War photographers are accused of being adrenaline junkies. But they bear a terrible burden for witnessing the worst.
A photographer is a witness. Witnessing war is one of the ultimate human tragedies.
But what if you held a camera and not a gun? What would you see? What would you choose to shoot?
But perhaps, more importantly, what would happen to you after you took the shot? How would the experience change your view of humanity? How would it change your view of yourself?
War photographers are accused of being adrenaline junkies. Continually on the hunt for the next war, the next picture, they shove their lenses into the faces of their traumatized victims.
They are portrayed as voyeurs of suffering, and scavengers of the worst that humanity has to offer - mere human robots snapping pictures in the theater of war.
But there is a price to be paid for viewing all of this suffering.
Haunting Memories
The photographers all spoke of filming scenes of such grotesqueness that they knew the photos would never be published.
According to a study published in the Columbia Journalism Review, war journalists had significantly more post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and psychological distress than their domestic counterparts.
The war group also experienced a rate of PTSD over the course of their lives that far exceeded that of firefighters and police officers. In fact, war journalists approximated the PTSD rate recorded in combat veterans.
The photographers in the study all spoke of filming scenes of such grotesqueness that they knew the photos would never be published. Yet, even in the light of public squeamishness or editorial sensitivities, they felt compelled to record a visual testament.
Although the images never went further then the vaults of their mind, the collective weight of their memory would often intrude on their waking consciousness and nightly dreams.
With all the invasion of privacy, with all the peril, there is still this sense of mission.
Bearing Witness
World famous war photographer James Nachtwey has traveled everywhere wars and atrocities have been committed in the last decades: Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, Somalia, and many other countries.
Nachtwey believes his photography serves a purpose beyond visual remembrance.
He knows the gripping effect his photographs will have on people, and he has never stopped hoping that this effect will serve to stop the war, the hunger, and the poverty that is portrayed in his work:
“It’s more difficult to get publications to focus on issues that are more critical, that do not provide people with an escape from reality but attempt to get them deeper into reality. To be concerned about something much greater than themselves. And I think people are concerned. I think quite often, publishers don’t give their audience enough credit for that.
In fact, at the end of the day, I believe people do want to know when there’s some major tragedy going on; when there’s some unacceptable situation happening in this world. And they want something done about it. That’s what I believe. We must look at it. We’re required to look at it. We’re requited to do what we can about it. If we don’t, who will?”
There must be a reconciliation of the opposites of viewing the ugliest of humanity versus the beautiful good that humanity can create.
Shifting Morality
After 20 years of being a war photographer, Don McCullin wondered, “…these moral questions, later on, they came to haunt me.”
He speaks of a time when he was in the Congo, where the government soldiers had rounded up some young rebels fighting for Patrice Lumumba, and they were stripped, and the soldiers were goading them with rifles.
The young rebels looked at Mr. McCullin, pleading with him, with their eyes – to save them. There was nothing he could do. The government soldiers would have shot him.
As a witness, he took the picture, recognizing that he could be castigated for doing so. The photo, and the moment, will not be forgotten.
“I don’t approach these people as places as current events,” says Mark Brecke, a war photographer who travels light, and alone. “That’s not why I do this.”
Finding The Spirit
Brecke speaks of the people he has encountered, of stripping it all to the bare bones. He says, “It’s as if, in the face of it, stripped of everything else, they find the center, something spiritual – that thing that is most human.”
Even so, there is only so much humanity a human can take. “The day after a Congo grenade attack, I paid a guide to take me into the mountains to photograph the silverback gorillas,” says Brecke. “I’d had enough of people for a while.”
Perhaps this is why Don McCullin retired to Somerset, land of Arthurian legend, where he now gardens and advocates for the preservation of the English countryside.
Mixed within the fruits and berries of his garden pictures are Indian Gods and Goddesses. “I think I’m allowed to use this as a kind of herbal medicine for my mind,” McCullin says. “To love the environment where I live.”
Community Connection
Check out The Face Of War in A Child, a profile of Mark Brecke published last year in Traverse magazine.
What do you think of war photographers? Crucial service or crass opportunism? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Ellen Wilson is a freelance writer/photographer based in Michigan. She has taught English and biology in the US and the UK, and is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to educate and inspire others through her writing and photography.
