Ethics vs Professionalism: Can you do it?

I remember clearly my first encounter with the words "killing fields" I was 9 in my mothers office crouched in a corner with a copy or TIME magazine. I remember the photo-louge and how often since then those two words have always fascinated me. I sought out many books mainly using photos to explain and then in documentaries where the memorials and the killing sites were filmed.

They say there is a strange coldness in the air, a discomfort from deep within and in a place where millions died not one thousand years ago, but a mere thirty odd years, it is not hard to see why. I remember dreaming of going there with a bunch of people holding the bones in my hands, this has yet come to pass.

I wonder if the sheer presence of history there will shatter me and I will remain standing outside unable to go in.

I was reading on The New York Times, on the highly reliable wikipedia; one link lead to another and soon I was reading up on the various photojournalist that have braved the war to record history. Both, dead.

One of them is Eddie Adams who is famous for this photo
The story behind this is that the general seen holding the gun here shot the prisoner on an open street and why Adams said that it was an unfair portrayal is his interview with TIME magazine, he said, "The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American soldiers?'"

Other ethical issues surround 'famous' photo's.
Like this one by Kevin Carter in Sudan 1993. This photo was quoted to have epitomized the war in Sudan then, Carter won the Pulitzer Award for that photo, a few months later he committed suicide. He waited 20 minutes for a 'good' photo, shot this one, chased the bird away but left the child there.

Many questions were raised on why didn't he carry the child to the feeding centre? Why did he wait 20 minutes?

I have been toying with the idea of being a photojournalist or at least a journalist, but a sudden surge of reality has hit me. Will I be able to seperate myself as a morale human being to doing my job? Sure if I was Carter I would have taken the shot and then carried the child to the centre.

But what if it was something more than a starving child? What if it was the about to commence killing of someone? What if I was covering the war and one of the terrorist was but a 10 year old boy holding on to an AK-47 he barely knows how to use? Am I to take the shot of the boy waiting to be shot by the soldier or jump in front and stop it?

In all professionalism, I am supposed to take the shot, not take the bullet. Problem is, can I do it?

Quoting an article in TIME magazine, "Carter was painfully aware of the photojournalist's dilemma. "I had to think visually," he said once, describing a shoot-out. "I am zooming in on a tight shot of the dead guy and a splash of red. Going into his khaki uniform in a pool of blood in the sand. The dead man's face is slightly gray. You are making a visual here. But inside something is screaming, 'My God.' But it is time to work. Deal with the rest later. If you can't do it, get out of the game." Says Nachtwey, "Every photographer who has been involved in these stories has been affected. You become changed forever. Nobody does this kind of work to make themselves feel good. It is very hard to continue."


Despite being overused, a photo does say a thousand words. This photo below changed the lives of the people on that boat, Adams said he would have prefered to have gained fame over than photo than that of the general.
Because of this photo, 200 thousand Vietnamese refugees stuck at sea were given refuge.

I want to be able to take pictures that will change the world, capture a moment in history, I want the courage to step up to the job. I want to meet people that influence, that I admire for their work:

But what I don't want is to say this at the end of my life: "The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist."-Kevin Carter

Credits & Acknowledgements:

• There Are Tears in My Eyes. Eddie Adams & the Most Famous Photo of the Vietnam War: By Jonah Goldberg
• The Life and Death of Kevin Carter: By Scott Macleod
• Monroe Gallery of photography
• BBC UK In Pictures, Eddie Adams

A similar sentiment of confusion on ethics on this persons blog.