Everything You Wanted To Know About Humanitarian Photography
Early twentieth-century photographer Lewis Hine’s images of children working in factories prompted government officials to develop and strictly enforce laws against child labor. Exposing mercury poisoning in the Japanese city of Minamata, W. Eugene Smith’s work brought justice and visibility to the victims. These photographers’ humanitarian images affected change by making visible the human condition. A humanitarian photographer’s emphasis is on storytelling and calling the viewer to action. When thinking about humanitarian photos, faces of hungry children in campaigns for UNICEF and Save the Children come to mind....