Throughout “It’s What I Do,” Addario’s photographs nicely supplemented the story of her travels around the world as part of her job as a photojournalist. The inclusion of photographs in a book centered largely around photography allowed me to visualize the circumstances Addario experienced and the places she visited. Two of the images I considered the most powerful did not directly include conflict, but show the lives of people affected by conflict around them.
I liked the photograph of Addario’s Afghan driver about to pray at sunrise, but the landscape around him is barren as a result of the shells and landmines that struck the area during Afghanistan’s decades of war. While I would otherwise consider the landscape ugly, the dim lighting at sunlight makes it appear almost magical. The sunrise symbolizes, to me, the fact that each day offers a new beginning despite everything that may have occurred before. Even if the current landscape offers little hope, the possibility of renewal makes it beautiful. The photograph conveys the fact that conflict causes long-lasting, wide-ranging devastation, but human life has a way of persevering. Although war may have taken their homes, it can never deprive people of their faith or will to live unless they choose to resign themselves to the tragedy of the situation. The other photograph I found impactful was the one of a Congolese rape victim sitting behind a mosquito net with her two children. Like in the photograph of the driver, Addario uses lighting to great effect. The faces of the three subjects are lit only from the sunlight in the window while they look out at something invisible to the viewer. I also appreciated this photograph for its depiction of survival in the face of adversity.
In my passion blog, I would use photographs to illustrate events or concepts that the reader would otherwise have trouble understanding. For example, I find that people can better relate to anecdotes or descriptions if they have a photograph to supplement the words. If I have relevant photographs from my own life, I would like to incorporate those, since they provide more concrete evidence that I actually had a certain experience or as proof of my commitment to an activity. Interesting cover photos could serve as a hook for the reader, teasing the subject of the blog.
I love how you analyzed the photograph itself, and its lighting and how that affects the overall image’s effect. I also really enjoyed how you explored the symbolism, and the contrast between ugly and beautiful in terms of context and time. I think you will have great photos to draw in readers and make them think more about what you are saying.
I like how you used the sunrise as a symbol for a new day because I too believed in the landscaping being dull and bland with no light and that photo expresses some differences. I also enjoyed how you mentioned that conflict causes devastation because without the photos you wouldn’t be able to understand how devastating the situations that Addario witnessed were.