Essay 2008

Photography


I love taking pictures. I always carry a camera with me when I go out somewhere. Photograph is both an art and record of my life.

I took a photography class this summer. A professional photographer taught me for 3 days. The first day, the teacher introduced herself and basic knowledge of photography. The second day we went to a photography exhibition and took pictures outside. The third day we discussed the photograph exhibition and showed each other photographs which we took. I was very interested in the photography exhibition and discussion.

The name of the exhibition is "Visions of America Part 2" : This Land is Your Land. Its background is from 1918, when World WarⅠended, to 1961, when Kennedy assumed the presidency. There were 162 photographs, for example, nature, buildings, portraits, war, arts and so on. I could look at all photographs closely because the atomosphere of the photograph exhibition was very quiet. I particularly was struck by two photographs.

The next day I talked about them. I stopped in front of two photographs. These were war photographs. One photograph was “American flag raised over the Atsugi Airbase as U.S. transports land” by Carl Mydans in 1945. When I saw it, I was not able to say anything. Various feelings came across my mind. The photograph is of some soldiers of the U.S.Army raising the flag at Atsugi proudly. I felt odd. This was taken in Japan but I couldn’t believe it. I don’t have war experience. Some American bases have been in Japan since long before I was born. This persuaded me strongly that the war ended and Japan lost to America. I also thought about Japanese people of those days. They would feel sad, mortified and painful. I was filled with that many mixed feelings. Another photograph is “From Saipan” by W. Eugene Smith in 1944. This photograph is big and particularly remarkable in the exhibition. In the picture, a soldier is holding a naked baby in the battlefield in Saipan. Most students were shocked at this. We all felt humanity that the soldier pities the baby, but our teacher’s opinion was different from ours. She said this photographer wanted to tell the soldier’s humanism, but it affirms war because people will sympathize with him if they watch this. The baby’s life and the soldier’s life are equivalent.

Each photograph gave me a lot of think about the first time in my life. I was also interested in discussion because I could find other viewpoints of other people. Photography is not only just memory and arts but also has an enormous power. What photographers want to tell is that photographer want to tell and people opinion and sentiment.