The Photojournalist's <i>Dilemma </i>

Is Sundarban underrepresented in the world press? Photo: Ihtisham Kabir

Recently I attended the Foundry workshop in Thailand where working photojournalists from all over the world gathered. I returned with food for thought and admiration, as well as questions to ponder.
The photojournalist tells his story with photographs. Those who achieve global prominence are immensely brave, hard-working and creative. Often they go to dangerous or inhospitable areas, face war or disasters, and reveal untold stories about people's lives at great personal risk.
A good photojournalist's work shows me something new and unexpected. For example, James Delano's work on the Japanese facing their tsunami/earthquake/nuclear disaster is a memorable tribute to their heroic resilience, while Suthep Kritsanavarin's searing depiction of Rohingya refugees and Paula Bronstein's unblinking portraits of Pakistani acid victims are haunting. Ashley Gilbertson's photographs of the empty bedrooms of young, dead American soldiers will break the heart of any parent.
As one veteran photojournalist put it, “We are warriors.” For whom? For the oppressed, the underdog, the tortured, the voiceless.
Meanwhile, the career of a photojournalist faces challenges and fierce competition. We live in a world where anyone at the right place and time can digitally capture a momentous photograph.
In order to establish himself, a photojournalist must do in-depth work on a subject - for months or even years. Picking the subject is tricky: it must be a unique story that fires the photographer's passion, it must grab the global reader's attention, and it must translate to a compelling visual narrative. With luck, his story will sell to a magazine.
I also encountered the photojournalist's dilemma.
On the way to lunch one day, an earnest young middle-eastern photographer told me he wanted to photograph Bangladesh. “Great! And what would you like to photograph there?” I asked.
“I have heard about the gangs operating around the universities and I want to work on them,” he said.
I was taken aback.
True, photographs have had tremendous influence in the birth and growth of Bangladesh, particularly photographs of suffering.
But the hard work of millions of Bangladeshis is paying off and the nation is better off than before.
Yet, photographic coverage of Bangladesh in world press remains vastly negative.
What about the mothers who fight traffic every morning to take children to school, day workers who suffer through stifling heat in crowded buses so they can get to work, entrepreneurs whose hard work and ingenuity have made Bangladesh a successful garment exporter, farmers who are growing more food than ever and NGOs who have made great contributions to education and health?
Who is their warrior?
I don't see many photos of our beautiful Sundarban in the world press. But the first sign of a man-made or natural disaster, or a garments unrest usually gets front-page.
I can see the photojournalist's dilemma. Bad news, sad news, and news about conflicts sells. A living has to be made, bills must be paid.
But don't you think the people of Bangladesh have worked hard enough to earn an even-handed representation by the world's photojournalists?

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