Dear friend,
How can you use photography as a tool for empowerment and positive social change?
Download PDF: The Camera is Mightier than the Sword
The saying, ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ is a saying that was coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839. The original context was from his play ‘The Conspiracy’:
True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — itself is nothing! —
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword —
States can be saved without it!
Ignore modern society
The sad thing is that I think a lot of people in modern society (especially educated academics) are very pessimistic. They have little hope, optimism, and positivity. They just see doom and gloom (perpetuated by mass media), and fail to see progress, hope, and joy.
This also happens a lot in photography: we forget the power of photography; the power of photography to change the hearts and minds of others.
There are some pessimists who say that photography doesn’t have any power anymore; but I beg to disagree.
Photography (or the camera) is mightier than the sword.
VIETNAM. This boy was killed by U.S. helicopter gunfire while on his way to church – a Catholic church – whose members were avid supporters of the government, who were in turn pro-American. The result was a disillusioned urban population, reluctant to believe in or support their discredited leaders. 1968
VIETNAM DU SUD. US Air Force. “Yankee station” is the area in the south China Sea where the United States carriers position themselfs for bombing runs on Vietnam. 1966
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Quang Ngai. This group was not recovering from surgery so, to free up scarce beds, they transferred to an outbuilding to die. The determination was made by the hospital’s solitary Spanish surgeon. There was no way he could operate on everyone; he explained with tears in his eyes, “Every morning I have to play God – deciding who will die and who I will give a chance to live.” 1967
VIETNAM. US Air Force. 1971
VIETNAM. Long Binh. Discarded equipment collects in stockpiles as the ground war draws to a close. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Cam Ranh. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Cam Ranh. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Cam Ranh. 1970
VIETNAM DU SUD. Saigon. 1967
VIETNAM. General William Westmoreland. 1967
VIETNAM DU SUD. Saigon. 1966
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Danang. A U.S. Marine demonstrates how to bathe a child to bored Vietnamese mothers. 1967
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. MACV headquaters, Tan Son Nhut Airport. These are MACV (MIlitary Assistance Command, Vietnam) personnel who were lectured monthly on the progress of pacification. 1970
VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. 1968
VIETNAM. Hue. Refugees flee across a damaged bridge. Marines intended to carry their counterattack from the southern side, right into the citadel of the city. Despite many guards, the Vietcong were able to swim underwater and blow up the bridge, using skin-diving equipment from the Marines.
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Saigon. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Saigon. 1967
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Saigon. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Danang. 1970
VIETNAM. Refugee camp. In this camp, the “Psy-Ops” officer discovered he’d forgotten to order “indigenous reading material” for the inmates, so he dished out Playboy magazine instead. 1967
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Operation “Cedar Falls”. 1967
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Vietnamese being moved in Chinook helicopters to “Freedom Camps”. 1967
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Operation “Cedar Falls”. 1967
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Song Tra. 1967
VIETNAM. 1967. Aerial view of one of the villages of the Bantangan peninsula during a “Search and Destroy” operation. Smoke rises from homes burning among neat, well-cared-for paddy fields.
VIETNAM. Quang Ngai. 1967
VIETNAM. 1968
VIETNAM. 1968. ARVN soldier enters battle armed with toothbrush and playmate.
CAMBODIA. Car salesmen used to follow soldiers into the field to make their sales (“so the boys will have a real reason for wanting to get home in one piece”). As the fighting intensified, they found it safer to send catalogs. 1970
VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. 1968
VIETNAM. 1967.
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Ben Tre. 1970
VIETNAM. Delta and My Tho. 1967
VIETNAM. The parents of young children were rarely present in the village of Vietnam. Americans often wondered where all the children came from. The fathers were often away fighting for one side or the other, and the mothers had jobs servicing the G.I.’s. Whether officially called cleaning, laundering, shoe-shining, or even car-washing, “servicing” usually meant prostitution. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. 1970
VIETNAM. Every home has a thick slab of hardwood, used as a table, bed and an air-raid shelter. 1967
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. The vietnamese village. Rise is traditionally threshed by walking a buffalo over it. This costs nothing and is a pleasant way to spend an evening.1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. MACV headquaters, Tan Son Nhut Airport. These are MACV (MIlitary Assistance Command, Vietnam) personnel who were lectured monthly on the progress of pacification. 1970
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. 1970
CAMBODIA. 1980. Human remains. This Buddha reclined in a cave below a temple surrounded by the remains of many Cambodians. Situated near the town of Sisophon in the northeast of the country, the area had recently been occupied by Vietnamese troops.
