Over the course of the semester, I’ve noticed that there has been an overarching critique to all of the photographers which consists of usually a call to action. Often they get negative comments about not helping the very person they’re photographing physically right there and then. The more it came up in class, the more frustrated I began getting about comments like this. I, for one, think the work that these people are doing is incredibly brave and inspiring. These are people who are not only dedicating their lives, but often putting their lives in danger in order to spread the stories of these tragedies. They do this in order to get people informed, involved, and to ultimately make a change. A lot of the photographers we studied aim to use their photography to change the world, most notably people like Ron Haviv, Marcus Bleasdale, and James Nachtwey. While, yes, Nachtwey could have tried to help the people he was photographing in a physical way, he was trying to help their country and community as a whole.

Previous to this class, I had been quite overwhelmed and, quite frankly, pessimistic, about the current state of the world. Like we talked about a few weeks ago, there seems to be no place evil has not seeped into. For example, if you oppose animal cruelty, you stop eating meat. Instead, you eat GMO vegetables or you’re paying absurd amounts of money for organic produce. Instead, you opt to go to a restaurant and are served god knows what. This is just one example of how deep this cycle goes. Learning about the kinds of work these people do to try and bring awareness to important social and political issues around the world is truly humbling and has inspired me to try and make a difference, even if it is a small one. I was always hindered by the thought of “why aren’t you doing more” and this prevented me from doing anything at all. Saying, “I’m just not educated enough to have an opinion” or “I’m only one person, why do I make a difference?” or “there’s just too much to do” was my safety blanket, my coping mechanism for how corrupt the world is when you think about it just a little bit. Through exploring these different bodies of work and talking about the importance of even being passionate about one subject in class really inspired me to try and get involved. My socially and politically involved friends have shed so much light and knowledge on me recently and in combination with this class, I have truly been inspired to become more informed with the issues going on around me.