After watching some very inspirational short films on James Nachtwey’s work, I have developed my views further.

Nachtwey quoted: “I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated”.

I think that this is an extremely powerful statement. James is inciting that he wants to put a stop to all of the problems of the war and he’s using his photograph’s to make a positive change. I truly believe that he wants to make a difference in the world and the fact that he doesn’t change anything about the scene by using the camera as a mere tool, to record the situation is fantastic. Nachtwey himself remains a ‘witness’, all he has to show is what he’s taken. So for me, the ‘testimony’, shows that he has lived through the situation and has viewed a certain moment and wants to present it to the rest of the world.

Here’s a video about his war photography. It includes him working and some interesting information on his practice:

The documentary pictures he displayed were so meaningful and powerful. Behind every single picture there was a message. He focuses on very the very powerful subject of war.

For example, he took various pictures of a homeless Indonesian family living at a train station. They had very poor circumstances and even had to live on the actual rails, extremely close to the passing trains. Also, In an unfortunate event the father lost two of his limbs: his left leg and his left arm. This was due to a train accident and the man was left without a job. Subsequently, he couldn’t further provide for his family and their current situation would’ve worsened. Here’s Nachtwey’s picture, that I’m referring to:

This series of photograph’s made people realize the family’s situation and subsequently take action. Soon the family were living in substantial conditions. It can take as little as a deteriorating and shocking image to change people’s views. In effect this changed their environment and lifestyle for the better. It surely shows that his documentary picture have the power to make a massive difference, which is amazing.

Nachtwey spoke at a TED talk entitled ‘My Photographs Bear Witness’. He discussed the picture above at @13:07 minutes into the clip. James also talked about various other photographs in the following video:

James Nachtwey produced a very powerful video, on a TED talk It begins at @2:00 minutes. It shows various pictures that he took from around the world. They all focus on one particular subject. It’s about XDR, a drug-resistant strain of Tuberculosis that has begun a worldwide medical crisis. Here’s the video:

Nachtwey’s photography in this film is very raw. He aims to show the negative sides of life and doesn’t sugar-coat anything at all. I also thought that the colours he used to be very effective. James utilised a bright yellow font against a dark background in-between the pictures. The yellow really popped and grabbed my attention. Yellow is the most luminous color in the spectrum. Interestingly, Nachtwey’s choice of bright yellow may have to do with the images being shown. Although the color can be representative of happiness, there are other underlying traits. In particular it represents physical illnesses for example: jaundice, malaria, and in this case TB. It screams the word caution, like in road signs. Insightfully, it’s also has many negative connotation worldwide like: Mexicans used bright yellow to signal death, Jews in the Middle Ages were labeled with yellow before prosecution. Therefore, I believe that Nachtwey chose this color to symbolize the negative effects. He may have chosen it to relate to ideological viewpoints of people and outline how serious and deadly the things he showed were.