Afghanistan Girl Analysis

Both of these photographs are extremely famous due to the emotion that is felt throughout the image. The fact that both of these images appeal to the viewers emotions makes it the pathos appeal. The composition of both of these images is the look on the subjects face. In the image, Afghan Girl, the young girl is the focus and the image is only of her face, which leads us to draw conclusions as too what is going on around her. Though, in the image, Migrant Mother, we are still drawn to the woman we can see more than just her face and have no need to draw conclusions. We know by her children and the look on her face how she is feeling and what they are going through.  Afghan Girl, has two focal points, her bright, green eyes. The image has

The second picture I chose called Laxman Singh, Rajasthan, 2002 I felt that this man is a prisoner in his own world because he has no legs to walk but prosthetics. I believe that the photographic approach of contemporary photojournalists have changed with both the idea and the technique since Gardner’s era. There is more history going on every day and there are so many stories that can be told that each photojournalist can use different techniques and ideas to tell that story to a viewer.

Being a woman in Afghanistan is hard for so many reasons but some of the reasons are that over half the Afghan girls are married or at least engaged by the age of 12. 60% of the Afghan girls are married actually married by the age of 16 and up to 80% of the marriages in the poor/rural areas are arranged or forced marriages. The men these young girls marry are usually a lot older, some of the men even in their 60’s or older and the girls might not meet the man they were arranged or forced to marry till the actual day of the wedding. With the widespread of poverty parents arrange marriages for their young daughters for many reasons like to repay debt, solve a dispute, to get rid of them so they don’t have to support them, they even do it to reduce

Annie Griffiths also known as Annie Griffiths Belts, was born and raised by her parents in Minneapolis. She is divorced from Don Belt, a senior editor for National Geographic’s, with two beautiful children; Lily and Charlie. Griffiths was never interested in photography until she went off to college. At age 21; a junior in college, Griffiths touched a camera for the first time while attending the University of Minnesota, where she earned her degree in Bachelor of Arts for photojournalism from the School of Photojournalism and Mass Communication in 1976. After just two weeks of having her camera and attending photography classes on campus she knew that she belong behind a camera.

The violent markings of the photo album and its images, however, produce an equally powerful message that jars the memory as it disrupts and distorts the photographic chronicle of her life and that of her family and friends. The result is a complex visual experience that addresses the use of images in producing knowledge and making history.

Taryn Simon is an American documentary photographer from New York born in 1975. She was heavily inspired by her father, who had been stationed in the USSR at the height of the Cold War, in Bangkok during the Vietnam War, and had travelled to Afghanistan, Iran, and Israel on government business. As he photographed these trips extensively, Simon was surrounded by photographs of foreign places and events- many of which would come to have a large impact on contemporary American history- from a young age. These photographs were not distant and unknown only to her, but would also have been so for most Americans during the time. Her interest of the relationships between image and text, as well as the systems of categorisation and classification she employs in many of her works is also inspired by her father, who worked intensively with both in his career.

Firstly,look carefully at the photo because Afghan Girl's eyes tell a lot of things.Her name is Sharbat Gula.The first time I saw this photo, I saw hope in her eyes.When the photograph has taken,Sharbat was in the refugee camp because there was a war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan in 1984.Sharbat Gula was a symbol of the Afghan war of the eighties and of the refugees spreading to the whole world with his sharp eyes and green eyes.You can see the hopes,loneliness and traces of the war in her eyes.For more than fifteen years,Gula's identity has remained unknown.This process lasted until the Taliban regime collapsed in 2001.During this time,Steve McCurry,who took the photo,made attempts to reach Gula.A National Geopraphic team went to

Thrown around like the trash bag in that green garbage can you put out on your driveway for garbage day. Taken for advantage like the ocean when people litter and carelessly throw unhealthy items into it, forgetting it’s beauty, purpose, and power. The women of Afghanistan have been segregated, underestimated, and disrespected by the Taliban, a dictatorship who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001. Examples vastly different like a garbage can and an ocean can symbolize this segregation and disrespect. Afghan Women were mistreated severely when the Taliban took leadership over Afghanistan.

