Alright, so I am not DPark, so I don't have 3 interviews. I have, however, interviewed Robert Hariman, the chair of Communications at Northwestern. He was very insightful, and gave me some great ideas on how to reposition my paper. He suggested that I focus on the way in which photographs can help us align our moral compass. He linked to his blog, nocaptionneeded.com, which seemed exactly like what I was writing my paper on. Hariman also has a book by the same title.
Most interestingly, Hariman argued that the Iwo Jima photograph is so compelling because
"the short answer is the composition. Not also that it is not a “war fighting” image: they are not shooting, etc, but rather a flag raising, which also can be a civilian ceremony. Thus, it can easily serve as a metaphor for citizen action, commitment to the war effort, and the like."
I found this very interesting, because although I recognized that there was no actual fighting going on in the photograph, I didn't realize that it was so "civilian."
In addition to that interview, I am also speaking with Professor McNulty, who teaches at Medill, NU's school of Journalism (widely considered the one of best in the country). I expect that he will email me back sometime this weekend.
My focus will be on ethics, (of sending photographers into a dangerous climate, and then taking photos of other peoples pain), technology (how in Vietnam, you saw the soldier's faces shot with 35 mm film, but now soldiers have more equipment and masks), and mobilization (how photos can affect people to act).
I have a few really great sources, including a TED talk by one of the co-founders of Getty images Jonathan Klein (thanks Gooms).
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