By Conor Risch
© the new york times magazine / photo by james nachtwey
As a result of The New York Times Magazine's publication of this photo essay by James Nachtwey in 1992, the ICRC delegation was able to mobilize the donors and mount a huge humanitarian effort in Somalia.
With the help of the TED community and a $100,000 prize, James
Nachtwey was able to launch his photography project on extremely
drug resistant tuberculosis with simultaneous outdoor projections
in 30 cities on 7 continents, in print and online media outlets and
through a Web site built for the project (see story
here). The buzz surrounding the October 3, 2008, launch drew
official comments from both U.S. presidential candidates, and since
then Nachtwey has presented his work to legislators on Capitol
Hill, the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation, the
Pacific Health Summit, scientists, activists and ordinary people
who were moved to donate money to organizations fighting the
disease.
We asked Nachtwey if this is his most important work to date. "In
terms of its impact, it might be," he told us. Nachtwey believes
that most documentarians and journalists covering conflict and
critical issues carry out their work "on faith," rarely able to
quantify the results. "They believe in people, they believe people
will care if we give them something to care about," says Nachtwey.
"This [XDR-TB project] was one time when [the impact] was more
quantifiable."
Keeping the faith is increasingly difficult as opportunities to
fund and publish documentary work are dwindling. While Nachtwey's
XDR-TB project reaffirmed the effect photography can have, he says
it doesn't take a $100,000 grant to make an impact.
Nachtwey recently traveled to Manila as part of a VII photo agency
group project commissioned by the International Committee of the
Red Cross to commemorate their 150th anniversary. While Nachtwey
was there, he sat down with the head of the ICRC delegation to the
Philippines who had been a part of the ICRC's humanitarian effort
in Somalia during the country's famine in the early Nineties. The
delegate thanked Nachtwey for his photo essay "Somalia: 1992,"
which was
The New York Times Magazine cover story on
December 6 of that year. He explained that, because of that essay,
the ICRC had been able to mobilize their donors and mount a huge
humanitarian effort in Somalia. Nachtwey was blown away. "It was so
long ago and I had no idea all that time," he says, adding: "The
question I have to ask is, 'Would a magazine do that now?'"
Learning 17 years later of the effect that story had was a
revelation, says Nachtwey. It wasn't only the impact of his photos,
he relates. "It was about the press. I did the pictures, but it's
not only photography, it's editorship and commitment and a vision
of what journalism is. Otherwise those pictures would have gone out
one-by-one, or nothing would have happened, and the fact that that
magazine did what they did, that's what had the effect."
End Frame: Quantifying The Power of Photography
Sept 2, 2009
By Conor Risch
As a result of The New York Times Magazine's publication of this photo essay by James Nachtwey in 1992, the ICRC delegation was able to mobilize the donors and mount a huge humanitarian effort in Somalia.
With the help of the TED community and a $100,000 prize, James Nachtwey was able to launch his photography project on extremely drug resistant tuberculosis with simultaneous outdoor projections in 30 cities on 7 continents, in print and online media outlets and through a Web site built for the project (see story
here). The buzz surrounding the October 3, 2008, launch drew official comments from both U.S. presidential candidates, and since then Nachtwey has presented his work to legislators on Capitol Hill, the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation, the Pacific Health Summit, scientists, activists and ordinary people who were moved to donate money to organizations fighting the disease.
We asked Nachtwey if this is his most important work to date. "In terms of its impact, it might be," he told us. Nachtwey believes that most documentarians and journalists covering conflict and critical issues carry out their work "on faith," rarely able to quantify the results. "They believe in people, they believe people will care if we give them something to care about," says Nachtwey. "This [XDR-TB project] was one time when [the impact] was more quantifiable."
Keeping the faith is increasingly difficult as opportunities to fund and publish documentary work are dwindling. While Nachtwey's XDR-TB project reaffirmed the effect photography can have, he says it doesn't take a $100,000 grant to make an impact.
Nachtwey recently traveled to Manila as part of a VII photo agency group project commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross to commemorate their 150th anniversary. While Nachtwey was there, he sat down with the head of the ICRC delegation to the Philippines who had been a part of the ICRC's humanitarian effort in Somalia during the country's famine in the early Nineties. The delegate thanked Nachtwey for his photo essay "Somalia: 1992," which was
The New York Times Magazine cover story on December 6 of that year. He explained that, because of that essay, the ICRC had been able to mobilize their donors and mount a huge humanitarian effort in Somalia. Nachtwey was blown away. "It was so long ago and I had no idea all that time," he says, adding: "The question I have to ask is, 'Would a magazine do that now?'"
Learning 17 years later of the effect that story had was a revelation, says Nachtwey. It wasn't only the impact of his photos, he relates. "It was about the press. I did the pictures, but it's not only photography, it's editorship and commitment and a vision of what journalism is. Otherwise those pictures would have gone out one-by-one, or nothing would have happened, and the fact that that magazine did what they did, that's what had the effect."
