Photographs have the power to evoke strong emotions when viewing atrocities and suffering, especially as familiarity with the images increases over time. While images can transfix and numb viewers initially, they may become more memorable than videos. Depicting humanity in enemies or victims can counteract ignorance in political conflicts. Natural disasters also profoundly affect people through compelling images of loss and grief.

3. 10. “ photographs may be more memorable than moving images because they are a neat slice of time . ” (Sontag 17) The exact moment in time of the polar bear ’ s struggle sends a stronger message regarding global warming. Our environment is like the piece of ice in that it is slowly breaking apart if we do not act soon. A polar bear struggling to stand on an ice chunk that been broken off. (http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2011/09/global_warming_the_campus_non-.html)

4. 3. “ No one brought back photographs of daily life in Pyongyang, to show that the enemy had a human face… ” (Sontag 18) Workers smile as Chinese visitors wave to them from a passenger boat while soldiers, in the background, look on at the waterfront of the Yalu River at the North Korean town of Sinuiju on Sunday, March 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/peering_into_north_korea.html) Treating the enemy as having a human face can comment on the fact that we can be ignorant without an evidence but can be more emotional with the knowledge of hurting civilians in a political war.

6. Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp 4. “ there can be no evidence, photographic or otherwise, of an event until the event itself has been named and characterized. And it is never photographic evidence which can construct – more properly, identify events ” ( Sontag 19) The horrors of concentration camps are expressed properly by photographs such as this which shows the mass murder of innocent Jewish people and the photograph does gives a gruesome look into the term Nazism. http://kosherdelight.com/Holocaust_Death_Camps_Bergen_Belsen.shtml

7. 6. “ Images transfix. Images anesthetize. ” (Sontag 20) Natural disasters evoke just as much emotion as man-made conflicts as the inability to foresee them can make people stand in their spot as intense emotion is on display. Questions only loom in one ’ s head during these moments. Yoshie Murakami cried as she held the hand of her dead mother in the rubble near the spot where her home used to be in Rikuzentakata. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12770263)

8. Black Plague 8. “ Aesthetical distance seems built…certainly with the passage of time . ” (Sontag 21) The idea of the Black Plague in a painting does not identify as art at first because we cannot really relate. The Living Hurry Past the Dead: The Black Death in Florence, Italy, 1348 (Drawing by Marcello) http://www.squidoo.com/black-death-history

9. Tiananmen Square Massacre 9. “ Time eventually positions most photographs, even the most amateurish at the level of art. ” (Sontag 21) The depiction of the massacre through lego pieces is amateurish in design but this simple photograph can bring back those same memories as pictured in the outset.

10. 10. “ The ethical content of photographs is fragile . ” (Sontag 21) (http://www.france24.com/en/20110917-dead-sea-hosts-mass-nude-photo-shoot) “ More than 1,000 floating nude Israelis pose for US art photographer Spencer Tunick's first Middle East mass shoot on September 17 in the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth which experts warn could dry out by 2050 unless urgent steps are taken to halt its demise.” Nude shots are still considered controversial in that nudity is slowly used to send a message such as this one which focuses on Global Warming. In other words, should nudity be used as more than a lifestyle choice?