Comparative Analysis Of The Pictures Of Children From The 911 Terrorist Attack In New York City And First Iraq War
“Photography helps people to see. ”– Berenice Abbott. A very captivating way to see people's emotions is photography. Through photos, people can understand a lot about somebody life. As usual, pictures with children describe sincere emotions, because they cannot lie and hide their feeling. Pictures from the 911 terrorist attack in New York City and First Iraq War have children as principal figures but both of them with clarity express people emotions during those terrible periods.
During War and terror, everybody is suffering and the effect of it is horrible. In both pictures, children are looking at something, but their emotions are stated with perfection by clothing colors, facial expression, and light. In the first photo, the color of clothes is dark and with certainty, the clothes darkness expresses fear. The dust and somber color of their clothing show people's serious mood. Even though the photo does not show us the face of the person who is embracing the child, but we can surely see that this person is a firefighter that shows us that a tragedy has happened. Each of us remembers this frightening day, which left in our memory sadness, fear, and until the present, it still reminds us the danger of terrorism. In contrast, in the second photo, the color of the clothes is light and neat. As usual, when we see someone in the uniform, we have the feeling of fear and we assume that something horrible happened. Even though the girl is embracing a man in the military uniform, she shows a feeling of happiness. The war is over, soldiers are coming back home and the girl is extremely glad to see the soldier alive after the War. Clean uniforms show the end of the terror time and a beginning of a bright future.
Next is unforgettable children facial expressions. In the first picture, a little boy is frightened by the disaster that is happening around. His eyes are full of tears and fear of unknown. In order for him to understand this unusual situation, he closed his eyes and hugged most trusted person. As we all know firefighters save many lives and by hugging firefighter that little boy tried to escape from the fear of the unclear situation. Those closed and full of tears eyes foreshadow the death and tragedy, as well as show fear and sadness of the past. In contrast, on the second photo girl’s face is covered by a happy smile that represents joy after a war is over. In addition, her eyes are sparkling from the excitement of seeing a soldier coming home that brings a belief of a new future.
Finally is the light and contrast of the pictures itself. After looking at the first picture, the dark light creates a serious mood. Sides of the picture are dark as well as clothes of people on them. Only visible light on the first picture is on firefighter’s helmet and around boy’s figure. Where light on the helmet represents the reflection of reality and past. The light that surrounds boy represents his innocence and inability to understand the terror and fear of what is happening around. The light that surrounds both firefighter and boy represents their isolation of threatening in which both of them are victims. In contrast, in the second photo, the entire surrounding creates a warm feeling. A young red-haired girl’s smile represents happiness which sparkle picture with positivity. On this picture not only girl and a soldier are representing and sharing their inner, light and cozy feeling, but also the daylight and surrounding create a nice atmosphere around. The second picture is full of daylight and happiness that brings joy to everyone around them.
Both pictures represent children emotions and with explicit perfection are shown by clothing colors, facial expression, and light. In my opinion, even though there are some similarities between both photos but the differences are obvious. Tragedy and joy are some important moments in life, which can be perfectly rendered by photography.