VIETNAM. In Quang Ngai Province everything that moved was a target. It had been strongly Communist for thirty years and in practice U.S. policy was genocide. Each morning, a few lucky survivors of the previous night’s carnage made it to the province hospital. The newly developed antipersonnel weapons caused a problem – their plastic darts did not show up on X-rays. 1967
VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. 1968
VIETNAM. Quang Ngai. This guerrilla fighter had just thrown a grenade, killing one member of the platoon and wounded two others. In the resulting fracas, he too was killed. The incident occurred in what had once been a quiet hamlet in central Vietnam, probably in the very field in front of his home where he’d spent his youth tilling the soil. 1967
VIETNAM. Can Tho. A beautiful daughter could be a bonanza for a poor family. She could earn more in one night than her father in a month. The average prostitute earned more than President Thieu’s official salary. Their money helped support family members back in the countryside. After the war, many slipped back into the puritanical life of the village. 1970
VIETNAM. South China Sea. US Air Force. As part of the techno-war concept, the idea of an automated battlefield was widely touted. Aircraft carriers – floating airstrips, secure from the attack – would respond to requests for bombing. The pilots never saw the faces of those they killed and maimed. It was considered important to protect men from sights that could produce emotional reactions. 1971
VIETNAM. This operation by the 1st Cavalry Division to cut the Ho Chi Minh trail failed like all the others but the U.S. military were shaken to find such sophisticate weapons stockpiled in the valley. Officers still talked of winning the war, of seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel.” As it happened there was a light, that of a fast-approaching express train. 1968
VIETNAM. 1985. Amerasian girl. Like most people that measure value by the paleness of the skin, the Vietnamese do discriminate against the offspring of black fathers (although the extent of their prejudice is probably exaggerated.) This girl, in a school in the countryside, seemed well liked. Back in Saigon, Amerasians claimed persecution, hoping to get visas to emigrate to America.
VIETNAM. 1967. GI with child. Older soldiers that missed their families befriended dogs and children. The canines proved more congenial. More dogs than wives were taken back to the US.
VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. Pity the poor fighting man in Vietnam. The problem was always too much water or too little. In the early days of the war, water was shipped from California, the indigenous sort considered unsafe. Later it was made “palatable” with huge quantities of chlorine. Wiser men know to fill up with the natural variety. 1968
VIETNAM. In an attempt to impose the American value system on the Vietnamese, the Marines concluded operations called, in Orwellian Newspeak, “county fairs.” Villagers were taught how to wash their children, made to watch Disney films on hygiene, had their teeth pulled, were given real toilets with seats, and were introduced to filter tips. 1967
USA. NEW YORK. Published in Newsweek: “The poor in the land of plenty. Surrounded by the icons of success the blind man begs. He cannot see us. We are learning not to see him.” was my caption. 1995
CAMBODIA. Prisoners of war were afforded very different treatment by each side. Americans were treated reasonably (the ranting of the MIA movement in America aside), whereas captured Vietcong were tortured, raped, and killed. Some ended in the tiger-cages of the U.S. administered Con Son prison, where conditions would have staggered a Spanish Inquisitor. 1970
GB. ENGLAND. 1960. Nanny watching Military Parade passing down the Mall. Armed forces are always eager to brandish their latest purchases, by which some members of the public are possibly reassured.
USA. ATLANTA. While her parents slammed car doors and tested radios, this girl tried out the ledge behind the back seat.
JAPAN. The streets of Japanese cities amaze visitors who marvel at their neat and orderly appearance. The efficiency of Japanese society relies on the personal acceptance of responsibility. This affords a great advantage to the authorities. However, even in Japan values are changing. The number of jay-walkers increases every decade.1984
THAILAND. All societies that have embraced consumerism owe a huge debt to the media for facilitating its acceptance. 1977
SOUTH KOREA. Street Scene. The Korean War had been over for fourteen years. Most of South Korea had looked much as it had for centuries. This was the main street of Sokcho, a town in North Korea before the war began-now complimented with a reminder. 1967
GRENADA. Grenadians for generations had welcomed the only foreigners they encountered – tourists – so U.S. forces had the rare experience of being surrounded by polite and friendly locals. For many Americans, the Grenada invasion was seen as a morale booster after the defeat in Vietnam. 1983
SPAIN. 1963. Sunday afternoon and the main business was ogling women. There was a certain desperation evident in this activity.
GB.ENGLAND. Social change in the 1960s had the positive effect of taking some pressure off men to behave always in a dominant manner. Here the girl was behaving like a man. 1961
GB. NORTHERN IRELAND. In the narrow terraced streets built for the working people of Northern Ireland (every house except the last needs only three walls), the closely knit communities of differing religious persuasions are encouraged to battle one another. 1965
GB. NORTHERN IRELAND. 1973. The incongruities of daily life in the urban war zone. For years, the people of Northern Ireland lived in a strange and strained symbiosis with the occupying British army.
