Saddest picture of the century-vulture waiting child to die
Nits | Dec 25, 2009 | 57 comments
Pulitzer Prize winning photograph in Sudan by Kevin Carter.
In March 1993 Kevin Carter made a trip to southern Sudan and took this photograph. The picture would later bring him the Pulitzer prize, but also death. The girl had stopped to rest while struggling to reach the refugee camp, nearby a vulture is waiting her to die. It is a horrific picture that gave people a true look at the dire condition in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kevin then came under a lot of scrutiny for spending over 20 minutes setting up the photo instead of helping the child. Three months after taking the photo, he committed suicide.
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oh God… help them….
oh he commited suicide thats sad
anyway.. i still dont understand how he didnt help the child
im sorry for my words
why dint he himself take the child to the camp? thats the most inhumane part!
He was so busy exploiting others for the perfect photo, good riddance to the loser.
He left a dying child crawling for food!? Hopefully he killed himself over guilt for doing nothing.
That photographer deserved a lot worse than killing himeself.
He didn’t help the child because the UN and Red Cross tells people not to touch the natives if they can help it, especially sickly ones because of the AIDS and malaria epidemics. I don’t know if I would have helped him, but he chose the safer route. Can any of you “keyboard crusaders” honestly say you would risk getting AIDS or malaria or some other disease to save him?
Couldn’t have said it better myself John.
It would appear the Karmic cycle is in excellent working order after all…….
I want to point out the “He was so busy exploiting others for the perfect photo, good riddance to the loser.” comment, that photo probably brought more attention to the situation then anything, especially now. and you want to criticize a man that you know two things about. You don’t know the laws, the situation, his intentions. really anything at all, and you dare criticize a dead man who can’t defend him self. Maybe he was being selfish and just doing it for the photo, but no onehere knows what was really going on. I think it’s time for us to be a little more proactive to things like this, then reactive to shit we don’t know. go out to the world like this, and be shocked that you more then likely will make the same decisions.
Yes, because you are likely to contract HIV/AIDS anytime you give food to someone.
Ken, are you living in 1983?
The reason he didn’t bring the child to the camp was that out of frame there were countless others also waiting to die. This child was only one of many, and Carter couldn’t help them…
Ok smartasses! As you’re all so down on anyone not doing their absolute best for starving children – what are YOU planning to do to help right now? Doesn’t have to be Africa there are children starving everywhere so, i repeat, what are YOU GOING TO DO TO HELP? Shouldn’t take up too much of your busy surfing time.
More info about the circumstances of the photo here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter
There was also an HBO film done about this young photographer, “the Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club” by Dan Krauss.
I don’t think the debates of where and when and for what circumstances a photographer should put the camera down and attempt to help victims of the the types of atrocity most of us cannot fathom, will ever end…
But it might help to learn of the photographer, what he was doing during the apartheid, the brutal and horrific images he captured and exposed to the world – before people start making comments such as “I’m glad he killed himself”.
Those images exposed the shocking brutality that still continues in this modern world, and it was obviously something that remained a constant scar with him until his death. No, I don’t think it’s “right” in any way – but lot of these photographers have been exposed to situations and unspeakable acts of cruelty that would make most of the populace soil themselves… dodging bullets, risking death or disease, warlords that have put out bountys on your head, torture, jail, etc…
all for hope to capture a picture that will alert others to these peoples plight. I suppose if there’s any good to be found in any of this, it’s that these pictures could do just that – rally world concern for the things that make us all say “this is evil, this is unjust, this is a terrible situation – we need to do something”.
“He didn’t help the child because the UN and Red Cross tells people not to touch the natives if they can help it, especially sickly ones because of the AIDS and malaria epidemics. I don’t know if I would have helped him, but he chose the safer route. Can any of you “keyboard crusaders” honestly say you would risk getting AIDS or malaria or some other disease to save him?”
you can’t get AIDS or malaria by touching someone last time I checked. I can honestly say then I would risk AIDS and/or malaria to save her asshole.
As for the photographer killing himself, maybe all the bad things he saw in that country not only depressed him but made him see his own reluctance to help other people and he just couldn’t bear it so he killed himself rather than learning from the situation. -Keyboard Crusader
I plan on to continue giving food and money to the local food bank and to help any child I see starving (instead of taking time to photograph them).
