Finbarr O’Reilly, a talented war photographer, writing in The Washington Post:
Photographers may aspire to capture scenes that galvanize public opinion and pressure world leaders to act to end wars, but few images — if any — have ever done this. The most graphic and disturbing images from Ukraine and Gaza have hardly slowed the carnage.
So I focus on gentle interactions, quiet conversations and gestures. I’m steadily amazed by the openness and candor with which people share their lives and experiences, no matter how traumatic.
In the end, maybe photographs only serve to remind us of what happened. If I’ve done my job, the image carries empathy and concern. The rest is up to those who wield real power to do theirs.
O’Reilly is a member of the VII Photo Agency and a Canon Ambassador.
This post is part of a series of posts on this blog exploring why we make photographs. You can see the full series of posts here.
