The news cycle, our social media feeds, and our lives in general are all quite hedonistic these days. There’s often little time to really look and reflect on things, or on photographs. It takes a lot for an image to embed itself in our memory.
Think of a few powerful photographs from the past few decades, ones that immediately spring to mind, or had a lasting impact, changed things (for better or worse), or that were widely published.
I’m assuming that at least half of those will be what I’d label ‘quiet photographs’.
What do I mean by quiet photos?
I’m not talking about a tranquil woodland scene, or a beach sunset, I’m focusing on journalistic imagery that tells a story, covers an event, and conveys an emotion. For me, quiet photos do all these things, but without screaming at you, and make you stop for those few extra seconds after seeing them.
They’re often more humanising than othering, perhaps have a touch of the surreal, and convey a sense of the tension having been dropped - serving you the aftermath.
Without breaking copyright and sharing these photos here, I think you know what images I’m talking about, if not, click on the links below for the visual aids.
Examples from just the past few years -
Nilüfer Demir’s photo of Aylan Kurdi’s dead body washed up on a Turkish beach
Ivor Prickett’s Young boy being carried out of the last remnants of Isis-controlled Mosul in Iraq
Tim Hetherington’s Sleeping Soldiers in the wider sense - not an event, but as a unique portrayal of the US army
Tom Stoddart’s- images of famine in Sudan
Mohammad Salem’s recent Palestinian woman holding the body of her killed nephew, Gaza
Konstantinos Tsakalidis Wildfires in Greece
Lynsey Addario’s Family killed whilst fleeing, Ukraine
Some slightly older ones -
Don McCullin’s Shellshocked US Marine
Chris Hondros’s Iraqi girl caught up in American raid
Kevin Carter’s The Vulture and the Little Girl
Nick Ut’s Napalm Girl
Eddie Adam’s Assassination in Vietnam
There’s a heavy emphasis in the photojournalism industry surrounding the drama and the dramatic, which can be necessary to convey a situation to the reader/viewer. But over the years I’ve come to believe that some of these ‘quieter’ images are the ones that stick with us, and arguably have had a bigger impact on geo politics, society, and our understanding of a situation.
Usually the recipe for a powerful quiet photo involves an unexpected or intimate glimpse at somewhere, or somebody, with an odd juxtaposition.
Why is quiet photography important?
My subjective view is that quiet photography is more impactful. Readers (as well as photographers) can find images of men prancing around with guns a tad repetitive, and they tend not to have a lengthy impact in our memories. They serve a purpose and are necessary, of course, but don’t usually have longevity. (One exception I’d say is Burhan Özbilici’s photo of Russian ambassador to Turkey being murdered, although this isn’t arguably what I’d call a quiet photograph.)
When you bring in the quieter shots, which usually centre around the victims of an event, rather than the active participants, things become a little more relatable - and that’s important when connecting with viewers. If somebody can’t relate and connect on the basic human level with a photograph, and those in it, they won’t look at it for too long. It’ll get sorted by our brain into the ‘awful, but happening to someone else, somewhere else’ category.
Quiet photographs step away from the Hollywood style action, make the viewer think a bit longer, and can help preserve the image in our memories.
Outcomes
Arguably the photo of Aylan Kurdi’s young body changed German and EU policy towards Syrian refugees, and heavily influenced Angela Merkel’s decision to open the country’s borders, to more than a million people that subsequently arrived.
It was a heartbreaking image, but wasn’t highlighting something new or unique. In the same year (2015) 3,771 refugees and migrants died attempting to reach Europe by sea, but images of some of those people didn’t have the same impact. Why?
Aylan’s young body was bloodless, light skinned, and partially anonymous, and for those reasons, it was more impactful on a European audience. He came to represent all the people that died crossing informally to Europe.
Leaving this post with some of my work below, which I think falls under the bracket of quiet photography, in its varying forms.
Take aways - if you’re looking to enter the photojournalism industry, or already amongst us - keep your eyes open for those quieter moments, not just the bang-bang.
Above - A deceased woman’s leg hangs from the ruins of her home, after she was crushed by the collapse of her own home whilst sleeping. Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, where a 7.9 earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday morning, 6th of February 2023. Taken on Tuesday 7th of February 2023.
Above - An Afghan woman sits expressionless on a bench in the port of Molyvos, Lesvos island, Greece, after being rescued by the Hellenic Coast Guard. She was rescued from a rubber dinghy which had engine trouble and left her stranded between Turkey and Greece, suffering from hypothermia and having witnessed the death of several travel companions.
Above - Przemyśl train station, Poland. A Polish volunteer distributes food to a newly arrived Ukrainian mother and child, outside the train station. The arrival point of tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion, the Polish border town of Przemyśl has set up vast facilities to assist the new arrivals.
Above - A collage from my Syrian Nakba series, of Syrian refugees in Turkey holding the keys to their homes in Syria, and included their thoughts on home, time since they were forced to leave, and their names and ages in the captions.
A mother rubs the feet of her 8 year old daughter, paralysed by a sniper bullet in their hometown in Idlib province, north western Syria. She remains hopeful that by rubbing and massaging her daughters' feet, she will regain some feeling.
Until next time …
Hey Bradley
So happy to see you writing and sharing here. Happy to share with my community!