American soldier resting at bunker, Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, 16 September
(all images open in separate windows)
Today at 4pm PST/7pm EST, BAGnewsNotes presents "Reading the Pictures: The View From Korengal Valley." This 90 minute discussion is the first meeting of the BAGnewsSALON, a real-time discussion forum dedicated to the singular analysis and discussion of social and political images.
We will be analyzing Tim Hetherington's 2008 World Press Award winning photo (top, above) along with several additional images from his series. The Korengal Valley, located in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Kunar, is a key six-mile long pass where American troops have been fighting the Taliban, almost inch-by-inch, since 2005. The area has also seen heavy allied bombing, with high civilian casualties. American troops maintain a regular working relationship with local villagers who are well practiced at playing the Taliban and the American forces off one another.
Our discussion panel will include professors Robert Hariman and John Lucaites, co-authors of No Caption Needed; photojournalists Alan Chin, Nina Berman and Stephen Ferry; LA Times Senior Photo-Editor Alan Hagman; and BNN publisher Michael Shaw. (Chin, Berman and Lucaites are contributers to this site.)
The conversation -- using Meebo.com live chat software -- will be moderated by BAGnewsSALON producer, Denise Ofelia Mangen. Denise -- who is pursuing her doctorate of education at Columbia University's Teachers College in visual and media literacy, and human rights education -- has coordinated a number of significant documentary photo projects, and has worked closely with photographers such as Brenda Ann Kenneally and David Alan Harvey.
As a first outing, we are experimenting with how well the blog environment will support a discussion of this type, so it's an adventure for all involved. We hope you can join us.
Tim Hetherington's War Image Wins World Press Photo (NPPA)
Hetherington World Press Korengal series (World Press Photo)
The Fight For The Korengal (Hetherington/Vanity Fair Photo Essay)
Korengal Platoon Portraits (Hetherington/Vanity Fair)
Into The Valley of Death (accompanying story by Sebastian Unger/Vanity Fair)
(images: Tim Hetherington. September-October 2007. Korengal Valley, Afghanistan)
>> UPDATE 5:47 PM PST -- The following is the transcript from this evening's chat. We look forward to your comments, either regarding the images or the discussion. And special thanks to BAGreaders who either participated or "tuned in."
17:05Denise/ BAGnewsSALON
Hello all!
17:05Denise/ BAGnewsSALON
Welcome to the first BAGnewsSALON!
17:06Michael Shaw
I want to welcome all of you to "The BAG." As you know, the role of BAGnewsNotes is to consider social and political imagery -- and, specifically, the unique details, composition and context of particular images -- for its political and media implications. (I should also add that the site, although open minded, is a political blog, so we tend to operate with a rather unapologetic progressive bias.) Beyond that introduction, I'm thrilled to have this distinguished group together, and am happy to let the discussion -- especially, first time out -- go where it goes.
17:07John Lucaites1
I remember seeing this image when it was first published and thinking that it bordered on the surreal.
17:08John Lucaites1
It has some of the qualities of the thousand mile stare, but there is something "extra" here ... maybe the way his hand seems to be both in motion and stationary at the same time.
17:09Alan Chin
also the color palette -- that late afternoon shadow green
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