Vietnam War Museum — Importance of Photography
The War Remnants Museum is currently one of the most popular museums in Vietnam, attracting approximately half a million visitors every year. The war museum in located in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. It primarily exhibits photographs relating to the Vietnam War (November 1, 1955 — April 30, 1975).
Today we see photographs of many different topics, with the help of social media and the internet. There are more than 75 million daily Instagram users of a total of more than 400 million users. There are 1.5 billion users on Facebook, and the majority of information being uploaded is photos and videos. Many of us feel the need to let others know what we are doing and observing, and we share this information via social media. Today we are constantly taking pictures with our smartphones, even of pointless subjects such as our meals. These pictures have no real meanings. We are over using the power and importance of photography, so it is becoming less special or influential. Many years ago when the daily newspaper came out people would spend long periods of time staring at the same photograph noticing things you wouldn’t after the first glance. Photographs was not something they were used to seeing all the time. Now we just flick through thousands of pictures and using under a second to look at it. Our world is starting to evolve around technology and we are taking it for granted. If we go back approximately 60 years, to the time of the Vietnam War cameras barely existed. Ansel Adams said “It is my intention to present — through the medium of photography — intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to the spectators”. In the time of the Vietnam war pictures were being sent back to people’s homelands showing what awful things were happening to their soldiers abroad. These pictures had a real meaning and communicated messages which were impossible to ignore.
These are a couple of the pictures that were being exhibited in the museum. Walking into the museum I had no idea what to expect. For many of those at the same age as me when we hear the word ‘museum’ we think information-overload and not necessarily very interesting. This museum was the most inspirational one I have ever seen. After observing all the pictures taken during the Vietnam War I felt ashamed and guilty as a human. I cannot imagine how the Americans felt. Imagine having ancestors that tortured the innocent. The picture which I will never forget is this one: It had a caption that said: “Guys were about to shoot these people” photographer Ron Haeberle remembers. “I yelled, “Hold it”, and shot my picture. As I walked away, I heard M16s open up. From the corner of my eyes I saw bodies falling, but I didn’t turn to look”. All these photographs were extremely important. They were being sent back to other countries. These photographs were one of the only forms of communication the people at home received. After receiving these picture people started to take action.
Back when these pictures were being taken and viewed they had an extremely powerful message. The photographers took pride in their jobs and pictures. They only had one shot at it, whilst now we have an unlimited amount of pictures that we can take. Behind the majority of photographs being taken today there is no ‘message’. The main reason why we take pictures is to keep memories that we do not want to forget. We need to create a bigger appreciation for photographs. Ansel Adams also said “Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution”.
