Photography consists of many different genres, some of which focus mostly on people such as portrait photography, and some focus on the scenery of a moment such as landscape photography or street photography. Products of these evoke different feelings in people, sometimes through the expression of the eyes of another or sometimes with their decisive moments. They have a power to change perspectives and thoughts, make people realize the weight of unthinkable situations. Between the vast range of genres in photography, this drastic changing effect is most clearly seen in war photography due to its exhibition of raw reality of the world.
War photography deeply influences its audience and its photographer. It requires special willpower and courage to take as well as see the photographs of lost lives and the graphic and unmasked realities of the war. It is to show the truth and tell a story. If it is traced back to its origin, it cannot be known for sure who took the first photograph of war since first times in photography are mostly in conflict and prone to changes. Unofficially, first attempts at photographing war came from an unknown photographer documenting scenes from Mexican-American war in Saltillo, Mexico in 1847. The shots taken were daguerreotypes, which was the main procedure to take photos in those times and it took nearly fifteen minutes of exposure to photograph an image. The shots portrayed the amiable reality of war such as the generals, landscapes and post-battle clean grounds; they did not show the grim reality, the chaos, the wounded and the dead. Officially, it was Roger Fenton’s photos of the Crimean War in 1855 which is considered to be the first attempt at conveying the condition of war (Sontag, 2003, p. 48). Later, with the developments in photography methods and new inventions starting with Kodak’s first hand-held camera in 1888, the roll paper film and 35 mm film camera Leica, much later to the digital and mirrorless cameras of the nowadays, it became easier and faster to photograph a scene, carry a camera around and develop the shots. Through these, war photography became quite common in the years between 1930 and 1970 together with the impact of World War 2 and its after effects.
Now that photographers had their portable cameras with rolls of film to carry around the field, they were ready to go, see and document the destruction of war and its consequences. Going straight into the hearts of battle to take photographs requires courage and commitment to an idea. Robert Capa was one of those brave photographers. Throughout his life, he photographed not only the Spanish Civil War but also the Normandy Landings, along with many other conflicts. His photograph named “Falling Soldier” is still considered to be an iconic photograph of war which captured the moment of a soldier being shot in Spanish Civil War. The depiction of immediate death of a soldier is as powerful as it is a demonstration of how the reality of war is: abrupt and unpredictable. Another one of Capa’s important work is the photographs he took in the Normandy landings, where he landed in Omaha Beach with the first wave of US troops in 1944, and he took the photographs of all the chaos and action. The surviving 11 photographs show the magnitude and destructiveness of D-Day to the people who did not fight in the frontlines of war. Moreover, Margaret Bourke-White, who was the first woman war photographer of LIFE Magazine and also the first foreign photographer to be allowed to document the Soviet Union in 1929-1933, showed people in the concentration camp in Buchenwald, demonstrating the unjust reality of war and despair most people suffered during World War 2.
War photography’s power to display unpredictable moments and to raise awareness also showed itself in the times of the Vietnam War. Many photographers such as Nick Ut, Eddie Adams, Horst Faas, Malcolm W. Browne etc. contributed to anti-war movements with their photos showing the irreversible damage people experienced at that time. Nick Ut’s photo “Napalm Girl” captured the moment of an injured little girl along with other children running away from the napalm bombing, and it became the symbol of the Vietnam War. Eddie Adams’ photo of immediate execution of Viet Cong prisoner on the road, Horst Faas’ photo of farmer with his dead child in his arms, Malcolm W. Browne’s photo of a monk who set himself on fire to protest against South Vietnamese government’s choices and many other powerful photos became the reason for the change of public opinion. Photos of these grim moments have brought war to everyone, not only to the people up front.
War photography did not cease to exist after the years of 1970’s; however, it took a turn with the development of digital cameras and television. Producing and publishing a photo has become faster and easier with digital cameras which has also contributed to it turning into a widespread tool as well as revealing many new photographers and photos. But, the preference for television to receive information has increased, as a turn caused newspapers and magazines, where the photographs were widely published, to become second option rather than the first to inform the world. Certainly, this development did not stop the usage of war photography as a tool to evoke emotions and raise awareness for most events since photographs have deeper influence than a video or a news broadcast. Mostly, it is the photographs of an event and the feelings it creates which are remembered deeply, that is why war photography is still and will be a powerful tool to capture the moment of inevitable, to document symbolic historical moments and to convey and awaken emotions that will not be experienced in ordinary time. Nowadays, the most recent war being the Russia-Ukraine war, it still continues to show the situation of what has been going on and serves as a bridge between people who are not directly affected and reality.
The human drive to create conflict and suffer its consequences will continue to exist; therefore, war photography will continue to exist. There must be a medium of documenting such situations so that it conveys the reality of others, and photography is one of the best ways to do so. There are many great photographers, photos and events which were/are documented that go beyond the limits of this paper; it is to say, there are many other events and photographers apart from those that are discussed in this paper. However, there should be a place to start understanding the idea of war photography, and this is a good starting point.
