Last night I went to a seminar hosted by Center for Communications entitled, "Photojournalism: Tragedy in Focus." Like most seminars, I was expecting a hearty discussion of the issue at hand and hopefully there would be some worthwhile insights and possibly answers to a few difficult questions. Of course, this did not happen. Last night I came to the realization that a panel discussion is often created with good intentions but usually ends up being four people looking to plug their latest book or agenda.

The description of last night's event is as follows:

Those whose job it is to photograph the horrors of war abroad and violence on the home front talk about the enormous challenge of capturing images of pain and suffering and not succumbing to the overwhelming emotions caused by witnessing heart-wrenching human trauma and tragedy.

Naturally, I thought that the panelists would discuss how they manage to survive while taking these photos. I wanted the group as a whole to get to the core of what makes a person do war photography for thirty years. Instead, each of the panelists ended up talking at us instead of creating a fruitful discussion. I did write down a number of poignant observations, but half of the time alotted was taken up by slideshows promoting their books or websites.

Realistically, I should have accepted that this isn't some kind of think tank and these are normal people who probably aren't ready to share intimate feelings with an audience of 200 people. Still, this has happened at many panels and ends up making the event not nearly as satisfying as it could have been.

All of that being said, there were some interesting quotes that came out of the "discussion." Here are a few:

  • "When a car bomb goes off, the first thing you think is not 'What are the ethical and moral issues [with taking a photograph] here.'" -Peter Howe
  • In regards to the way a camera effects or escalates the violence you're capturing, Joe Rodriguez said, "After a drive-by, the kids in East LA were saying, 'Where's Joe! Where's Joe! He needs to get a picture of this!' and the kid was laying on the ground bleeding."
  • "People keep coming back going back [to violent locations] because it's easier. Coming back to 'normal life' is very tough." -Peter Howe

So the panel wasn't a complete loss, but I wish that those in the audience and those on stage pushed themselves a little harder so that we could all grow a little wiser.