The wonders of humanity captured by a lens...

....haunting, contemplative, embrosial or downright heart breaking. In the last century so much has been engraved, so much has been set in stone through the lense of a camera and every now and then a picture is taken which stops most of its viewers in their tracks.

One example of a such picture for me is of the burning monk. The self immolation of Thich Quang Duc.

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Another picture which always manages to crawl under my skin is.

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This is highly revered image which is just amazing. It is sad that living in such a harsh land has taken a toll on most of her piercing beauty.

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Another picture which always disturbes me is

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General Nguyen Ngoc Loan excuting a viet cong prisoner.

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I don't know what I could say about this image that hasn't been said or what the image itself can't portray.



So what are some of the most chilling, shocking, awe inspiring etc etc images or vidoes have you seen?

 

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First picture has always filled me with shadenfreude- a monk on fire for his stupid idealism.
Good for him.

Second picture of the Green Eyed Afghani Girl- a haunting tribute to the filthy waste of the ignorant. They found her recently, yes? Her cheeks were bloated and scratched and her home was pregnant with children that have sucked the life out of her.
Let that picture remind you why it is the poor will always be poor.

What I have always found haunting: There is a surrealist film called "The Andalusian Dog" that opens up with a scene of a human eye getting cut in half with a knife.
Like, Kewl!

There is also this provocative painter who painted the macabre and disfigured popes, among other things- Mr. Bacon.
Took me a while:
http://www.francis-bacon.cx/popes/figurewithmeat.html

The nicest one I could find, if you care to:
http://www.queer-arts.org/bacon/bacon.html

 

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Its not really why he did it, it is more: how he did it. Thats what scares me. To have unreleting flames rip through your every fiber of existence.....how could he muster the courage? Such passion, such devotion for one's cause and one's ideals disturbs me...those people scare me.

I just can't understand how much discipline he must have fostered inside to not even let forth a miniscule squeal while pure energy wasted him away. Every time I look at this picture (partly because it is on the cover of Rage against the machine's debut album) it manages to give me goosebumps.

Again it is what is in the picture that is captivating. Those eyes are a gift, a genetic gift whihc I presume no one around her ever cared to appreciate. Everything, from her expression, her face, her eyes to the composition, is just....mesmerizing

Un chien andalou 1929?

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As for Francis Bacon...I am going to have to further look into him.

 

Sorry so large... doesn't quite have the same effect any other way.
Atomic test on the island of Mururoa

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Yeah dude but some of those pictures are some of the greatest pictures of all time. But the afghan woman is a fantasic shot. Just look at her eyes they are amazing.

 

Hence the reason they are here.


Here is another highly disturbing picture I found.

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The photographer who took this picture killed himself from all the torment of taking this picture and all the heart breaking sadness he saw.

This is a picture of a vulture waiting for that Sudanese child to die from starvation.

 

I wonder if the vulture waited for the boy to die? It's a commonly known fact nowadays that all scavengers will predate when the situation calls for it. Such as a weak yet living victim.

Poor little blighter. Why didn't someone kill that vulture and feed it to the boy. Would serve the fucking scavenger right.


Edit: And why the hell did the photographer kill himself? Fucking pussy. If he felt so strongly about the heartache, he should have done something. Anything. He may not have been able to save everyone, but he sure as hell didn't do any of them any good by commiting suicide. Bah. Fucking cowards.

 

A little judgmental, don't you think?

 

After taking the picture he ran the vulture away and ran with the child in his arms back to the camp...it was too late for the child though.

For this picture he recieved many death threats for years on end because it opened peoples eyes up to the horrors of the world outside. He was told to be ashamed of himself for taking such a horrible picture.....years of that took a toll on him.

It is a pultizer prize winning picture which started a lot of charity work for Sudan....he should be proud of this picture despite it's heart wrenching content.

 

Probably so. But, I don't agree with suicide. You have to agree that he could have helped had he not killed himself and instead dedicated himself to helping however he could.

Don't you think?

I understand. My offense was more at his cowardice in suicide than regarding the picture.

Sorry to be harsh, but I really can't stand suiciders. It's weak. A knee-jerk reaction, I'm sure, but that's the way I see it.

 

Yes good point that is why they are there...

 

invert_nexus

I am convinced that it is every person's right to commit suicide, and I do not believe it is ever a craven action, though it must often be irresponsible (as you've described this case to be).

Staying alive would've been a more dutiful action, I do suppose, but I do not suppose that we can understand the photographer and his lot.
I will not judge him. Really, I do not think you meant to, either. Revulsion is understandable.

 

You're right, I have no place to judge him. No right. But, I wouldn't allow myself to fall prey to such a thing (or so I'd like to think). As I said, he (I) could have turned that anguish to the pursuit of saving those he could rather than selfishly ending his (my) life.

I suppose it is everyone's right to commit suicide and perhaps they should even be encouraged to do so. The world doesn't need more quitters.

Personally, the only suicide I find acceptable is in case of debilitating disease. But, I really have no right to judge.

 

... ug this thread is diguesting

 

Ok, now that is disturbing.

They always tend to show you the children in garbage dumps or sucking on diapers, but something like that at least makes you...stop.

Did the photographer really kill himself? How would you know he killed himself for *that* reason? Did he leave a note saying so?

 

*blink*

Wasn't expecting that.
(You're probably worried about the poor vulture choking on such stringy child-meat? Kidding.)

I'm glad you ressurected this thread. It needs more additions. Come on. Sargentlard. What other horrors do you have to show us?

 

Ever seen Magritte's juxtapositions?
Disturbing in that sense.

If its any consolotion, there's a charitble you in the background who'd actually kill that vulture to feed the boy.

 

Yes. I have.
Or rather, I'd seen many of his works before without knowing the artist. I've just reacquainted myself with them.
And I don't understand you. Is it disturbing in the sense that there is 'something wrong with this picture'? That you don't look to see vultures predating on humans and so it's disturbing in the sense that it is not what one would think to be 'natural'? (Ludicrous, I know. Little can be more natural than a vulture and it's carrion.)

I suppose you'd rather have them placed into a pit and allowed to fight it out for survival? Winner eats the loser?

 

Even so. You got to admit that it's an amazing thing. The will power that it took to do that without flinching.