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Sometimes a photograph or image capture a moment.
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Minneapolis
On August 1, 2007 the Highway35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, hurling vehicles into the Mississippi river around 64ft below.
I think what was so shocking about this was that this was real life, it looks like a scene from a movie.
It's almost the normality of the scene that makes it so tragic. The school bus, people just traveling home from work. Just a normal day, and then this. You know how people say "You never know what could happen, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow" and you think, "Yeah but that's not that likely" but this tragic scene really does prove that we just never know what lies ahead of us. It makes me realise how precious life is.
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Posted: 12:05, 2008-Feb-5 |
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Don McCullin
I had the opportunity to go to an exhibition of Don McCullin's photography and was so moved by his work that I changed the course I was doing at college and specialised in photography. I never realised that the camera could capture so many emotions in just one shot. This is what McCullin said about these photographs he took.
"I was devastated by the sight of 900 children living in one camp in utter squalor at the point of death," he said. "I lost all interest in photographing soldiers in action.", Don McCullin.
I find it most in the people who suffer the most, they seem to marshal the energy of dignity, because they will not surrender. Like the Biafran mother with the child at her breast, you cannot imagine a more dignified human being . Biafra, 1969 Don McCullin |
Posted: 03:46, 2008-Jan-30 |
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James Bulger
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson had skipped school on February 12, 1993. That day, in the New Strand Shopping Centre, Bootle, they attempted to walk off with a young child. They had succeeded in luring a two-year-old boy away from his mother, and were in the process of taking him out of the shopping centre, when she noticed him missing, ran outside, and called him back. For this, the boys were later charged with attempted abduction; however, the charge was dropped when the jury failed to reach a verdict.
That same afternoon, James Bulger (often called "Jamie Bulger" in press reports), from nearby Kirkby, went on a trip with his mother Denise to a nearby shopping centre. Whilst there, at some point Mrs Bulger realised that her son had gone missing. The two boys had taken him by the hand and led him out of the precinct. This moment was captured on a CCTV camera at 15:39. The boys took Bulger on a 21/2 mile (4 km) walk. At one point, they led him to a canal, where he sustained some injuries to his head and face, after apparently being dropped to the ground. Later on in their journey, a witness reported seeing Bulger being kicked in the ribs by one of the boys, to encourage him along. During the entire walk, the boys were seen by 38 people, some of whom noticed an injury to the child's head and later recalled that he seemed distressed. Others reported that Bulger appeared happy and was seen laughing, the boys seemingly alternating between hurting and distracting him. A few members of the public challenged the two older boys, but they claimed they were looking after their younger brother, or that he was lost and that they were taking him to the police station, and were allowed to continue on their way.
They eventually led Bulger to a section of railway line near Walton, Merseyside. From the facts disclosed at trial, at this location one of the boys threw blue modelling paint on Bulger's face. They kicked him and hit him with bricks, stones and a 22 lb (10 kg) iron bar. They then placed batteries in his mouth (false reports that the batteries were placed in his rectum were spread by a chain letter[1] that also stated that Bulger's fingers were cut off using scissors, this again untrue). Before they left him, the boys laid Bulger across the railway tracks and weighted his head down with rubble, in hopes that a passing train would hit him and make his death appear to be an accident. Two days later, on the Sunday of the next week, Bulger's body was discovered; a forensic pathologist later testified that he had died before his body was run over by an oncoming train which sliced through him.
As the circumstances surrounding the death became clear, tabloid newspapers compared the killers with Myra Hindley and Ian Brady who had committed the Moors Murders. They denounced the people who had seen Bulger but not realised the trouble he was in as the "Liverpool 38" . Within days, the Liverpool Echo newspaper had published 1,086 death notices for Bulger. The railway embankment upon which his body had been discovered was flooded with hundreds of bunches of flowers: one of these floral tributes, a single rose, was laid by Thompson. Within days, he and Venables were arrested, after an investigation led by Detective Superintendent Albert Kirby of the Merseyside Police. Forensics tests confirmed that both boys had the same blue paint on their clothing as was found on Bulger's body. Both had blood on their shoes; blood on Venables' shoe was matched to that of Bulger through DNA tests.
I remember this case, but what really stands out in my mind is the photo of James being lead away by the boys. It was probably the first time I was aware of CCTV being used. The awful thing about this photo is the fact that initially when you look at it it seems so tender and sweet. An older brother perhaps holding his brothers hand, almost looking out for him. But in reality Jon Venables was leading him to his death. In the early days when CCTV cameras were used they were purely to record activities, so although this was a vital piece of evidence, it didn't stop the killing happening. Now in many places CCTV cameras are being used, and the activities of people are actually being monitored and therefore in many cases, crimes are actually being prevented from happening. This photo always sends a chill down my spine. |
Posted: 06:03, 2008-Jan-29 |
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9/11
 
I'm sure the pictures of the planes hitting the Twin Towers shocked most people. Even looking at the photos now makes me feel emotional, but I think the rarely seen photos of people actually jumping from the towers will haunt me forever. Knowing that they had no chance of survival but they'd rather die that way than stay inside the burning building. The photo of the 2 holding hands is particulary tragic. You can't help but ask yourself questions as well. Like did they know each other, how long did they stay holding each others hand, did they have time to talk to one another as they fell to the ground. I remember one reporter who was covering this terrible life changing incident said that the noise of crunching bodies as they hit the ground would stay with him forever. The other thing that has often gone through my mind is that could their loved ones recognise them from these photos? Can you imagine that if you knew that was your father, husband, son or brother, knowing that was the last image you'll have of them too. What about the photographer who took the photo too, how must they feel having captured that on camera? So many questions, and yet so few answers. |
Posted: 05:56, 2008-Jan-29 |
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