Blog Action Day: aftermath

Did blogs change the world? I don't think so (and I'm not the only one). A nice idea, but really only about 10,000 signed up. Out of the millions of bloggers (let alone the rest of the online community) that's a drop in the ocean.

The other thing is the lack of originality (me as much to blame as the rest). Too much right-think, turns into same-think (crimethink??). It is new ideas, different thinking and major action that moves things forward. Do what you've always done, get what you've always got.

So, on that note, here is a slightly different take on the matter that I found among the mass I read yesterday.

OK, I'll get back on topic tomorrow.

Poverty: what can photographers do?

Siesta, India, August 2008

Having talked in my previous post about the notion of collective responsibility, what is it that we can do specifically as photographers about poverty issues? This is after all Blog Action Day: getting up and doing something. And here I'm talking about doing something other than the generalist charity support that seems to be the basis of so much "action" advice associated with today.

Well, it is very simple, and at the heart of documentary and reportage work: go out and photograph the World. One of the key aspects of photography is it brings the World Out There home here, wherever here may be. It is the ability of photography to record the World and transport those images that is what gives the medium power in journalism and documentary. Visual messages seem so much more visceral that those written.

And, in a wider sense I suppose, it is not just poverty as an issue but any subject that is remote in which photography has a role.

The Blog Action Day Post

So it's all about poverty today. This will be slightly tangential to my normal subject matter but based around my observations in India. This may also come across as a little controversial, if you're not up for that, look away now.

Ladakhi market, August 2008
Farming seems to be a communal activity in the area, even if land may be individually owned

During the course of just a couple of weeks, I saw two very different (maybe 3) sides of India. Ladakh is a very pleasant place: beautiful country, pleasant weather (at least in summer) and a Buddhist culture that is tolerant and cooperative. There was also the extravagant excesses of the Taj Mahal and the Mughal palaces.

Delhi shanty, August 2008

And then there is the poverty - the depressing, grinding poverty of newsreel. the worst part of the poverty, however (and something on which every visitor to India comments) is the squalor. Outside of Ladakh, the areas we saw were, quite frankly, filthy and piled with rubbish. Not another poor area in the world looks as bad as this, regardless of the levels of poverty.

Open plan living, India, August 2008
Ramshackle, untidy houses seemed to be the norm out in the country villages

Civic cleanliness seems to be the first step in alleviating poverty. Which leads to my point. Is the ability to raise out of poverty, connected to a communal desire to do so? Places that seem to improve, also seem to have people coming together to help keep the place nice. When there is no longer care about the surroundings (and by inference, the well-being of neighbours' environment), then there develops the downward spiral. Whilst there are signs of India developing economically, it seems to be individually centred. I cannot recall anywhere else where brand new shopping malls get built between shanty towns. Total development of areas (or total neglect) seem to be the norm elsewhere.

New shopping mall, India, August 2008
On the next plot was a shanty town. This was a single beacon to consumerism in an obviously deprived area.

If we want to end poverty, maybe we all need to take more care of our surroundings and pass the good habits on. It may seem simplistic, but I believe that the desire to improve things for others, as well as ourselves, is the first step to making them happen.

While you're at it, why not go read what some others have to say on the subject?

Blog Action Day

A bit of a digression, picked up via Statcounter: next week there is "Blog Action Day" - aimed at getting all bloggers posting on a single topic to raise awareness of a specific issue.

This year it's all about global poverty. A bit of a coincidence for me as I had a post planned along those lines. Without getting into the politics of initiatives like this, I think it is an interesting concept to try and use the medium of blogging for mass communication in this way. Worth taking part just from that perspective.

So, if you think it's an interesting idea, get involved.