The image shows a lone Jewish settler struggling against the Israeli Anti-riot police in the wake of riots against the forceful eviction of settlers in this site to the east of the town of Ramallah. Pulitzer Award winning Israeli documentary photographer Oded Balilty captures this moment in the event, in the politics of Israeli. Oded Balilty is a photographer working with Associated Press and captured this event in the wake of eviction of settlers in this Israeli township, sanctioned by the Israeli high court (PRODIG, par 4).
Photographs serve many roles in life. Social, political, informative the messages that a photograph can carry within its content are as diverse as there is light. This photograph plays a social role by informing the people through journalism of the plight of the people of Ramallah, their eviction. Before the invention of photography, artists were bestowed upon the role of immortalizing scenarios in color through their paintings. The photograph holds an advantage over paintings in that it is uninhibited by the personal musings of the photographer and is open to interpretation by the observer (Yapp, pr 6). The photographer might utilize various skills to emphasize on certain aspects of the scene but in no way plays a role in changing the context of the photograph content to the disadvantage of the consumer. This photo therefore is a reliable representation of the Ramallah conflict as the photographer has no ability to add to, or deduct from the subjects in the frame, except by failing to capture them. Photography, however, is a learned skill and the photographer possess a set of skills that enhance the richness of the message carried by the photograph and hence its informative value. The authenticity provided by a photograph has rendered it reliable, and it has found use in criminal proceeding as an agreeable source of evidence against individuals. This trait also renders them to be more authentically reliable journalistic vessels than human beings (Yapp, pr 6). By the use of this image by Oded Balilty, this paper delves into its in-depth analysis concentrating on the aspects that render themselves available for interpretation by use of specific aspects of photography.
The content of the photo is a woman who is visible from the fore of the photo, the police and a multitude of other individuals. The content of the photo is important in this context since it is the main subject of which the photographer attempts at communicating. The woman is seen to be struggling against the police. She is on one side; the police are on the other. Therefore, it forms the major theme plot of this photo as the struggle between the woman and the police. The background of the photograph indicates smoke insinuating violence in the events following up to the one shown in the photograph. The background of this photo is important since it provides the bigger setting within which the events captured by the photograph happened. It helps make sense to the photo. If a woman were seen struggling with so many police in a plain strip of ground and nothing more, the observer would have wondered what would be the reason for this woman to struggle against so many police? However, the inclusion of the background gives the photo some context of violence and disorderliness. The photographer approaches the subjects in an almost straightforward way in his style of photography. There are no discernible angles in capturing the main contents of the photo, which are the police and the woman. However, the spectator multitude standing on elevated ground is captured in an elevated angle. This angle helps emphasize the multitude in a way that a straight angle would have failed to enhance. The photographer, therefore, intended for the spectators to play a role in the interpretation of this photograph. The spectators stand there in no obvious confrontation with the police, who seem to direct all their focus on the woman despite the background evidence revealing the scenario as a conflict involving/ affecting more individuals rather than a woman in isolation. The magnitude of the smoke in the photograph reveals some destruction of property to a large scale in comparison to an individual effort attempting at resisting it.
The style the photographer uses in approaching this photograph is documentary, with the emphasis being on recording the woman, the police and the spectators. The emphasis on recording the violence and the people involved in it acts as a documentary on the occurrence of the event. The focus of the photograph is on the woman; it focuses her presence as the foremost object of the photo. The focus helps people decipher the situation she faces against a swarm of police officers. This focus makes the style of photography utilized in here as expressive. Expressive photography is where the photographer concentrates on the emotions of his subjects in the photograph (PRODIG, par 4). The photographs reveal the woman as to be having a pained expression on her face as she struggles to maintain her ground against a wave of surging police. Form the information thus attained from the analysis of the photograph; the intention towards its capturing and production is to communicate a political message. Politics in this context, being the wider principles and dynamics at play in the governance of the people, rather than the common stereotypical understanding of deceit and exploitation employed by people in governance.
In the light of the intent of the photographer, the subjects of the photograph, the woman and the police are engaged in a tussle between a push to submission by the police, and the power of resilience embodied by the woman. The woman is a person of high resolve. Standing up against such a big troop of suited police alone indicates the length that people can go in defense of what they deem to be right. In contrast, the spectators form a neat line in the background, perhaps marveling at the tenacity of this woman. Their failure to get involved may suggest an implicit fear by the population in general to stand up and claim what they believe should be theirs. This mentality of standing back and looking up onto some few brave men and women for inspiration is shown as counterproductive, since by the look of things in the photograph; it is obvious that the woman was fighting on the losing end. In retrospect, the police can be said to exercise a great deal of restraint in handling the woman (Menon, 76). There is no indication of ‘over the top’ violence used on the woman despite her spirited efforts against the enforcement authorities. The photographer is therefore trying to depict that the government is reasonably trying to execute a necessary function of governance against a stubborn and resilient populace. This inference is made by information available on the photo that the Supreme Court had approved the demolition of the squatter’s houses. In this reversed interpretation, the woman would be seen as a stubborn ingrate who is bent on frustrating the law.
