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Question: Famous Photo Question!?
Does anyone know why Kevin Carter, the photographer who took this photo!.!.!.!.why he didn't help the child!?

http://www!.worldsfamousphotos!.com/strick!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
South African photojournalist Joao Silva, who accompanied Carter to Sudan,
gave a different version of events in an interview with Japanese journalist and writer
Akio Fujiwara that was published in Fujiwara's book The Boy who Became a Postcard (Ehagakini Sareta Shōnen)!.

According to Silva, they (Carter and Silva) went to Sudan with the United Nations aboard Operation Lifeline Sudan
and landed in Southern Sudan on March 11, 1993!. The UN told them that they would take off again in 30 minutes,
(the time necessary to distribute food), so they ran around looking to take shots!. The UN started to distribute corn
and the women of the village came out of their wooden huts to meet the plane!. Silva went looking for guerrilla fighters,
while Carter strayed no more than a few dozen feet from the plane!.

Again according to Silva, Carter was quite shocked as it was the first time that he had seen a famine situation and so
he took many shots of the children suffering from famine!. Silva also started to take photos of children on the ground as if crying,
which were not published!.
***The parents of the children were busy taking food from the plane so they had left their children only briefly while they collected the food!.
This was the situation for the girl in the photo taken by Carter**
"God was smiling on Kevin!." A vulture landed behind the girl!. To get the two in focus, Carter approached the scene very slowly
so as not to scare the vulture away and took a photo from approximately 10 metres!. He took a few more photos and then the vulture flew off!.
Silva stated that he also took similar photos, but didn't win the Pulitzer Prize!. "That's just the way things go!."


from: http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Kevin_Carte!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Photojournalism isn't like any other type of photography!. There are times, many in war torn areas, some, like hurricane Katrina, closer to home where there is terrible tension between getting your photos and the natural human desire to help!. Some handle that conflict better than others!.

A good photojournalist is above all a people oriented person and very empathetic!. When you are faced with a situation like Carter did and many others before him, you dissociate!. You put part of yourself aside as a defense against what you are witnessing and leave just enough for you to tell the story playing out in front of you!.

You are faced with the question of which is greater, relieveing the suffering of one person, or maybe a few more than one person, or telling the story in a compelling way that may help end the suffering that is all around you!. Which is the greater good in the end!? These are the types of questions that only the photographer can answer and the answer may not help with the internal emotional struggle!.

Why didn't he help!? Can anyone say, after that photo went around the world and highlighted the brutality of the suffering the refugees faced everyday, all day, that he didn't help!? How many voices did he cause to be raised against what was going on!?

VanceWww@QuestionHome@Com

I would say because this was hardly the only child he saw!. Perhaps he had seen hundreds like this!. In some situations you become totally helpless to do anything, and I imagine that is the situation in which he found himself!. It states he committed suicide 3 months later!.!.!. so obviously he WAS very much touched by the circumstances, but had no ability to help!.

There are always many sides to most stories, you can't be too quick to judge based on a few words surrounding the photo!.

steveWww@QuestionHome@Com

The child needed way more help than the photographer could give him!. But by showing the world the photo, he brought the problem to the attention of the world!. That is helping in its own way!. And you don't know what the photographer did or didn't do after taking the picture, by the way!. Please don't judge!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

it tortured him for some time, and he ended up killing himself!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The main reason is that there were hundreds, maybe thousands in the same area, in the same condition!. There was nothing he could do but capture the story!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

He took the photo because his job is to tell a story about something, so that others may do something to help the situation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com