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Originally Posted by
Donald
With both these images, Chang, you have sought to tell a very moving story.
For me the thing that is missing is context. If you had not told us that the first picture was the Death Wall in Auschwitz 1, people, apart from maybe those who have been there, could not have guessed that this was the location. Similarly, we cannot tell that the second image is taken in one of the cemeteries.
So, the point I am making is - When we take a photograph, we are at the scene. We are experiencing the emotion that goes with location and the moment (I have been in the places that you have photographed and can testify to the overwhelming emotional experience). But the challenge facing us as photographers is then to convey that in a picture.
The person viewing your picture will not have been there with you. They do not know what the mood and atmosphere is like. You have to try and capture that in a photograph. So, you have to provide the context; a visual story that the viewer can understand.
I did not take any pictures when I visited Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau), but I think if I did of the Death Wall, then it needs to show the situation. For example, I think it would need most of the wall and the barrack blocks that line each side showing in the frame. The close-up shows us detail of what lies at the foot of the wall, but does not tell us of the horror of that place.