The Effect of Disaster Photographed

 

General Photography

The Exposure Project picks up a topic that I have been worried about for quite a while: “Catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina certainly need to be documented, in order to bring awareness and understanding to issues that require resolution. However, when this documentation becomes too abundant it can act counterproductively. The real questions that need to be asked are, is there a point of saturation where this imagery become ineffective? And to what extent is this work created at the emotional expense of those truly impacted?” Note that this discussion is not necessarily about whether or not to show people!