Window shoppers on Lewers St. in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA may have been attracted to a shirt design featuring imagery of the late American pop-culture icon Elvis Presley. The garment was manufactured in Asia.
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved - Follow Me On Twitter
It seems as if documentary photojournalists and photographers are creating thought provoking photo reportage as never before. Stories such as Detroit: The Troubled City that depicts foreclosed homes in Detroit, Michigan, USA by veteran Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden to Suthep Kritsanavarin's award winning photo documentary, Siphadon: Mekong Fishing Under Threat that brings us pictures from Laos show the respective plights of people worldwide.
Despite this, according to Jean-Francois Leroy, founder and director of Visa pour l'Image, an annual festival held in France dedicated to contemporary photojournalism, photojournalists are finding the industry increasingly unsustainable, as it is almost impossible to secure funding for demanding, investigative stories.
THE PROFIT MOTIVE
As businesses, most magazines and newspapers are run by people whose only goal is profit. Fed by revenue from advertising that stokes the raging fires of consumerism, these entities and their editors claim that readers aren't interested in learning about the conditions people face around the world. Nevertheless, if one asked millions of people worldwide who've recently lost their jobs due to the global economic crisis if they were interested in the root cause of the worldwide meltdown, one might get a different answer.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Photojournalists around the world have done a good job of showing our planet as it is and continue to do so. For example, the United States is the largest importer of garments from Cambodia, helping prop up a working environment where women, mostly under the age 21, work in factories manufacturing American wardrobes while living on less than $2 USD per day. Renowned photojournalists have captured photographs depicting the daily lives of several women sharing one-room apartments in buildings surrounded by open drains and garbage. Those photographs show the world, including Americans, the WHAT IS.
SHOWING THE WHY
Showing the world photography explaining WHY this IS so is more problematic. Jacqueline Tobin said in this blog post entitled Window Shopping that appeared on Photo District News, (PDN) a subsidiary of Nielsen Business Media, "Every day I walk past the Macy's Herald Square (New York USA) store [1] and ogle a designer handbag or killer pair of shoes in the window."
Tobin further described the window dressing at the Manhattan store by noting that in Spring 2009, "34 out of 39 Macy’s Herald Square windows currently house 175 of photographer Robert Altman’s photographs, taken between 1967 and 1974." The images portray celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Mick Jagger.
What's clear is Altman did fabulous work capturing fashion's WHAT IS between 1967 and 1974 and regarding the Herald Square windows exhibition he said, "By partnering with Macy’s, my vision was to encapsulate the emergence of this cultural movement and its impact on today’s consumer.”
WINDOW DRESSING
Suppose that instead of Altman's photos or "killer pairs of shoes", 34 windows at Macy's Herald Square store had been filled with photographs of people working in factories manufacturing American wardrobes for as little as 33 cents per hour, the average garment factory worker's wage in Cambodia. How would that "impact today’s consumer”?
Magazines, newspapers and even retailer's windows could expose horrendous working conditions people from Bangladesh to India encounter on a daily basis. Why isn't this happening? The answer is many companies that source products from poor Third World nations are the very entities advertising their wares in the same magazines, newspapers and windows in which the photos would appear! After viewing these photographs, perhaps Western World consumers would begin asking themselves WHY they are compelled to buy or even desire such items at all.
HOW PHOTOJOURNALISTS COULD PHOTOGRAPH WHY INSTEAD OF WHAT IS
In a perfect world, after photojournalists secured funding for assignments and projects, they would merely act as "go betweens", a conduit between those without voices and people with transformational powers. Nevertheless, as Jean-Francois Leroy says, that scenario is failing to play out.
The answer then lies in a shift that needs to occur in photojournalists' points of view. How could this be achieved? By crawling into the window displays that house iconic photos of pop culture and fashion and training their lenses on the voyeurs passing by on the sidewalk. Voyeuristic consumerism from the Western World as subject.
Perhaps only then will the typical WHAT IS photograph seen in the developed world begin to depict people living in Third World countries that appear similar to themselves.
After all, everyone loves to gaze into a mirror to see themselves.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN DOCUMENTARY PHOTOJOURNALISM ?
Are you a person who is interested in documentary photojournalism and photography? If so, perhaps you'll be interested in viewing it through the eyes of 52 photojournalists whose photography and text stories appear on Gaia Photos.
Based in 35 countries that span the globe, the Gaia Photographers were brought together by Nepal based photojournalist Morten Svenningsen to promote quality and diversity in documentary photography.
The photographers' imagery has been featured in publications spanning the likes of Environment Magazine and National Geographic, to the Virginia Quarterly Review and The New York Times.
If you'd enjoy intensifying your appreciation concerning the testing conditions we are facing together on this planet please visit us and subscribe to our new features page to keep track of new stories.
Follow Me On Twitter
NEW FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
Gaia Photos has a new Facebook Fan Page. If you are using Facebook, you can sign up to get new features served on your Facebook wall automatically.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
GAIA Photography and Photojournalism
APPENDIX
[1] There is no suggestion that Macys is involved or has ever been involved in the importation of garments manufactured in Cambodia or that Jacqueline Tobin or any other Nielsen Business Media or PDN employee now purchases, has ever purchased, owns or has ever worn products manufactured by underpaid laborers working in weak regulatory environments. None of these parties is implicated in any way.
