The power of a photograph

THE POWER OF A PHOTOGRAPH

Lunch atop a skyscraper

This photo was taken in 1932, while they were building the Rockefeller Centre in New York. The photographer, called Charles Clyde, depicted these eleven men having lunch on a beam, situated seventy floors above the streets (more or less 250 meters).

As you can see, all builders haven’t got any security equipment, which shows the working conditions were in those times. When I saw this striking, unusual photo I couldn’t believe that it was true and, in fact, it wasn’t. The main purpose of it was to publicize the new building, so it was altered. The eleven men were also posing for the photo. I appeared for the first time on a magazine called “The New York Herald Tribune”. The photo became more and more famous and its inhabitants used it to say that they had the highest skyscrapers in the world.

Finally, I have chosen this photo because it’s distressing to see the builders there without helmets and harness, although they are having fun, enjoying the meals and the views.  Pau Arcos 4^th ESO A

The vulture and the child

Kevin Carter was a South-African photographer and he visited Sudan in 1993 to report the war and the famine in that country. When he was about to leave the country, he saw a malnourished baby in the ground with a vulture next to him. He waited for twenty minutes to take the best picture: he wanted the vulture to open its wings, but he didn’t get it.

People said that he was an evil person because he didn’t help the little boy. A year after, in 1994, he won the Pulitzer Prize and soon after he killed himself.

In the photo, the baby is wearing a plastic bracelet of the UNO’s food station, settled in that area. But everybody thought that the baby was dying, even though Carter didn’t see it, he only took the photo and went away after that. After some time, the baby’s father said that the baby was dead, but he had died long after Carter had taken the photograph. The baby had survived to famine but had died because an illness.

I’ve chosen this picture because I think that’s very striking and sad too. In the picture you can see how cruel life can be and on the other hand the selfishness of the photographer who was only thinking in his success and professional prestige. Mireia Corteguera 4^th ESO B

The Tank Man

The image I have chosen is “The tank Man”, it is also known as “The Unknown Rebel”. He is the famous man who stood in front of the Chinese Armyon June 5^th in 1989. On that famous morning, while the soldiers of the Communist Regime were advancing about a group of young protesters, a solitary man stood still in front a column of tanks. They tried to manoeuvre to pass by the man, but he moved to continue to obstruct them. The image was filmed by Jeff Widener, an American photographer who was in the Hotel Beijing.

I’ve chosen this photograph because I think that it is the best modern example of rebellion: how people can fight for freedom against an oppressor government. The story of the photo is special: the man who appears in the photo is a 19 year old student who complained about the Chinese dictatorship, the corrupted government and the economical repression that the population was suffering.

Finally, the soldiers removed the man and he didn’t appear again, but the entire world had seen this image and thanks to him, the international community understood the hard situation of the Chinese population. I think he is an icon to follow. He gave his life to defend his ideas. He reminds us that we have to think different and fight to achieve want we want. Dani Donate 4th ESO A

Immigrants and golf

I chose this picture because I believe it can make us think about one of the biggest problems that our country has nowadays. In the picture, we can see African people trying to cross the border fence, a barrier which separates Melilla and Morocco while other people are enjoying playing golf.

Every day, a lot of people from all around the African countries try to cross this fence, risking their lives trying to escape from poverty and famine and trying to start a new life in Europe. Some of them die and others survive, and not all of them can get what they want because police try to stop them every day. It’s horrible to see how people who are in trouble are doing something so painful to save their lives while there are other people who ignore these problems even when these are in front of them. Why do the golf players ignore them? Why do they have people risking their lives and they don’t do anything? And we, all the people who see or hear this news at home, are we doing anything? We do exactly the same as the men in the picture, we ignore it all. We just comment how horrible it is, but we don’t do anything and this is happening in front of us too, every day. We are all golf players. Andrea Ramos 4th ESO A

Another brick in the wall

This photo shows the fall of the Berlin Wall. There are a lot of photos of this historical event which happened on 9th November in 1989. I chose this picture because it represents the will of German people to be free and united. This black and white photograph shows a boy trying to break the wall with a hammer. There are also some people trying to climb the wall. That day the lives of thousands of German people changed: East and West Germany joined after the World war and the Cold War. The photograph is amazing and unusual in the history, we can see the struggle and the strength of people who want to be free.

The wall is full of graffiti and messages of freedom and democracy. The wall had separated families and with the demolition of the wall many people found again family and friends.

In my opinion, this photo shows one of the most important moments in the German and European history. It’s striking and moving to see the effort that some people made to overthrow the wall and move to the other side.  Albert Vidal 4^th ESO A