译文:
你能成为战地记者吗？
战地记者被戏称为肾上腺素上瘾者。但是，他们背负着目睹战争惨烈的重担。
由
Mark Brecke 拍摄
一个摄影师就是一个目击者。他们目睹着人类最惨不忍睹的悲剧。
但是，如果你扛的是摄影机而不是枪，你会看什么？你会拍摄什么？
或者，更重要的是，当你拍下那些图象之后会发生什么事？你的这些经历会如何改变你对人性的看法？它们会如何改变你对自己的认知？
战地记者被称为肾上腺素上瘾者。不停的搜寻下一场战争，下一张照片，把他们的镜头对准那些千疮百孔心灵，对着受难者饱受摧残的脸庞。
他们被描述成窥探他人苦难成癖的人，清理人性中最丑恶，但必须被公之于众的一面——也许这些照片只应该由机器人在战场上拍摄。
但是，目睹这些苦难，是要付出沉痛代价的。
挥之不去的记忆
接受调查的战地记者都会提道，自己拍摄的一些照片过于怪异，他们也清楚这种照片是永远也不会出版的。
根据《哥伦比亚新闻评论》的一项调查显示，比起国内的同行者，战地记者更容易患创伤后紧张症、抑郁、心理低落。
并且，士兵因为他们的战争生活，比起国内的消防队员和警察，患上创伤后紧张症的几率也大大增加。事实上，战地记者患创伤后紧张症的几率和退伍军人患病几率是不相上下的。
接受调查的战地记者都会提道，自己拍摄的一些照片过于怪异，他们也清楚这种照片是永远也不会出版的。但是，即使是在公众的吹毛求疵和编辑的敏感之筛选下，他们还是有种被迫记录了一份视觉证词。
尽管这些图象不会在他们的脑中停留很长的时间，但是这份所有记忆的重量，会时不时地侵入其脑中，无论白天或黑夜，清醒或是梦境。
带着侵犯隐私的罪恶，冒着生命危险，他们始终背负者使命感。
忍受亲眼目睹的恐惧
世界著名战地记者
James Nachtwey 在过去的几十年间，辗转世界各个战场，踏遍凶暴行径发生之地：伊拉克、以色列、黎巴嫩、阿富汗、印度尼西亚、科索沃、车臣、卢旺达、波斯尼亚、苏丹、索马里等。
Nachtwey相信他的照片的作用，已远远超过了视觉备忘录的这项功能。
他知道，他的照片在人们身上会产生一种扣人心弦的效果，并且，他一直希望，这样的照片，能够对停战起到一点作用。他的照片中，拍摄的都是那些饱受饥饿和贫穷摧残的人。
“要把公众的目光聚集到一些重要的问题上，这更难办到。这不但不能让人们逃离现实的残忍，反而让他们在现实的泥澡中越陷越深，被迫担心起比起自己的问题更严峻的问题。我也认为，人们正在担心。我常常觉得，出版者不会给观众足够的保证。
事实上，我相信，在每一天的结束的时候，人们想知道这一天中、这个世界上、什么时候发生了什么样的悲剧，是不是又有什么令人无法接受的状况发生了。并且，人们希望采取一些措施。这就是我相信的。我们必须正视它们。我们有义务正视它们。我们有义务做我们力所能及的事。如果我们不做，谁来做？”
在人性最丑恶一面与人类可以创造的美好的一面中，必须有一个鲜明而扣人心弦的对比。
移位的道德
由
Christian Frei 制片厂出品
当了20年的战地记者，
Don McCullin 想知道“……之后那些不断缠绕我的人道问题。”
他谈起了他在刚果的一段岁月。在那里，政府士兵围捕了一群年轻的
Patrice Lumumba反叛分子，他们被脱光了衣服，政府士兵用来福枪抵着他们前行。
年轻的反叛者看着
Mr. McCullin，用眼神哀求他——救救他们。他什么都不能做，否则，士兵就会把他打死。
作为一个目击者，他拍照，并且承认自己会因为这个而受惩罚。这些照片，这一瞬间，将会永远被铭记。
“我不会接近那些最近发生事件的地方的人。”
Mark Brecke，一个轻装上阵、只身前往战地的记者这样说道，“这是为什么我这样做。（指被道德问题所困扰）”
与精神战斗
Brecke说道那些他遇到的人们，说道问题的核心。他说：“这就好像面对着一个被扒光层层修饰的问题，他们找到了问题的核心，一些精神层面的问题——最人性的东西。”
即使如此，一个人可以做到的人性也只有那么一点点。“就在刚果受手榴弹袭击那天之后，我雇了一个向导，带我到山里去拍银背大猩猩。”Brecke说，“在这短暂的时间内，我有足够的人手。”
Don McCullin退休到了萨默塞特——亚瑟王的安息之地，在那里，他从事园艺，宣传保存英国的乡间土地。
他的园子里种着水果和草莓，宛如上帝的伊甸园。“我觉得，我用这种方式，最为一种草本药剂来治疗我的心灵。”McCullin说，“我爱我居住的这片土地。”
社区交流
看一下
The Face Of War in A Child（战争中孩子的脸），是Brecke去年在Traverse出版的一张孩子的侧脸。
你对战地记者是如何评价的？是必不可少还是粗鲁无意义的？在评论中分享你的感想。
Ellen Wilson是密歇根的自由作家和记者。她在美国和英国教英语和生物学，并且总是一有机会，就用她的文字和照片教育、启发别人。