Further, there is no suggestion that Robert Altman, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, "Tiny Tim", Dennis Hopper, George Harrison, any other member of The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Tina Turner or Mick Jagger ever purchased, owned or wore products manufactured by underpaid laborers working in weak regulatory environments. None of these parties is implicated in any way.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
GAIA Photography and Photojournalism
Follow Me On Twitter
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved - Follow Me On Twitter
It seems as if documentary photojournalists and photographers are creating thought provoking photo reportage as never before. Stories such as Detroit: The Troubled City that depicts foreclosed homes in Detroit, Michigan, USA by veteran Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden to Suthep Kritsanavarin's award winning photo documentary, Siphadon: Mekong Fishing Under Threat that brings us pictures from Laos show the respective plights of people worldwide.
Despite this, according to Jean-Francois Leroy, founder and director of Visa pour l'Image, an annual festival held in France dedicated to contemporary photojournalism, photojournalists are finding the industry increasingly unsustainable, as it is almost impossible to secure funding for demanding, investigative stories.
THE PROFIT MOTIVE
As businesses, most magazines and newspapers are run by people whose only goal is profit. Fed by revenue from advertising that stokes the raging fires of consumerism, these entities and their editors claim that readers aren't interested in learning about the conditions people face around the world. Nevertheless, if one asked millions of people worldwide who've recently lost their jobs due to the global economic crisis if they were interested in the root cause of the worldwide meltdown, one might get a different answer.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Photojournalists around the world have done a good job of showing our planet as it is and continue to do so. For example, the United States is the largest importer of garments from Cambodia, helping prop up a working environment where women, mostly under the age 21, work in factories manufacturing American wardrobes while living on less than $2 USD per day. Renowned photojournalists have captured photographs depicting the daily lives of several women sharing one-room apartments in buildings surrounded by open drains and garbage. Those photographs show the world, including Americans, the WHAT IS.
SHOWING THE WHY
Showing the world photography explaining WHY this IS so is more problematic. Jacqueline Tobin said in this blog post entitled Window Shopping that appeared on Photo District News, (PDN) a subsidiary of Nielsen Business Media, "Every day I walk past the Macy's Herald Square (New York USA) store [1] and ogle a designer handbag or killer pair of shoes in the window."
Tobin further described the window dressing at the Manhattan store by noting that in Spring 2009, "34 out of 39 Macy’s Herald Square windows currently house 175 of photographer Robert Altman’s photographs, taken between 1967 and 1974." The images portray celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Mick Jagger.
What's clear is Altman did fabulous work capturing fashion's WHAT IS between 1967 and 1974 and regarding the Herald Square windows exhibition he said, "By partnering with Macy’s, my vision was to encapsulate the emergence of this cultural movement and its impact on today’s consumer.”
WINDOW DRESSING
Suppose that instead of Altman's photos or "killer pairs of shoes", 34 windows at Macy's Herald Square store had been filled with photographs of people working in factories manufacturing American wardrobes for as little as 33 cents per hour, the average garment factory worker's wage in Cambodia. How would that "impact today’s consumer”?
Magazines, newspapers and even retailer's windows could expose horrendous working conditions people from Bangladesh to India encounter on a daily basis. Why isn't this happening? The answer is many companies that source products from poor Third World nations are the very entities advertising their wares in the same magazines, newspapers and windows in which the photos would appear! After viewing these photographs, perhaps Western World consumers would begin asking themselves WHY they are compelled to buy or even desire such items at all.
HOW PHOTOJOURNALISTS COULD PHOTOGRAPH WHY INSTEAD OF WHAT IS
In a perfect world, after photojournalists secured funding for assignments and projects, they would merely act as "go betweens", a conduit between those without voices and people with transformational powers. Nevertheless, as Jean-Francois Leroy says, that scenario is failing to play out.
The answer then lies in a shift that needs to occur in photojournalists' points of view. How could this be achieved? By crawling into the window displays that house iconic photos of pop culture and fashion and training their lenses on the voyeurs passing by on the sidewalk. Voyeuristic consumerism from the Western World as subject.
Perhaps only then will the typical WHAT IS photograph seen in the developed world begin to depict people living in Third World countries that appear similar to themselves.
After all, everyone loves to gaze into a mirror to see themselves.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN DOCUMENTARY PHOTOJOURNALISM ?
Are you a person who is interested in documentary photojournalism and photography? If so, perhaps you'll be interested in viewing it through the eyes of 52 photojournalists whose photography and text stories appear on Gaia Photos.
Based in 35 countries that span the globe, the Gaia Photographers were brought together by Nepal based photojournalist Morten Svenningsen to promote quality and diversity in documentary photography.
The photographers' imagery has been featured in publications spanning the likes of Environment Magazine and National Geographic, to the Virginia Quarterly Review and The New York Times.
If you'd enjoy intensifying your appreciation concerning the testing conditions we are facing together on this planet please visit us and subscribe to our new features page to keep track of new stories.
Follow Me On Twitter
NEW FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
Gaia Photos has a new Facebook Fan Page. If you are using Facebook, you can sign up to get new features served on your Facebook wall automatically.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
GAIA Photography and Photojournalism
APPENDIX
[1] There is no suggestion that Macys is involved or has ever been involved in the importation of garments manufactured in Cambodia or that Jacqueline Tobin or any other Nielsen Business Media or PDN employee now purchases, has ever purchased, owns or has ever worn products manufactured by underpaid laborers working in weak regulatory environments. None of these parties is implicated in any way.
Further, there is no suggestion that Robert Altman, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, "Tiny Tim", Dennis Hopper, George Harrison, any other member of The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Tina Turner or Mick Jagger ever purchased, owned or wore products manufactured by underpaid laborers working in weak regulatory environments. None of these parties is implicated in any way.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
GAIA Photography and Photojournalism
Follow Me On Twitter
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