posted January 30, 2010 10:03 AM         

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In March 1993 Kevin Carter made a trip to southern Sudan and took this photograph.

The picture would later bring him the Pulitzer prize, but also death.
The girl had stopped to rest while struggling to reach the refugee camp,
nearby a vulture is waiting her to die.
It is a horrific picture that gave people a true look at the dire condition
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kevin then came under a lot of scrutiny for
spending over 20 minutes setting up the photo instead of helping the child.
Three months after taking the photo, he committed suicide.

Kevin Carter

I've seen this picture for quite a while,
I've actually had it on my page here in my galleries...
it may still be in there. It's always been one that I found disturbing and sad
and I wondered when I saw it why didn't the photographer do something for this child... WTF? I always comforted myself with the notion that this image was taken on the fly and that after it was snapped the photographer scooped up this baby and rushed it to get help and that somewhere in Sudan this child is alive and doing better because they were fortunate enough to be found that day by the photographer. This.... makes me ******* sick to think that Kevin Carter set camera equipment up around this living soul as it struggled to hang on to the only life it would ever have... suffering while buzzards waited to eat her body. He shouldn't have won **** for this image after it was discovered what he did to get it.
I'm glad he was tormented by his actions, he should have been...
but I know also that whatever way Kevin Carter ended his sucky life
it was more humane that the way this little ones was that day.

I hate... yes hate people like Kevin Carter who
put their career over the lives of the innocent.

Now you highly moral people who claim that hate is wrong
tell me one reason I'm not justified to hate these kinds of people.
Don't give me that **** about hating the actions and not the man...
we are defined by our actions...our actions ARE WHO WE ARE...
part of the sum of our beings are our actions and words.
And do not tell me about God not forgiving me if I don't forgive because
1... hating someone and not forgiving are not the same and
2... where was God when Kevin here was setting up his camera
and the buzzards were circling?
We can go round and round with religious argument to NO AVAIL.

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posted January 30, 2010 02:56 PM         

Commentary:
This email chain letter contains a very disturbing photograph of a starving child being stalked by a vulture. As the message states, the photograph won a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1994 for the photographer, Kevin Carter. Carter took the photograph during a trip to the Sudan in 1993.

The incredibly powerful image graphically illustrates the terrible plight of those inflicted by desperate poverty. Even the most hard-hearted individual is likely to be affected by the photograph. For most people, there is an instinctive desire to somehow reach out and rescue the child from her terrible situation. Thus, it is not surprising that the photograph won such a prestigious award.

After the photograph was published in the New York Times, it became world famous and helped to raise awareness of global poverty. However, Carter was roundly condemned for taking the photograph and leaving the scene rather than actually helping the child. What happened to the child after Carter left is unknown. An entry about Carter's life on BBC – h2g2 explains the circumstances in which the photograph was taken.

A soft whimpering sound caught his attention. It was a pitiful, animal-like sound. He moved towards it until he found the source. A young African girl was crawling weakly towards the centre of a clearing. She didn't have the energy to stand and, emaciated, stood little chance of survival. If the plight of this little girl couldn't stir the world into action nothing would, as Carter knew instinctively and immediately. He crouched with his camera, ready to frame an eye-level shot. As he did so, a vulture landed behind her, obviously awaiting the moment of death. He carefully framed the photograph, being careful not to disturb the bird, and clicked. He waited about 20 minutes, waiting for the bird to fly off, and when it didn't, he chased it away.

Carter sat under a tree, watched her struggle for a while, smoked a cigarette and 'talked to God'. He did not help the girl. Utterly depressed, he went back to Silva and explained what had happened, wiping his eyes and saying 'I see all this, and all I can think of is Megan. I can't wait to hug her when I get home.

At the time that Carter took the photograph, he was a deeply troubled man, haunted by the things he had seen during his career, plagued by personal problems, and battling a drug habit. Only months after receiving the Pulitzer, Kevin Carter took his own life.

