Analyzing Visual News Media

This image was breathtaking when I first saw it, and not necessarily in a good way. If you didn’t know, Buzzfeed puts out weekly powerful photographs from around the world. Every time I scroll through them, I feel like I haven’t been paying enough attention to the world. All the photos are beautiful, yet some are horrific. They show things I never even think to think of. Things that are happening around the world that require more attention. This one in particular made me pause.

The subject matter of the photograph includes the man, the phone, and the background. A vector could be the line from his eyes to his phone. The man being directly in the middle of the frame highlights him as the subject. I find it interesting that his hand holding the phone is out of focus and his opposite hand in a fist is in focus. The angle is almost straight on, but the viewer can’t see where the smoke and fire is coming from. The light is bright which could be ironic considering the intense background. The photographer’s goal is to show destruction. It could also be to show the power of the people.

I think people my age or people in our culture would first be drawn to the phone and not the background. Questions like why is he taking a picture? Might come before questions like what is the smoke and fire coming from? It’s easy for us to judge someone in his position by saying things like, “People are too interested in documenting everything rather than living their lives.” I think an assumption of our age is that everyone will always document in dangerous situations. This is especially true recently with Twitter. People end up posting to Twitter during life threatening situations.

The truth is we don’t know the situation in the picture. We don’t know the proximity of the man to the fire. We don’t know if he is a victim or a perpetrator. His hand in a fist clearly means something to him, but it could mean something different to viewers or could even be overlooked. This picture could depict a clear picture or a very deceitful picture of a Haitian man. We can make assumptions and analyze the photographer’s purpose, but we can’t be positive.

CNN article:

Buzzfeed “21 Most Powerful Photos Of This Week”:

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