complain less, k?

Xios

http://www.sacbee.com/static/newsroom/swf/april07/mother/?=

sineadw

wow.. no words...

gandalf

Extremely powerful, wiping a tear from my eye after viewing those photos......

ThOnda

Strong.

Well, there's no need to discuss gear, is it?

Quackles

They're unbelievably strong and emotional And to think I was upset this morning because I have to leave my perfectly healthy son for a week..

templeathea

Stunning and humbling

Carrigman

Whew. Puts things in perspective big time.

nilhg

Truly affecting, what a brave family to allow such access.

Roen

Easy money to be honest, picking a subject like that and trying not to come out with shots like those would be more difficult.

sineadw

Roen wrote: »

Easy money to be honest, picking a subject like that and trying not to come out with shots like those would be more difficult.

I disagree. The emotion portrayed is very honest. I work in this field - usually in the media child death is swept under the carpet or glossed over or 'idealised' (for want of a better word) simply because its such a difficult subject for people to handle. You get the Oprah version. There's a lot of pain in these photos. I think they're very very brave.

311

I've been in houses where kids had leukemia ,I can only imagine how hard them photos would be to take.

Rojo

Very emotional...

AnCatDubh

I've come across these before - it definitely takes a kind of photographer to portray such a intimate series of life event. Something far deeper than money I think.

magicbastarder

i'd probably lean towards roen's standpoint; i don't think the photos are anything incredible, given the subject matter. there's no way any photographer with any sort of talent, and that sort of access, is going to come out with anything less than an affecting set of photos. i had to wonder about the inclusion of a couple of those photos; my reaction was 'did you get nothing better?'

templeathea

For me, the skill of the photographer in this instance was in gaining the trust of the family to be allowed access to such an intimate part of their lives. Some of the shots aren't that clear or don't necessarily record the most significant milestones but for me, that is irrelevant. Much great photojournalism mainly consists of getting access to situations or being in the right place at the right time. When Salgado is in the middle of a copper mine in Peru to witness a worker die it really doesn't matter to me whether or not he gets the shot right, rather that he is able to communicate something about the human condition by being there. If I aspire to anything in photography, it is that.

That makes these shots much more valuable than any number of perfectly exposed, beautifully composed photographs imo.

Xios

Well i'm pretty sure it was family member or a close friend, and i should like to think the mother wanted the story told.
But i agree with ancatdubh, photographic talent seems to take a lesser role than the actual person who can deal with the situation their in, like a photographer in a warzone, i am pretty damn confident 99% of you guys would not pop your head up from cover to take a snapshot of the soldiers fighting, but some photographers do, and would you guys keep taking those photo's right up until the end of the child's life and after, i don't think so.

/edit i also agree with

templeathea wrote: »

That makes these shots much more valuable than any number of perfectly exposed, beautifully composed photographs imo.

Karoma

templeathea wrote: »

For me, the skill of the photographer in this instance was in gaining the trust of the family to be allowed access to such an intimate part of their lives. Some of the shots aren't that clear or don't necessarily record the most significant milestones but for me, that is irrelevant. Much great photojournalism mainly consists of getting access to situations or being in the right place at the right time.
...

In this case though, the mother wants to create a charity and is struggling financially so maybe that wasn't that difficult..?

templeathea

Karoma wrote: »

In this case though, the mother wants to create a charity and is struggling financially so maybe that wasn't that difficult..?

Perhaps. That could also be said about almost any shots in taken in Africa/Asia/South America.
Though I'd like to think that this isn't purely about money. And the nature of the series meant that the shots had to be taken over a long period. Which meant the photographer spending a lot of time with this family.

ThOnda

Just "being there" is not enough. You must be ready to do photography, you must know how to do it, and you must be willing to change your attitude.
A lot of emphasis and understanding is needed to do such personal tasks. And you must be ready to block that "human" in you which is offering the helping hand. Your helping hand are the pictures.
I know what you mean, don't worry, but just "anybody being there with camera" doesn't mean that the pictures would be good.

templeathea

ThOnda wrote: »

Just "being there" is not enough. You must be ready to do photography, you must know how to do it, and you must be willing to change your attitude.
A lot of emphasis and understanding is needed to do such personal tasks. And you must be ready to block that "human" in you which is offering the helping hand. Your helping hand are the pictures.
I know what you mean, don't worry, but just "anybody being there with camera" doesn't mean that the pictures would be good.

Some situations are so significant that the quality of the shots is irrelevant. For example, the thousands of lousy quality shots of an airliner entering one of the towers of the World Trade Centre. Even the worst of these shots has a great emotional impact because of the subject matter. Sometimes, the pictures don't have to be good, they just have to be taken, in my opinion.

Thirdfox

^ agree with the above - subject matter is arguably the single most important factor in determining how much impact a photo has (not including the "fine art" crowd).

A blank piece of paper - no matter how well exposed, composed and shot will not have any impact on the general public.

A photo of the last entry on Anne Frank's diary - no matter how badly exposed, blurry or composed will have an intrinsic worth. People are affected by the story behind pictures... a patch of ground having no significance until told that Holocaust mass graves are underneath the grass. (Sorry about just referring to WWII but it's the first thing that popped into my head that had the high enough intrinsic value that

templeathea wrote:

the pictures don't have to be good, they just have to be taken

ThOnda

Emotional impact - yes, I agree. But it doesn't make the photo a "good photo" or the whole set valuable.
And I am not going to discuss two fallen houses when oil pouring from Iraq has value one million USD every single second.

sineadw

Karoma wrote: »

In this case though, the mother wants to create a charity and is struggling financially so maybe that wasn't that difficult..?

Hmmm... again, I'm quite heavily involved in this field. With all respect I honestly don't think the above has any relevence whatsoever. The death of a child is the single most tragic and traumatic experience a human being can go through. That the photographer managed to capture the pain in all its rawness is the strength of the set IMHO, not to mention her bravery in staying through it all and publishing the work without watering it down. In the states in particular there's a huge taboo about parental bereavement. It doesn't fit the feel-good vibe the media are pushing so much, especially these days. Its just not in our culture to want to look at a dying child. Especially not a white one.

I can see a lot different ways this situation could have been portrayed, making it less difficult to view. The photographer chose not to hide things for the sake of the viewer. Again, I think that's brave.

sheesh

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'd probably lean towards roen's standpoint; i don't think the photos are anything incredible, given the subject matter. there's no way any photographer with any sort of talent, and that sort of access, is going to come out with anything less than an affecting set of photos. i had to wonder about the inclusion of a couple of those photos; my reaction was 'did you get nothing better?'

wow you weren't emotionally affected by these? there is more to taking photographs than framing and pushing a button especially when it comes to taking pictures of people. First of all people have to let you photograph them that means they have to be comfortable with you the timing of the photographs would be fairly critical one false move and you look like some sort of voyeur or some kind of sicko and out the door you go.

the ability to balance a good photo with the needs of the people in this case would point to person who is completely in tune with the people and the story they are trying to capture.

shepthedog

They are an extremely moving set of images and deserving of the award.. I disagree that anyone could take these, it would require a delicate relationship with mother and son as they are extremely intimate. Thanks for the link..

mikeanywhere

Powerful stuff!!!