooks and other photographers. Marwil, Jonathan. "Photography at War." History Today. N.p., 6 June 2000. Web. 29 Apr. 2016. Written for the general population, by Jonathan Marwil who is a Lecturer in history at the University of Michigan and author of Frederic Manning: An Unfinished Life (Duke University Press, 1988). This article explains how war is the perfect subject for photography. It began with a background of photography and a brief history then progressed to more specific details about war photography and photographers. The article was most useful for the large amount of easily readable information it provided and also for the comparisons in the article. Taylor, Alan. "World War I in Photos: Introduction." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 May 2016. Written for the general population, by Alan Taylor who is the senior editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Photo section. The article is based on a collection of photographs taken during World War I that examines the war through the visual medium. This articles serves as the first in part in a ten part project. The articles contained 45 photographs all with detailed captions. This article was most useful because it gave me examples of the conditions in which the photographers shot in while also explaining them at the same time. Fineman, Mia. "Kodak and the Rise of Amateur Photography | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. N.p., Oct. 2014. Web. 06 May 2016. Written for persons interested in the history of photography, Mia Fineman who is in the department of photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in New York City. This article gives a good amount of details about the introduction of Kodak Cameras and then goes more in depth about various photographers and their specific cameras. This article proved to be most useful for the fact that it gave me a back ground on the type of cameras that were used during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Also, it is useful because it gave me an idea about how photography as a hobby grew. Badsey, Stephen. "Photography." The British Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2016. Written for the general population, by Stephen Badsey who is a Professor of Conflict Studies at Wolverhampton University where he specialises in wartime propaganda, military-media issues, and military ideas and doctrines.This article provides a reader with an easy read about war photography and its uses. The articles is divided into three short sections and a slide show of example pictures. The article was useful because it included many details about the concerns of war photography and possible security threats. |