Adir, 1 Mimi Adir Photography 27A 05-21-2017 Photographers Paper Kevin Carter Kevin Carter is a South African photojournalist born on September 13, 1960. Carter’s career began as a sports photographer, he later began to work for Johannesburg Star helping reveal the apartheid and their horrible treatment. During Carter’s career he became part of the Bang Bang Club, a club consisting of four South African photojournalist members risking their lives to document human struggles and violence. Ken Oosterbroek, a member of the Bang Bang Club, heavily influenced and inspired Carter whilst working alongside one another other. Thirteen years later, Carter received a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph portraying a starving child in Sudan being overshadowed by a vulture. Shortly after, on July 27, 1994 Carter unfortunately took his own life, he lived a fulfilling life contributing greatly to the art of photojournalism. Kevin Carter grew up in a white middle class neighborhood in Johannesburg, South Africa. After graduating high school Carter strived to become a pharmacist and failed after a year, immediately joining the Air Force only to escape four years later to become a radio personality. Shortly after, Carter began his journey as a photographer after being a bystander of the Church Street Bombing in 1983 in Pretoria. At first, he functioned as a sports photographer and after a year, he began working for Johannesburg Star and uncovered the harsh treatment given to politically-sanctioned racial segregations. Racial separation was mixed in the general Adir, 2 public at the time by the national party from 1948 to 1994. All around, there was pain and Carter needed to mirror this hopelessness in his pictures. After thirteen years, he shot his prize winning and tear-bringing photograph in Sudan of a starving youngster attempting to go after nourishment when a vulture landed close by. The photo was purchased by the New York Times, and showed up on March 1993. The photograph started a progression of inquiries identified with the kid in the photograph; they needed to realize what happened; afterward, numerous different daily papers around the world distributed it. Tragically, Kevin Carter’s work came to an end as it got too much to cope with leaving him in a hopeless state of mind as he locked himself in his car and proceeded to kill himself by breathing in carbon monoxide on July 27, 1994, at the young age of 33. Kevin Carter used human tragedy to create art with a deep backstory. Carter was passionate about equal rights when it came to blacks and whites and found it disgusting how the color of one’s skin was the decider of how harshly they would be treated. Ultimately, this inspired him to expose the disgusting treatment and suffering lives of black Africans, putting himself in the face of danger and sacrificing himself for what he believed in. Although his most famous picture, which exposes the hunger that most black Africans suffer, was under much critique as people called Carter a vulture himself; bringing him under fire for not helping the poor starving girl; it made everyone painfully aware of the brutality in Africa. Overall, Carter contributed to the art of photography greatly as his pictures heavily played on people’s emotions as well as educated them about the indescribable suffering going on throughout Africa. Carter’s photographs consist of brutality and suffering, spreading the word of what an everyday life looks like in a third world country. The photographs were captured from a distance, as though Carter were just a fly on the wall simply observing his surroundings. He has captured a Adir, 3 variety of images from public executions, shootouts, and overall violence. In other words, photographs that make people appreciate what they have while making them aware of current events. Carters photography style varies greatly, as some of his photos are black and white, faded out, and extremely vivid with color. The photos that consist of black and white filters pose a deeper meaning, as those photos are the ones that try to get you to concentrate on the subject rather than the surroundings. The photographs that have a faded out effect show the viewers what the photographer himself was feeling in that very moment, a rather hollow and depressed feeling. As for the vivid with color photographs (one of them being the winner of the Pulitzer Prize), I believe Carter wanted the viewers to take everything in at once, from the vulture steadily creeping up from the background, to the little girl crouching over in agony, and the overall desert like empty setting which ties the whole image together. In conclusion, Kevin Carter sacrificed his own mental health and put himself in physical danger to do something he strongly believed in; capturing the struggles and everyday life of black Africans. He was privileged all his life and found it unfair that many people were suffering as a result of their skin color, which ultimately motivated him to capture powerful gut wrenching images and share them with the world. He found three other individuals who shared a similar passion with him, they then proceeded to call themselves the Bang Bang Club. Eventually Carter won a Pulitzer Prize for his remarkable image of the 1993 famine occurring in Sudan; three months after receiving his prize he felt as though the world was too cruel, and couldn’t bare witnessing anymore torment, which led to his unfortunate suicide. Kevin Carter’s legacy lives on, as he was an inspirational photojournalist who brought attention to serious world problems that were otherwise ignored. Adir, 4 Work Cited Home." Famous Photographers. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2017. <http://www.famousphotographers.net/kevin-carter>. Macleod/Johannesburg, Scott. "The Life and Death of Kevin Carter." Time. Time Inc., 24 June 2001. Web. 14 May 2017. <http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,165071,00.html>. Portrait – Kevin Carter || 1960-1994 Sudan 1993 – Kevin Carter’s Pulitzer Prize Photograph Black & White Photograph – Starving Child Faded Out Photograph – Dehydrated Child After Drinking Cow Urine