I just came across this article. Reading it further deepens my understanding of the medium we call photography. This article is about a photojournalist who felt compelled to photograph the bedrooms of fallen soldiers from his wife, who viewed photos of fallen service members in The New York Times. One section struck me as particularly poignant:
"When Gilbertson, (the photojournalist), entered the Goshen, Ind., bedroom of (fallen U.S. Army Staff Sgt.Travis) Hunsberger in April 2011, the veteran war photographer said he was deeply moved. On the left-hand side of his room was an inflatable sofa chair. His parents said, 'We're never going to deflate this chair because he blew that up with air from his own lungs,'" said Gilbertson."
Gilbertson uses the power of a photograph to convey a sense of emptiness in a way that obituaries cannot do, and all the photographs are shot in black and white. He states, "The bedroom is a way of showing people in a new and very intimate manner who these people were outside of their uniform."
A must-read for those of you who view photography as a way to tell stories and remember people and events on a more profound level.
@cathrinemitch I agree! I also got a note from a mother who wrote about how much she misses her son who has gone off to college and how she feels the emptiness in his bedroom, albeit a whole different type of portrait. There might be a project in that . . . I am glad you liked it.
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"When Gilbertson, (the photojournalist), entered the Goshen, Ind., bedroom of (fallen U.S. Army Staff Sgt.Travis) Hunsberger in April 2011, the veteran war photographer said he was deeply moved. On the left-hand side of his room was an inflatable sofa chair. His parents said, 'We're never going to deflate this chair because he blew that up with air from his own lungs,'" said Gilbertson."
Gilbertson uses the power of a photograph to convey a sense of emptiness in a way that obituaries cannot do, and all the photographs are shot in black and white. He states, "The bedroom is a way of showing people in a new and very intimate manner who these people were outside of their uniform."
A must-read for those of you who view photography as a way to tell stories and remember people and events on a more profound level.
Here is the link: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/04/photojournalist-captures-loss-soldiers-through-snapshots-childhood-bedrooms/