Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Trials and Triumphs of Women Photojournalists


Females have always been discriminated against in many fields of work and life. Ever since ancient history women had fewer rights then man and were considered subordinate to men. In most countries around the world and even in US women were considered to be housewives whose job was to raise the children, cook, clean and do all the house work. In many 3rd world countries women have the same fate up to this day. In United States up to middle of 20th century women did not have many rights. They could not vote, they could not hold any government jobs and when they worked they were getting paid less. Photojournalism is not any different. Many of the female pioneers in the field of photo journalism experiences a lot of discrimination from male colleagues, women, and society. Even though a lot of women photographers were discriminated against, they brought a lot of positive change to the world.

Kate Brooks is an American photojournalist. She was born in 1977. At the age of 20 she started to study Russian language in college while majoring in photography. Soon she moved to Moscow where she started studying the lives or Russian orphans living in the outskirts of Moscow. She became so actively involved in the plight for the orphans that she started a non-profit aid group in Moscow to help the orphans get on their feet and escape the horrible conditions of Russian orphanages. Her work was later published in a Human Rights Watch. This article was named “Abandoned by the State: Cruelty and Neglect in Russian Orphanages” After this article was published around the world, this created major reforms in treatments of orphans not only in Russia, but also in many other countries around the world. Many funds were opened up and many donations were given to build new orphanages with better living environment were kids could be raised and have equal opportunities as the rest of the children.

Kate’s other big field of work was in the Middle East. After the attacks of 9/11 she went to Pakistan and Afghanistan where she researched and photographed the impact that US government had on those countries. She was one of the female photographers who photographed US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Ever since then she has been freelancing in the Middle East and taking photos for famous magazines like Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, and many others. She covered many political events and disruptions that took place in the Middle East. Some of her famous and recent works came from the Pakistan Earthquake in 2006, and Cedar Revolution. Also she is famous for shooting portrait sessions for some famous Middle East political and military leaders like Pervez Musharraf, and Hamid Karzai.


 


  Image By: Unknown

Subjects Expression: The subject in the picture takes up most of the picture so it is the first thing that a viewer notices. The expression of the subject is very tiring and overwhelmed showing the hard nature of her work.

Keep it Simple: The simple background allows the viewer to keep the focus on the main subject and the expression that she portrays.

Does the Picture remind you of anything: The picture reminds me of the painting by Leonardo da Vinci of Mona Lisa.

Why I Choose it? The reason why I chose this photo of Kate Brook was because it is one of the best close up portraits of herself where she is not posing but the photo actually reveals the true emotional expression that she has inside her. The photo shows that she is sad and overwhelmed but the troubles of life.
 

 
Image By: Unknown

Rule of thirds: The main subject of the picture is Edwin P. Morrow who is signing the 19th amendment .

Black and White:  The photo is B&W which helps to create a better clarity of the photo because the main things on the photo are face expressions and they are in white while everything else is black.

Use of Light: Light from the lamp sheds light in the form of a spotlight to enhance the importance of the signing of the document.

Why?  I chose this photo because I think it was an important moment for women in their fight for equality because this was when they finally got the right to vote. This was important moment for them because it took them a long time and a lot of work to convince the government to draft and accept 19th amendment to constitution. I like how this photo shown the proud facial expression of the women because they finally got what they were fighting for.
 
Image by: Megan Brown

In or out of focus: Even thought the women photographed here are in different depth of fields they are all in focus showing that they are all important part of the US military.

Texture:  The texture of the sand and the building creates a very arid and hot environment of the desert.

Obvious Main Subject: The main subject takes up about 2/3 of the photo so it is the first thing that the viewer pays attention to when they look at the photo.

Why? The reason I choose the photo was because on this photo there is a group of women who are serving in the US Military. I think this was a very important step for women in their fight for equality when they were finally given opportunity to fight along-side with men and not be nurses and cooks like they used to be in the past. This photo also shows the proud facial expressions on their faces because they are proud to serve their country and protect it and they are also proud to show that they can do it just as good as any man can.

 

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