
dinsdag, september 07, 2004
Tom Stoddart is a member of the very select club of great photographers. There is no shortage of photojournalists out there who bear witness to events around the world. Thank goodness for that! But then there is an altogether smaller group of photojournalists like Tom who, no matter what situation they are confronted with, bring a special talent to their role as witness.
How can I say anything about his work that doesn't seem like a platitude? Turn the pages of his book! There is famine in Sudan, the siege of Sarajevo, an earthquake in India, floods in Mozambique - all expressions of the madness of the world in which we live. Looking at Tom's career, certain constants can be seen in his work and of these, none reveal more about the man and the effectiveness of his images than their profound sense of humanity.
There are, indeed, images that show stark and violent events, but the pictures themselves are not hard to view, and it is the situations in them, whether man-made or the work of nature, to which we respond.
Lees verder in de Digital Journalist van deze maand. (Het artikel is geschreven door Jean-François Leroy, dus aan ronkende taal geen gebrek.)
How can I say anything about his work that doesn't seem like a platitude? Turn the pages of his book! There is famine in Sudan, the siege of Sarajevo, an earthquake in India, floods in Mozambique - all expressions of the madness of the world in which we live. Looking at Tom's career, certain constants can be seen in his work and of these, none reveal more about the man and the effectiveness of his images than their profound sense of humanity.
There are, indeed, images that show stark and violent events, but the pictures themselves are not hard to view, and it is the situations in them, whether man-made or the work of nature, to which we respond.
Lees verder in de Digital Journalist van deze maand. (Het artikel is geschreven door Jean-François Leroy, dus aan ronkende taal geen gebrek.)