Extreme Street Photography and Photojournalism, 'WARNING' contains scenes of war

Kev Pugh

Kev Pugh

Well-Known Member
Came across this guy whilst trawling for some motion inspiration for a project I should be doing..........

Here recording the battle for Aleppo, Syria.............some amazingly artistic and creative shots expressing the tension and violence.

I get a feeling of a Tarantino Shoot but knowing this is for real makes the images for me more amazing

SYRIA: THE BATTLE FOR ALEPPO III (2012) - Images | Narciso Contreras/Press & Feature Photography

Hope no one is offended by this post...
 
A very striking body of work. Always difficult to get the right balance I can imagine. The choice of a bleach-bypass style of processing and dramatic camera angles do add to the drama and I think this tends to blur the line between the horror of war and the glamour of films. And it also raises questions about how ambivalent we have become about such scenes and events and that is in part due to the frequency with which we see pictures from conflicts and the apparent realism and graphic violence depicted in films. I am sure this 'coloured' his attitude when taking the shots.

Thanks for posting this Kev, it raises interesting issues.
 
Thanks for the link Kev.

I wish there were a few more photos of the victims of war. It seems mostly soldiers get portrayed ...
this is true for much of conflict photogrpahed last century and this.

I know from my friend who served the british army in the first gulf war, the things she was made to do has haunted her conscience ever since.
She now does charity work in arab countries particularly for children.

Many US soldiers returning from Iraq, Afganistan have commited suicide (in the thousands) due to what they did.
We as human beings are not killers.
The indoctrinaiton in the army, the heavy coctail of drugs is upposed to numb soldiers to feeling emotion, having a conscience.



Pete Askew said:
it also raises questions about how ambivalent we have become about such scenes and events and that is in part due to the frequency with which we see pictures from conflicts and the apparent realism and graphic violence depicted in films.
Click to expand...

Im afraid Pete until it happens to us we will as a whole continue being ambivalent.
 
ahmad bhai said:
Thanks for the link Kev.

I wish there were a few more photos of the victims of war. It seems mostly soldiers get portrayed ...
this is true for much of conflict photogrpahed last century and this.

I know from my friend who served the british army in the first gulf war, the things she was made to do has haunted her conscience ever since.
She now does charity work in arab countries particularly for children.

Many US soldiers returning from Iraq, Afganistan have commited suicide (in the thousands) due to what they did.
We as human beings are not killers.
The indoctrinaiton in the army, the heavy coctail of drugs is upposed to numb soldiers to feeling emotion, having a conscience.





Im afraid Pete until it happens to us we will as a whole continue being ambivalent.
Click to expand...

He has documented the victims too, these images are extremely graphic, I've added a link but would say not for those who have never witnessed such violent traumatic images or scenes..

SYRIA: CIVILIANS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (2012) - Images | Narciso Contreras/Press & Feature Photography
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kev Pugh said:
He has documented the victims too, these images are extremely graphic, I've added a link but would say not for those who have never witnessed such violent traumatic images or scenes..

SYRIA: CIVILIANS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (2012) - Images | Narciso Contreras/Press & Feature Photography
Click to expand...

Seriously consider how well you deal with death and images of it before clicking this link ...
Ive not seen anything like some of that... I had to close the window and I dont consider my self faint of heart ...

Wow ... not sure how to feel about it all really ... the quality of photography is stunning ...
My instinct, maybe as a photographer, oddly, was to feel for the photog witnessing the scenes.
But then you realise the rest of the people are just/more a part of it ...
The media does make us detached from this ... I suppose my reaction was a product of that detachment
 
Thanks for adding that Hamish, it is important to emphasise..

I did not post to shock but felt that the artistic nature of the first post was important in relation to the content, the latter being a response to a follow up post.

Having seem similar and in some cases worse I can understand how the photog maybe would deal with such...........the question that has once been asked is.

'As a photographer, being in a place where it is important to get the shot, would you, put down your camera and help the person or would you press your shutter first then maybe again before helping.........???

I have worked where I have had photogs shooting what I have been doing when I actually needed another set of hands to lift or move something and they were the only spare set to ask for...............

Sometimes the role we chose is not an easy one and we have to live with the consequences of our own actions.........


I will qualify this by saying I couldn't work as a Photog in this environment having come from the background I have come from, my instincts would be far from taking the shot, no matter what i was paid for it............

I think it takes a special type of person to do this and to report on this type of thing.........
 
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