Every photo we looked at this semester— whether individual or part of a collection, whether featuring a single subject or multiple, whether a portrait or a landscape — was never just a photo. There is context, history, social justice issues, political correctness issues, etc. Two themes that emerged throughout this class were: the idea of the photo as a window into a deeper issue and the idea of the eyes as a window into the heart and soul of the narrative.

Ron Haviv’s photo of a man surrendering, Steve McCurry’s portraits — both in the exhibit at the Rubin Museum or the infamous nat-geo portrait we all recognized — Susan Meiselas’s photo of a wife carrying her dead husband’s body, if you look at each respective photo they are the window into the deeper issues each photographer explored and hoped to expose. Moreover the subjects eyes took you into the heart and soul of the issues exposed, as well as acted as a window into their hearts undoubtedly striking empathy into the viewer.

Photography is a powerful medium, more so today than ever before. While photography may be a saturated market, any person who picks up a camera then assumes responsibility for telling a story justly, a story with grit and heart and soul. I feel that every photographer we learned about this semester achieved this goal and I admire more than ever the talent and passion of photographers and their influence on changing the world.