Photography is more than just an art, it is a form of living, in a way. It is history, art, all the emotions humankind has to offer. Bruno Barbey once said, “photography is the only language that can be understood around the world”, Aaron Siskind quoted “photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” Steve McCurry, whose picture is above once stated, a picture can express universal humanism, or simply reveal a delicate and poignant truth by exposing a slice of life that might otherwise pass unnoticed. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, graduating cum laude from the College of Arts and Architecture at Pennsylvania State University, after which he proceeded to work at a newspaper company for two years before deciding to freelance in India. He became known globally for the National Geographic cover

This quote connects to many of the stories we read in language workshop. For example in Kids of Kabul the stories were all about children trying to live their best life with the circumstances they were given. This connects to the quote because no one knew all the struggles of these kids and how badly they fought for their rights. There parents were telling them they can't and leaving them to be left alone which hurt all the children. Hearing all these negative thoughts when your life is already hard would really take a person down. This shows how you should always look for the positive and be nice because you never know whats going on at home. This would also link to the story Everything Will Be Okay. I think this way because the boy that saved

In Afghanistan, 94% of uneducated women believe it is acceptable for a man to abuse his wife making the country the highest approval rate than anywhere else in the world (Text 1). 15 to 19 year old Afghan women are more likely to disapprove of these abuses thus exhibiting change within the perspective of women in younger generations. Although younger generations may have a change in perspective, no change can occur unless it is desired throughout many generations and different groups of people. The Afghan culture shaped women’s outlook on change; since their culture is uniquely oppressive to women, women believe this is the way they were meant to be treated. Americans should not help liberate women in Afghanistan because the influence of change has to come from within the country and has to be desired in order for that change to occur.

During the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan in the 1980’s the United States provided 3billions to support the Mujahedeen soldiers. When the Soviets withdrew in 1989, part of the mujahedeen fell into war in 1994, the Taliban emerged as a dominant force (Feminist Majority Foundation). The Taliban is a group combined of young men and boys of Afghan descent. The Taliban wanted to make Afghanistan an Islamic state. They eventually took over the country. They wanted the country to follow their rules and live by their religion. The Taliban viewed women and girls as criminals just for being born a girl (Amnesty International). The Taliban did not see women as equal nor in existence. Women and girls were required to wear head dressing called a burka. They were punished if any amount of skin was showing. One of the biggest things the Taliban did not believe in was the education of girls. They believe that educating girls is un-Islamic. When the Taliban swept through Afghanistan they burned down schools that were for girls.

In 1984 a journalist called Steve McCurry took an iconic photo of a 12-year-old afghan girl in a refugee camp. That picture of a green-eyed girl became a famous cover of National Geographic. With that photo she became the symbol of the suffer of people in Afghanistan during the Civil War. That girl is called Sharbat Gula and now she's being the subject of news but for a very different reason.

The visual weight or the focus of the photograph “The Afghan Girl” are on the sparkling green eyes of the young girl, Sharbat Gul. It is indeed the most domineering feature of this photograph and where the vision of many fall when they first look at the image, not only because of the rare color of the eyes, but because the whites of Gul’s eyes are the sharpest highlight compared to the deep dark reds and greens in the photograph; hence they capture the viewer’s attention.

The Taliban became responsible for punishing those who committed crimes by killing the criminals. These acts started a small fear in the Afghanistan people. Soon, the Taliban group became a well armed and well funded militia with the support of a province in Pakistan. As soon as fear stirred among the Afghani people, the president of Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani, tried to create an alliance against the Taliban in Kabul, the capitol. This alliance fell through, and the president eventually fled Afghanistan. In December of 1995, the Taliban took hold of Afghanistan as a result.