Reality vs. “Glamour”

War photography

• Multiple people have gone to war – not to fight, but take photographs

• These photographs are sent back home, where people can see them on TV or in the newspapers

• However certain pictures are chosen for very different reasons – to make war ‘seem’ good or bad

“Glamour”

• Some photographs are taken to make war seem more ‘glamorous’ – to make it seem not as bad as it is

• These photographs are often used to get more people to join the military, or support their troops

• They help make war more ‘normal’ to people

• A famous photograph taken on the day that it was announced that World War 2 was officially over

• Seen throughout the world as a celebration of finally ‘winning’ the war

• A very famous

Image of the

Landings at

Normandy beach

What we don’t see

are the machine

guns and

explosions!

• An image taken from the Phillipine-American war of 1899-1902

• Shows Americans calmly aiming at the enemy – they appear happy, fed and warm. Bit of an adventure!

• A Russian man is seen flying a Russian flag over Berlin –while the city is in ruins, this photograph was taken to show the power the Russian army had.

If you look carefully, you can see the man at the bottom wearing two watches – the fact he obviously stole at least one caused the Russians much embarrassment

• This photograph shows American soldiers training with bayonets. It was generally used to recruit more people to the army – images like this showed war to be an exciting challenge!

• Taken during the Vietnam war

• Images like this used to demonstrate the power one side had – while the Vietnamese were portrayed to be using breaking down equipment, the Americans had super-weapons

• German army, world war I

• This would be sent back home to show Germany that everything was going well – the reality was much, much different

The Reality

• However in reality, many of these images are ‘fake’ – they don’t show what war is ‘really’ like

• Many people risk their lives travelling the world, taking photographs during and after wars, to try and show the world what is actually happening

• These photographs act more as a warning

• The aftermath of a massacre during World War 2 in Crimea. A mother has found the body of her son

• The bodies of dead soldiers, American Civil War

• A young (23) U.S Marine on his wedding day

• He was in a blast in Iraq, losing a hand and much of his face

• They were divorced 3 months later

• Gulf War: One soldier cries after finding out his best friend has been killed, the one next to him has been blinded