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Took these today in Oslo – Feedback welcome
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the one of the boys and the girl and her dog are very poignant. The rose could do with a little more light on it. But considering the nature of these shots, you have managed to convey what it was all about, without intruding.
Personally I don’t agree with the above post.
I feel its an intrusion in to these people personal grief!
Its like a bird of prey circking looking for its next victim.
A little crass & morbid for my liking!John17 wrote:
Personally I don’t agree with the above post.
I feel its an intrusion in to these people personal grief!
Its like a bird of prey circking looking for its next victim.
A little crass & morbid for my liking!Intrusion? Photographers capture a moment, and the emotions of that moment. This photographer has done just that.
The photographer is not profiting from the photos or exploiting the people in the photos. They just saw an emotional scene and captured it.is it ok to capture happy emotions in wedding/party photos, but not ok to capture sad emotions such as above?
sorry John 17 … i don’t agree with you either….as already stated photographs are there to capture an emotion , to document a moment in time , to share the beautiful and expose the ugly etc …..these pictures were taken at a public memorial, not in the church , or at the homes of the families of the victims. these pictures show the sadness of , and unity of , a nation that has experienced something terrible . in my eyes these pictures are not about the victims , Andy did not sit around waiting for a group of kids to be murdered so he could photograph the carnage . these pictures show the unity of the Norwegians in a time of hardship. when we see the photos of the princess Diana funeral and those who attended or the funeral of Gerry Ryan and those who attended or any other famous person who’s funeral is not only photographed but televised do you feel that the editors of the times, independent or even sky t.v are vultures for showing it?…because i think its done so everyone can share in the grief ….which is what these photos let us do.
Everyone can share the grief???? Who does that include? You, me?
It’s not my thing to be honest! Just doesn’t look or feel right!
I just noticed one of the images went missing. It’s back now.
Thanks for the feedback. Just to give some background, I had booked my flight to Oslo the day before the bombing. I wasn’t there to cover it. I was surprised to see so many people, Norwegians, and tourists, with cameras at the memorial, but I’m glad that photos were taken. Photographs are an important part of our cultural memory, and to only record happy memories would be a mistake.
I didn’t make any money off of these photos, although there would be nothing wrong with it if I had. One image was used in http://viewfindermag.com alongside two photographic accounts from Norwegian photographers who covered the blast, and the aftermath.
John17 wrote:
Everyone can share the grief???? Who does that include? You, me?
It’s not my thing to be honest! Just doesn’t look or feel right!
So you are against all form of photo journalism then?
Of course not but these images to me are like I said previously, an intrusion!
My issue is with people taking liberties with whom & what & when they shoot!
I’m not one of these people who want to limit what a photographer can
or cannot take, far from it. But I personally feel that these people should
have been left to themselves at that particular time.
I didn’t feel it was an appropiate time to be walking about with a
camera hanging from your neck! Insensitive in my view.I love the shot of the girl with her dog & don’t find these images are an intrusion. Every day we see images of wars in newspapers, on the internet & on tv. We see images of famine & other disasters regularily too. Sometimes, I look at these images with indifference & don’t think of the human factor & the personal grief & suffering involved. The photos posted bring this message home.
Thanks John17. I just took a look at your posts. All you do here is give your subjective opinion on other people’s photos rather than giving an objective critique. Your criticisms of my photos are nothing more than your own personal opinion which could be summarised as “we should only photograph happy people”.
For the record, I wasn’t ‘walking about with a camera hanging from [my] neck”. The camera rarely left my side. Most of the shots in the series (http://andywithcamera.com/category/street/oslo/) are shot from the hip. Also, about a third of the people there had cameras, and that’s a trend that I’ve seen a lot lately. At no point was I asked not to shoot, or to put the camera away. At no point did it feel like an intrusion, more the opposite. It would have been hard being the only photographer in Oslo not taking photographs of this.
As for the ‘message’… the most powerful message to take from this are the words “I refuse to be your enemy”. These words appeared in the city shortly after the attack. They accompany an outdoor photo exhibition running simultaneously in Oslo, Palestine, and Israel. The photos in that exhibition are intended to show people on both sides of a conflict that everybody suffers in war. You’d probably find those photos an intrusion also, but that’s just you.
Honestly i think you have no real understanding of photography John. You come across as completely ignorant, uneducated and blind to what photo journalism is about. And the reasons why people take the photographs they do.
Also, if you dont like these photographs you better not turn on the news ever again – theres all kinds of real and horrible things going on out there.
Take a look at the work of James Nachtwey. Tell me if you find his work grotesque and intrusive.
John17 wrote:
These photos bring what message home?
Basically, the immediate aftermath of the event & what it means for the people directly involved.
The photos are a visual record, which can raise emotions in people not directly involved in such events & images can be much more powerful than the written word.
I think, looking at these photos, that the photographer was very sensitive to the feelings of the people. None of the shots are “In your face” type of shots. They are taken with respect IMO.So do you think that it would be ok to photograph
an irish family funeral. Not a celebrities, just your
average run of the mill family next door?Wouldn’t that capture the raw emotion for people
not directly involved & you could then put them in
book form to give to the family!Look! enough of this. If ye think that this persons
photography deserves this much attention then so
be it. For me it’s contrived & banal!
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