Another aspect of consideration is the caption, ‘A lone Jewish settler challenges Israeli security officers during clashes that erupted as authorities cleared the West Bank settlement of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah. Thousands of troops in riot gear and on horseback clashed with hundreds of stone-throwing Jewish settlers holed up in this illegal West Bank outpost after Israel’s Supreme Court cleared the way of demolition of nine homes at the site.’(AP news, Par 1) The caption accompanying the photograph informs people that the clash in the photograph was a part of a bigger confliction that happened between the police and thousands of stone throwing protesters after the demolition or scheduled demolition of illegal settlements in the West Bank outpost of Amona. Shall it provide the same information through critical analysis? The photograph would certainly mislead. The woman is the main protagonist to the police in this picture, while the caption informs us that the altercation happened between thousands of protestors against hundreds of police. Thus, in a separate analysis of the photograph, the observer would not know the police are quelling a demonstration involving more people than the woman alone. The caption therefore serves the purpose of providing extra information to the one served by the photograph. The crowds, who are presently standing in a neat line at a far distance, seem orderly, and a majority of them, disinterested in the happenings of the commotion below them between the woman and the police. A good number of them are watching however, but besides that, they seem to be doing nothing much. The level of distraction amongst the crowd members may indicate that they are involved in some disorder with many people talking simultaneously. This inference may lead to the conclusion that they have just calmed down from their protests but are still recovering from their excitement to attain any level of meaningful concentration. From this interpretation; therefore, the woman would be the last individual willing to give up her struggle against the police. But this is a long and highly induced interpretation aided to a large extent by the caption. The photograph on its own would find it hard to depict this message. This use of the caption is a clever way to communicate a wide-ranging message by the photographer, by choosing a specific human perspective, rather than the abstract message of violence and protest as the subject of the photo. Besides the use of background and other aspects cleverly, the photo utilizes the caption to put it in its complete purpose as a journalistic piece.
The other aspects of this photograph that are open to evaluation on their applicability in journalistic endeavors are whether the photograph attains its professional requirements, if so, how it does it, and if not, what attributes deny it the classification of being a sound piece of journalism. Journalistic photographs require that they attain a level of, timelessness, or have meaning in relation to recently reported on goings; objectivity, or have a fair representation of the events they show both in nature and the way of depicting; narrative, or the image should relate to the observer on a cultural level (Yapp, pr 6). The image under observation depicts timelessness in the context of this consideration. The picture is based on the conflict that has been ongoing in the Gaza strip and the west bank for a long time. The mention of West Bank arouses an immediate relation to conflict, informed by numerous news reports of conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities (PRODIG, par 4). The photograph depicts this reality thus giving it the quality of timelessness. The photo attains the attribute of objectivity in its reporting by showing the two conflicting sides in a balanced portrayal, where the police, despite their innumeracy, use moderate exertion on the lady. The lady would be easily subdued if the police use force beyond the extent they are shown using. While the lady might have later on be subdued, the photojournalist is careful to show her in a controlling situation thus avoiding stirring further conflict on the view of one party using undue force on the other.
The final consideration of a photojournalistic piece is the aspect of the narrative. Narrative is the use of the image to combine with other news media to relate to the reader on a cultural level. This is similar to the timelessness aspect only that it requires the image to resonate culturally. This aspect is seen in the mode of dressing utilized by the woman in the photo. She is dressed in a flowing dress implying a religious or a conservative cultural background, which resonates well with the region, given the religious heritage it enjoys.
A deeper reflection of the events that are painted in the outer background indicates those of increased sense of strife. The persons captured in the image at the far background seem to be engaged in a conflicting situation. This is essential in the illustration of the increased sense of conflict that is depicted in the image. The sense of conflict or strife is the main impression that is depicted in the image. However, a deeper understanding on the settings upon which the image was developed allows for the integration of the ideal fathom of the events that described the occurrence of the noted conflict.
Works Cited
Menon, Krishna. Media Communication and Photo Journalism. Delhi, India: Manglam Publications, 2008. Print.
Nuovo . "Basic Strategies in Reading Photographs." Nuovo.com. Nuovo, 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
PRODIG. "Pulitzer Photography Prize." PRODIG digital photography news. PRODIG, 7 Apr. 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Yapp, Nicholas, and Amanda Hopkinson. Photo Journalism =: Photo Journalismus = Photojournalisme. Potsdam: H. F. Ullmann, 2012. Print.
