Dan Eldon

Dan Eldon response

            After watching the Dan Eldon documentary about his personal successes, the successes of photojournalists around the world, and all of the extremely dangerous situations photojournalists put themselves in to capture an image and tell the story of those oppressed and suffering, I feel personally more aware of the tragedies of the world as well as the history of photo journalism. The Dan Eldon documentary was personally very enlightening and informative as it exposed me to the not only the lives of the people being oppressed but also the negative mental effects of these reporters. Martin Bell believes “it is so important to detach yourself from the people you photograph”. Similar to Martin Bell, Dan McCullen now feels extremely emotionally damaged from his experiences. He found his experiences difficult because he believes he had no control over the situations he found himself in, “ I was just there as an observer. Nothing more, nothing less.” All the reporters mentioned in this documentary stressed the importance of emotionally disconnecting with the situations they photograph because they cannot stop the situation, they can only share their photographs and tell the stories for the oppressed as David Guttenfelder said “you think you can make a difference.”

I found the video to be extremely compelling because it offers the viewer an unfiltered glimpse into the harsh lives of people all around the world. It raised many questions within myself. After watching I found myself questioning my lifestyle and how what I have exceeds the means of basic survival. I also found myself questioning the sanity of the Journalists interviewed in the video. These individuals such as Martin bell, Christine Amanpour, and Dan McCullen are only a few of the many heroes that risk their lives to tell the stories of the hungry, oppressed, and suffering. The interviews with the separate Photojournalists in the documentary were inspiring because of the fact that these people don’t sit back and think

 Somebody should do something about that, they’re the ones who go out of their way to educate the world on the hardships and cruelty that people endure everyday.