Poverty and Photography

     The week we analyzed photography and the ways we can frame a story was really intriguing.  I decided I wanted to do more research on other photographers who tried to tell the story of poverty.  One artist I found was Stephen Shames through an article by the New York Times that was reviewing his photographs.  According to the New York Times article, it was reviewed positively, stating that that his pictures were able to capture the condition of poverty with children (http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/30/arts/review-photography-poverty-among-america-s-children.html).  The article argues that Stephen Shames had successfully portrayed children in poverty because he had separated himself from the photographs and had not tried to impose his individual feelings in the photo.  After I read this article,  I decided to look up some of his photos and use a GPP perspective to analyze his photos and make conclusions for myself.  I decided to analyze this photo (6^th photo when you scroll down) by Stephen Shames in following website:http://www.arsivfotoritim.com/yazi/stephen-shames-ruyanin-disinda/.  The photo is three poor children sharing a mattress.  Initially, my first thought was how he had permission to get a photo of them sleeping, and how having a photo of them sleeping portrays poverty.   If I had seen this photo in a different context, I may not have thought it had to do with poverty.  In this respect, it makes the photo interesting since it isn’t the obvious “photo of poverty” that is often portrayed on TV asking for donations.  Maybe the point of the photo was not to present poverty in the opposite way or a way that does not sensationalize their condition.  Through a new GPP lens, I feel as a viewer I’m able to be more aware and more cautious of what story people are trying to portray.