Although the core claims in the email are factual, there are also some inaccuracies. Firstly, the photograph was taken in 1993, not 1994 as stated in the email. The Pulitzer Prize itself was awarded in 1994. Secondly, the supposed diary entry recorded in the message is not genuine. The words were not written by Kevin Carter and were apparently added to the message to create extra impact – an entirely unnecessary lie given the power of the photograph itself. The fact that the "diary entry" refers to a "little boy" when the child in the photograph is female exposes the quote as bogus.

A detailed article about the life of Kevin Carter is available on BBC – h2g2. An award winning documentary by filmmaker Dan Krauss, The Death of Kevin Carter also examines the photojournalist's troubled life and career.

More here about what might be close to the truth.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter
an excerpt:
Alternative account of the photograph

South African photojournalist Joao Silva, who accompanied Carter to Sudan, gave a different version of events in an interview with Japanese journalist and writer Akio Fujiwara that was published in Fujiwara's book The Boy who Became a Postcard.
According to Silva, they (Carter and Silva) went to Sudan with the United Nations aboard Operation Lifeline Sudan and landed in Southern Sudan on March 11, 1993. The UN told them that they would take off again in 30 minutes (the time necessary to distribute food), so they ran around looking to take shots. The UN started to distribute corn and the women of the village came out of their wooden huts to meet the plane. Silva went looking for guerrilla fighters, while Carter strayed no more than a few dozen feet from the plane.

posted January 31, 2010 02:46 PM         

To the people that hate him: What have you done to help poverty in Africa?

Hate is what makes the world a terrible place. Don't add to it.

This is my Venus in Pisces talking in conjunction with my Libran Moon.

posted January 31, 2010 05:11 PM         

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People's hatred caused him to kill himself (I'm conjecturing). He was a PHOTOGRAPHER and he chose to go to Sudan to capture what life was like so he could spread awareness about the deplorable situation over there. We can all argue about what he "should" have done but really to HATE him? That's a bit much and just as unhelpful.

To the people that hate him: What have you done to help poverty in Africa?

Hate is what makes the world a terrible place. Don't add to it.

This is my Venus in Pisces talking in conjunction with my Libran Moon.

Also most people don't go out into the world and think "OH BOY THIS WILL GET ME A PULITZER FOR SURE!" because really the chances of you getting nominated for such a prize is very very very slim. Especially if he was freelancing.

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Carter was quite shocked as it was the first time that he had seen a famine situation and so he took many shots of the children suffering from famine

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The UN told them that they would take off again in 30 minutes (the time necessary to distribute food), so they ran around looking to take shots.

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Carter strayed no more than a few dozen feet from the plane.

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It does confound me as to how a person working with United Nations Operation Lifeline, could be so unthinking even under those circumstances. I was not there however....so only he knew what actually went down. And if her mother had actually left her to get food from the plane..... quote: "The parents of the children were busy taking food from the plane so they had left their children only briefly while they collected the food. This was the situation for the girl in the photo taken by Carter." end quote. The mother may have become angry/afraid, or even violent if she saw a stranger, a white man, handling her child no matter how well intended he was. Yeah he should have tried to help no matter what...... I do believe he has paid for it all...I really do. I do not feel we have a right to hate him.

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I'd like to believe he had to face her after he died and feel all the pain and fear she felt... and the yearning she had for him to walk over and just cradle her in his arms at that moment and rush her off to a safe place for help. I want him to feel all of it...to know the magnitude of what he did to a living breathing soul with his indifference. I know they said he was depressed at what he saw and that he was on drugs but so what.. none of those things would have stripped away all of his humanity, not when his thoughts were to go home and hug his own loved ones... he was indifferent...and selfish with his eye on the prize. I tell you...some people do not deserve to be considered human.

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posted February 01, 2010 04:27 AM         

People jumping to conclusions about what Carter did, or didn't do, is just a symptom of narrow-mindedness.

Understanding the magnitude of famine, and the impact it has on millions of individuals, is the issue that journalistm sets out to highlight for the rest of the world.

posted February 01, 2010 04:29 AM         

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There are many photos like this. The world needs to know about these people.

World Vision is a great way to sponser a child:

http://www.worldvision.com.au/Home.aspx

posted February 01, 2010 01:12 PM         

ghanima81