I have a special interest in the Great Lakes region of Africa especially in Rwanda and the DRC. Unfortunately, I have never been able to travel to either country through what I see as a combination of fear and lack of finances. However, I would love to go one day. However, with growing hostilities in the region that day seems to be getting further away with each passing day.
Marcus Bleasdale on the other hand has spent a lot of time photographing in DRC. In the latest issue of National Geographic which features a selection of his wonderful images he says;
"When I first went to the Congo, I realised that a hundred years after Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, nothing had changed. People were still being exploited, only now it was multinational corporations sucking up all the resources, A report in 2004 said that more than 4 million people had died in what is now called Africa's first world war, and I just couldn't believe that no one was talking about this horrific death toll. That enraged me. At one point I was spending eight months a year photographing this war, and yet only a couple of international reporters were covering it from Kinshasa. So I keep bringing back these images because I want to make people as angry as I am. I want them to know the minerals in our mobile phones or computers or cameras are funding violence. How can we make the horror stop? It begins with a photograph."
This special issue of National Geographic celebrates 125 years of the magazine that has always had a strong photographic history. In the section focusing on photography as 'witness' we find Bleasdale's work.
There is no doubt that Bleasdale has invested a great deal of time getting to know his subject often taking risks to achieve this. The result is a series of intimate images that are beautiful even if the subject matter is not. It opens with a black and white image of a child shovelling dirt in the militia run mine in Watsa. The image has an almost surreal quality to it. In the background we can see several other people busy at work however the focus is on the child. We get to see the world through his eyes and the his world is not a very nice place.
Learning to understand your subject better is key to creating better images. When you have researched and spent time with your subjects then you are able to do them justice and tell their story. This is something I have been reading a lot about recently in David Hurn's book On being a photographer.
As we look further into the feature we are introduced to child soldiers. It is very disturbing to see young children armed to the hilt and schooled in conflict. It is even more disturbing to look at their faces. There is no sign of youth just weariness and pain. These children have become both witness and participants in the most outrageous acts of violence. All of this has a price.
Bleasdale has made great use of colour and black and white in these images. This is very different to some of his earlier work based on the region that I have seen which was in black and white. I wonder why he has opted for the use of colour. It may because his images focus on the landscape that is the resources that are being exploited in DRC. The colourful backgrounds provide a beautiful backdrop for many of his subjects. Or maybe it is because it is something that is really current about the message he is portraying. This is happening now and these images are not from the archives. It is interesting that one of the most colourful images is that of a young baby's funeral.
He has also used a wide angle lens for many of the shots which really make you feel like you are in the frame. This I feel gives a sense of presence the viewer would not have felt otherwise.
In the short video The Price of Precious - Video Interview: Marcus Bleasdale on National Geographic's website, Bleasdale talks about the work he has done in the Congo and the reasons why. He talks about putting the child soldier on people's kitchen table or computer screen. He refers to the anger he feels when shooting these type of images and wanting to share that anger or evoke that anger in his viewers. It is only through the photograph that this anger can be conveyed and then we can all demand change.
What can I bring from Bleasdale's work to my own work? I think the main element would be learning more about my subject. This is something I have already begun to do as can be seen in my last assignment. However, to improve my work I need to work harder on this aspect. I think I can also learn a lot from his use of colour. I still find it hard to determine which medium I would or should use for my projects. My leaning however is towards colour. This is something I can continue to work on.
Bleasdale's photographs can be viewed on the National Geographic website The Price of Precious - Photo Gallery
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