Robert Frank’s photographs from his publication of “The Americans” were highly criticized due to publicly displaying the factual, daily issues of racism, in a series of photographs. John Filo’s infamous Kent State photograph illustrated the protest against the Vietnam War which resulted in the deaths of four Kent State University students and many others injured by the National Guardsmen. These numerous photographs depict the opinions of many and how they argued to be heard. With the recent occurrences of protests, Scott Olsen documents the many protesters against racial profiling in connection with the police force like Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Many of the protesters display the gesture of raising their arms to imitate the supposed gesture of Brown before he was shot by Officer Darren Wilson. Regardless of one’s stance on these issues, it is very valid how sensitive racism is in America based on how far Americans will endure in the pursuit of their beliefs through protests.

The documentary photographer, Matt Black has a series of captivating photographs that documents the harsh conditions of modern-day farms and how it affects the lives of farmers. The images were extremely similar to the Farm Security Administration photographers, Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange photographs during the era of the Great Depression by illustrating the destruction the drought and winds caused to transform the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl. I am, unfortunately, one of the Americans unaware of the drought conditions that had affected the agricultural supply of fruits, vegetables, and nuts in Central Valley located in California. I think so many Americans were unaware of this crisis because the government wanted to keep it from the mainstream media. By drastically cutting the water irrigation supply to a main location of farms that provide a variety of agricultural supplies, it allowed the government to save money while on the contrary was still able to make money by hiking up the prices for these particular items.

Although, Robert Capa’s war photograph “Death of a Loyalist Soldier” was constantly criticized for being a posed farce of the death of an actual soldier, personally I feel the authenticity of a photograph does not matter. Robert Whelan argues that the photograph had so many specific features which evoke the credibility of Capa’s captivating image; I was convinced by his arguments. But I do not believe that the authenticity of a photograph should be this intensely questioned. The photograph portrays a soldier facing his impending death which displayed the severity of war, specifically the Spanish Civil War despite the validity of the photograph it still induces an array of emotions for the soldier.

The pictures taken in Kent state are and what happened that day is very disgustful because people were being shoot at without even being violent people have the right to fight for what they believe and they want to be heard. Same thing is happening now with Michael Brown protest. Just that in this case there has been violence. I happened to be in Rockefeller center for the Christmas tree lighting and it was chaotic people were insulting the cops they began to throw down the rails. There were people who stopped traffic from circulating. I think people should be allowed to speak and be heard, but only if those people know how to do it and I don’t mean that cops should arrest, shoot or even kill because that is not right either. Pictures from both of these events are very heartbreaking and awful to see and imagine that there is so much unfairness out there. We are suppose to be a country of peace but in reality we are not and things need to change.

I think that people are aware of the drought conditions in California because it has caused a great impact on our food supply. If you have ever walked in to a supermarket 1 or 2 years ago and walked in today you will have noticed that the prices have increased drastically. For examples you would be able to get 20 lemons for 1.50 now you only get 5 lemons for a dollar. Land needs to be giving time to rest is a living organism just like us humans we do not go throughout days months with out sleep because our body needs rest to start its like a phone the battery dies and it must be recharged, same concept with land it must rest. The FSA photography look a lot like California’s pictures the lands look very similar, something must be done and we need to be more conscious and take care of our land.

According to the writing of Robert Whelan I think Capa was at the right place and time when this moment occurred and he was able to capture one of the most important pictures in war history. I find Robert Whelan arguments convincing, especially because he did a lot of research and backs up every argument with evidence that support it. I think this pictures authenticity matters because people who first saw this picture believed that this is how the men who go to war suffer. When people are told something and believe it and later told something is not true, ignore and not give importance to the subject. I do believe in lucky shoots. Therefore I do believe that this picture is not staged.

Looking at Henry Hargreaves photos was very shocking. Seeing how much a person personality can be described in one picture is amazing. These pictures literally showed how this peoples individuality with out them having to be in the picture. Like for example Frank Sinatra by just looking at his picture I can tell he is a heavy hard liquor drinker. He loves his shrimp and must have cough drops for his throat. Mariah Carey picture can say she drink champagne sophisticated adult but adding that bendy straw show she has a young and party heart.

I personally dislike black and white movies and even more when they’re silent. Le Voyage dans la Lune was a different because it actually caught my attention. I saw it twice the first time I just I understood the concept of the movie but I had to watch it again to really look at what the film maker did to create this movie. If you put close attention to the movie you can see that the filmmaker added many different pictures in the scenes and that are not even noticeable. My favorite scene was when the rocket ship landed on the moon. If you looked very close you can see that the moon is a human probably covered in whipped cream. Another scene was when they laid down on the moon and stars appeared you could see that it was a black curtain with holes for people to fit their heads in. It very impressive to see that he managed to create such a great film in that time period.