GB. NORTHERN IRELAND. Since ancient times, the shield has presented a challenge to military designs — how to see the enemy without sacrificing protection. The latest development is one made of Plexiglas. Unfortunately, it affords a dimmed visibility after repeated blows. 1973
MAURITIUS. A rare moment when the constituent symbols of colonialism come together in a frame. On a French sugar plantation the owner, with his dog, guide visiting priests around the garden of his mansion. 1966
SUDAN. 1988. Demented boy. The sons of the Dinka people of Southern Sudan look after the family cattle often miles away from their villages. When government soldiers massacre the inhabitants the boys are often the only survivors. Many walk hundreds of miles to reach refugee camps along the border. Some, like this boy, go insane from their experiences.
GAMBIA. On the riverbank in Gambia near Juffure, home of the slave Kunte Kinte of Roots fame. Nowadays, Swedish visitors have made this poor West African country a favoured tourist destination, especially for older single women who find the local men amenable. In earlier times, slaves were gathered on the island in mid-river before being shipped to the West Indies. 1978
GB. Liverpool, School Outing.This group of school children and their teacher were waiting to board a bus. Liverpudlians have always expressed an intensity rarely seen on other faces. When Evelyn Waugh described people like this in his novels, he was accused of fantasy. 1952.
GB. WALES. Miners at the Cwm colliery in South Wales. These kings of the working class sensed that their world would soon change. Miners always elicited extreme reactions from the ruling class, who saw them as enemy to be destroyed. Today they are virtually all gone – for reasons unconnected with economics. 1957
VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. 1968
VIETNAM. South Vietnam. Quin Hon. U.S. Soldiers with a group of captured Vietcong suspects. 1967
VIETNAM. Vietnamese youth being arrested by soldier of the US 9th. Division on the outskirts of Saigon. Innocent peasants take the brunt of the US military Drive. 1968
VIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. American G.I’s often showed compassion toward the Vietcong. This sprang from a soldierly admiration for their dedication and bravery; qualities difficult to discern in the average government soldier. This VC had fought for three days with his intestines in a cooking bowl strapped onto his stomach. 1968
VIETNAM. This woman was tagged, probably by a sympathetic corpsman, with the designation VNC (Vietnamese civilian). This was unusual. Wounded civilians were normally tagged VCS (Vietcong suspect) and all dead peasants were posthumously elevated to the rank of VCC (Vietcong confirmed). 1967
VIETNAM. Human skulls were a favorite souvenir among the soldiers and their officers. The commander of this unit, Colonel (now Brigadier General) George S. Patton III, carried around a skull at his farewell party. 1967
CAMBODIA. This amphibious assault was to establish a beachhead for a barbecue. Vast quantities of meat and beer were consumed while local Vietnamese looked on. Such activities were prompted to engender morale among the troops and to expose the Vietnamese to what was considered the superior American ways of life. 1970
VIETNAM. Called a “little tiger” for killing two “Vietcong women cadre” – his mother and teacher, it was rumored. 1968
VIETNAM. The Saigon fire department had the job of collecting the dead from the streets during the Tet offensive. They had just placed this young girl, killed by U.S. helicopter fire, in the back of their truck, where her distraught brother found her. When The New York Times published this photograph, it implied there was no proof that she was killed by American firepower. 1968
VIETNAM. Quang Ngai. This was a village a few miles from My Lai. It was a routine operation – troops were on a typical ” search and destroy” mission. After finding and killing men in hiding, the women and children were rounded up. All bunkers where people could take shelter were then destroyed. Finally the troops withdrew and called in an artillery strike of the defenseless inhabitants. 1967
For example, I’ve been studying the work of Philip Jones Griffiths , who made ‘Vietnam Inc’: and his work had a huge influence on the American public; shifting the perspective of America’s involvement in the Vietnamese War. Essentially, Philip Jones Griffith’s photos influenced the American public to question the war– and sparked more Anti-War sentiment in Vietnam.
I am the eternal optimist; I do believe that photography has this phenomenal power to change the hearts, souls, and attitudes of others.
Unfortunately in modern society, with Facebook, Instagram, and silly ‘lifestyle’ culture, photography is just being used to sell stuff– to sell a certain lifestyle, to sell expensive luxury goods, sell expensive cars, homes, etc.
But I do believe that we have the power as photographers to promote more ‘positive’ values, to show many different things. For example:
To promote joy, gratitude, and love with our photos by photographing our loved ones (personal photography )
To promote open-mindedness to foreign cultures and other places in the world via street photography and travel photography.
To use photography as a tool to uncover injustice in the world.
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So friend, just ask yourself:
“How can I use photography as a tool for empowerment and positive social change?”
ERIC
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