Introduction
After watching a block of photos made by journalist Paula Brownstein, it is hard not have tears in the eyes. This woman is a great photographer and she put her soul into these pictures. The main idea of these photos is to express the life of ordinary people in Afghanistan 15 years ago. Some pictures are really terrible. The culture and way of life of those people are quite different from European ones and it is very sad. The photographer chose the right position and light to show all the feelings of her characters. The key images are about women at school, a girl with some terrible disease and the bride in her wedding dress. I think this collection consists of different bright images to compare different sides of live in Afghanistan. When we see a girl with a terrible disease or soldiers after the war in Afghanistan, or poor women who do not have any vote there, horror touches us and we begin to imagine how difficult life these people have. All background adds some emotions to the images. With the help of additional details the picture is clearer for us. We can feel the same emotions that people in the photos feel. The photos have correct lines, shapes, shadows and tonality. The light is chosen correctly and it plays a very important role in the photo. The next point is the design of the photo: there is symmetrical balance, the emphasis is on the faces of characters, the photographer chose right, proportion, unity and variety of the images; the lighting is under the right angle, in some pictures it is direct, in other pictures it is diffuse. The concept of this photographer is that she wanted to show all emotions of people on her pictures, their happy and unhappy moments. With the help of the pictures with the bride in her wedding dress or a girl, smelling a flower the journalist wanted to show that in the world of sorrow and terrible war of Afghanistan, there is some beauty and people can be happy and feel positive emotions.
Story by Paula Bronstein
When I have read the story about Paula Bronstein’s visit to Kabul, I was terrified and after that I understood the main idea of her pictures. She wrote about a mother and her two children who smoked heroin. This scene was so terrible that the author was shocked and had no words. In our society it is a terrible situation, but not in Afghanistan. People there live in despair. Such children have no future and it is terrible. Their mother teaches them how to smoke. After such an episode, Paula came back and back, focusing only on photographing stories away from the war’s front lines. She depicted how average Afghans coped with war. (Bronstein 1) With her photos she showed the life of ordinary Afghan women and their poor children, their illness and their poor life. She described the sorrow of widows. Her pictures are full with sorrow and emotions. She also published the book “Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear,” with her pictures. Only a person who worries about the life of these poor people can reflect all their feeling in her photos. She used a selective focus for creating emphasis.There are different kinds of photos. Photos can be made well but with any emotions and if you look at them, you can only say that the work of the photographer is great, but when we look at the photos of Paula, we are filled with emotions and understanding of the whole world.
There are surprises in Paula’s images — the unexpected splashes of color. (Bronstein 1)
Description of some special photos
I want to describe one of the pictures. It is a girl with a terrible disease. She is standing near the wall with some black holes, her face is the same and she is so afraid and despaired. Nobody can help her with her disease and she is lost in this cruel world. It was great for the photographer to find such a background and to catch such a moment with that girl. In these pictures and from the expression on her face, we can see how horrible the situation in Afghanistan is. Nobody cares about children. Women and children are not cared at all. Everyone tries to survive in this cruel world of war and Paula felt all this pain and shows to people with the help of her images.
Conclusions
As a conclusion, it is possible to say that images can show and reflect a lot of things. They can tell us stories even though they are silent and not alive. All depend on the photographer and her creativity and her ability to focus on the object. It is not an easy thing to make live, full of emotions pictures, it is a great talent, so not everyone who has a great camera can make great pictures.
Paula said that things in Afghanistan are not going well, the bombing that just happened, it’s just a bad sign of things to come. The world does want to forget about Afghanistan. (Bronstein 1)
These pictures will remain in my memory forever and the creativity of the photographer will be a great example for me.
Works Cited
Bronstein, Paula. Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear. New York, 2016. Web. Jan. 28, 2017
