American Photography : My Thoughts....

Over the past 3 classes as we have watched these videos, one image in particular stood out for me. It was a very heartbreaking picture, and very thought provoking.


Phan Thi Kim Phúc, photo taken by AP photographer Nick Út

This image, more than the rest, stuck in my mind. For one, it showed some of the atrocities that the Americans back home either didn't like to admit took place, or didn't know about at all. It also showed how uninvolved the soldiers were. If you look at the soldier on the far right, he appears to be getting ready to have a smoke.

What kind of person would you have to be to just continue going about your regular business, have a smoke, when a naked child runs past you screaming after having been burned with napalm??

There are moments in time like this that are revealed to us, that without photography, we would never get to see or understand.