Nick Ut - Napalm attack

August 14, 2009 1:33 PM | Related Categories: criticism

I almost feel I have to apologise before showing another photograph of suffering.

© Nick Ut

This is a bit of an old story, but it fits in with my current theme of "problem" photographs. A lot of people will be familiar with this photo, especially those who were around in 1972 and saw it when it appeared in the media. It was the result of an "accidental" napalm attack - we've seen a few of those sort of things recently - and as so often the innocent are the victims. This photograph won Nick Ut a Pulitzer prize, and the little girl, Phan Th? Kim Phúc, who is the tragic centrepiece also won fame, at a price.

Maybe some people haven't seen the original.

© Nick Ut

It has been artfully cropped to produce a "better" composition, but also to remove the image of a cameraman reloading or changing lenses as the tragedy runs past him. It perfectly symbolises for me the role of the photographer as he becomes the proxy for our voyeurism. I guess the media were also a bit worried that it might show them in an unsympathetic light.

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Yes, it is telling a lie, isn't it?
I think the undoctored image is a stronger one.

A lot of photography is about lies, isn't it?
But most people tell lies to suit their own agendas, don't they?

so...i've been thinking about your art/photography thing.
and really, I've decided I don't get "what is art" in general.
I get artists
and I get creations
and you would think that it would follow, artist + creation = art
but somehow, it doesn't.
More thinking required.
# Posted By freefalling | 8/15/09 10:08 PM
Hi FF - I wouldn't say it was a lie - it just doesn't tell the whole story. This for me is just one way where media, whether it be TV or photogaphy is not very objective. It decides what you see and what you don't see, and yet we have an insatiable desire to see more, and not to question it as much as we would the spoken or written word which we almost always take as subjective because it is more closely connected with the author/speaker.

This series of posts isn't really anti-photography - it's more anti-society.

As for art, I'm not really interested in that question because it's meaningless. Anything can become art - if someone says it is. What has become important is who does the saying.... I'd hoped to debunk that in the first post a few days ago.

I'm interested in the fact that photography is rather difficult to pin down. Because of it's ubiquity and it's diverse uses - many of which overlap. It is possible that it is meaningless to try and talk about photography as a coherent genre.

I'm not confident of reaching any conclusions - I'm just exploring
# Posted By richard | 8/16/09 12:18 PM
Richard, do I detect a little cynicism in this comment of yours? Everything in life is connected to the author / speaker. Not only photography, but journalism, politics, art, even global warming has its critics for a whole variety of reasons. I think photography is difficult to pin down because while you see a snapshot of what was, largely the only one who really knows the truth is the photographer, and the fact is that he/she may not be telling. Alot of other things can be proven (politics even) but photography, you have to rely on the photographer dont you?

Anti-society... topic for another day!
# Posted By Sean | 8/16/09 8:15 PM
Sorry one other thing... it could be argued that the crop was not unjustified. It did not change the girls circumstances, it was what it was. The fact that there was a photographer there was only an aspect which may have detracted from the real issue, being her suffering... why get caught up in discussing the calousness of the photographer, which only serves to lessen the real need and suffering.
# Posted By Sean | 8/16/09 8:18 PM
Sean - I don't think I'm being judgmental in anything I said. I just think we need to be aware that the photographic images we see that purport to tells us about reality are always partial to a greater or less degree. We take them more at face value than a written piece. In fact we may even tend to forget that they were taken by a photographer. A vast amount of our knowledge about the world is coming second hand from photographs
# Posted By Richard | 8/16/09 8:32 PM
As an aside.... I thought you might be interested to know that I have decided to "number" my blog photographs rather than "title". I actually agree with you to an extent although I still believe this topic is not clear, it really depends on where you are coming from... I have enjoyed the last few posts btw!
# Posted By Sean | 8/17/09 12:25 AM
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