Photograph response

a) In my group we focused on a photograph featured In the November 2007 edition of the National geographic magazine. The photograph is about hunting in Kentucky. It is a double page photograph that shows a black and brown elk with huge anthers dead on the bright green grass with a woman dressed in camouflage sat on the elk that she had just killed. The woman’s expression is odd because she looks like she had some regret about what she had done. The photograph shows hunting almost as an art. The elk is dead but there is no blood, or gore almost suggesting that hunting is a clean sport. The elk looks at peace. There is an obvious spotlight surrounding the dead elk and the woman to draw immediate attention to it. The photographer has made the photograph into something that you would show someone else as a piece of art. Although the photograph is good, it has been manipulated in order for the reader to not be disgusted by it. Many people are aware of how messy hunting can be, but the photograph does not show that part at all. The magazine leaves a big part of what is hunting is about out of the article. In the recent article “The Confident Gaze” Skehar Deshpande himself writes “They have an urge to satisfy the curiosity of the viewer while defining it” (2). Basically what Deshpande is saying is that the National geographic magazine photographers are modifying the photographs that they take in order to appeal to the viewers. They do not want their readers to be repulsed by what they see and would rather shield them from the truth.

b) On the cover of the 50th Anniversary of India’s independence featured in the National Geographic magazine we see a young boy painted red. It is a close up picture of the boy and the reader is immediately drawn to his eyes. His eyes are big and shiny and the viewer can see innocence about him while telling that he is emotional about something. His lips are dry and cracked that gives the illusion that he is deprived. We as viewers immediately feel sorry for him as we automatically assume that the boy has had a really hard life. What we forget to inform ourselves of is how there is a lens, a photographer and many other people involved while this picture is being taken. This boy is probably being told how to pose as the photographer is fully aware of what will tug at Western people’s hearts. While there is obvious emotions in the boys eyes we as readers have to ask ourselves, are these real emotions or is this boy just posing in front of a camera?