I think it’s terrible the man killed himself.
Getting angry at the photographer is the last person to get angry at, and start looking at the people around you. Sure there may have been something he could have done, but no one can say for sure. Did he deserve to lose his life more than the child crawling on the ground? I don’t think it’s for me to judge. Instead all I see is a man who put himself in harms way to bring the story of this child and others to the public eye.
The question really comes down to would you let one person die to save a 100, 1000, or a million. There isn’t a right answer to the question. Some people wouldn’t let someone die even to save the life of a million people when there are definitely some who would let 100 people die to save someone they love.
Quit sitting back in your chair bad mouthing those that are actually out there struggling with these decisions, putting themselves in harms way trying to bring some humanity to the world. Get out and help out.
All are complaining that Kevin Carter didn’t do this or that, but the truth is how many very needy cases do we leave unattended. We ought to remove the spec in our own eyes just before we work out on Kevin’s case very sad that we lost Kevin. May we learn from Kevin. He didn’t deserve to die.
Unfortunately none of the above assumptions are the cause of the atrocities depicted. Numerous world health agencies, including the UN, agree the number one issue facing the world today is apathy…indifference.
Carter captured it in the above picture.
Real journalism is not about pointing fingers and assigning blame, it is showing and capturing the truth. The above image is the truth at that moment in time and showing it to us. What happened afterword is not his responsibility, it is ours.
Hey, Dooley and everyone else that critisizes the photographer… Everyone of you, that has lived some situations and can think rightfuly about some matters in life, would know that everyone, in a crisis, at your work, or every situation in life has certain responsibilities. In these problematic countries, there are certain organizations that are helping all those suffering people. But you, me, everyone that lives in the comfort of his house, has a paying job and can afford his montly living, wouldn’t know the size of the problem there, if people like the photographer would leave the camera and started helping the children. If there weren’t any people with those responsibilities, you wouldn’t even critisize these situations, thus, wouldn’t have the ability to help via your telephone, your banking account, your cellar etc. Apart of all these, do you think that this photographer has any medical experience, whatsoever? We all are aware of Malaria and AIDS, but are you sure that only those “plagues” are along these countries? I don’t think so. So, before critisizing again, THINK.
Sorry but this child would have died with or without the help of Carter.
Whether he was there or not doesn’t change the outcome.
It’s the same argument for Wildlife photographers, everyone asking why they don’t help the poor stricken animal. Being a photographer is to tell a story or moment, not to change it with outside influence.
Had he not been there she’d have still died without the knowledge this picture changed alot of people’s perception.
Just a shame he committed suicide. Those stating he deserved it are idiots. Sitting in front of a comfy PC, bashing someone who took a picture that changed the world?
He did not commit suicide 3 months later. he committed suicide many years later due to being broke as fuck as his suicide note states, the images he witnessed in africa did bring him much heart ache and depression, including the first photos of execution by necklacing, (wicked, look it up) but were not the main cause. He did help that child btw, he scared away the bird before he left and gave the child some candy in his pocket.
i feel tears coming to my eyes at this picture. the bird, just waiting. the poor child. omg
What is wrong with these people who criticized the photographer? If it were not for his picture we would never have an idea of dire the situation is over there. How about we criticize ourselves for allowing these atrocities to keep going unmitigated? How about instead of criticizing a man to death we open out wallets and give to the charities that can actually save a child like this?
So… the child was starving, didn’t have food and wanted to live, and this guy had everything and committed suicide – pathetic.
It doesnt matter quite frankly if this child was going to die with or without his help. I would love to be a photographer, but never in a million years would I take a picture of a starving child like this. My priorities would be to pick up that child (REGARDLESS OF ANY DISEASE) and take her to where she was trying to get to. Shoeing away the bird and feeding this child candy wont do crap. And maybe helping this child make it to their destination wont either, but the fact that I saw a suffering child and just took a picture of it and reaped benefits from it would literally KILL me. I don’t give a crap how much it shows for us over here about other countries, the right thing to do was help her. Did he deserve it? In my opinion he didnt deserve to take in rewards or recognition for this photo. In my opinion, him committing suicide was from him dealing with great depression and guilt over what he should have done. Regardless of whatever BS statement he made. He is a POS in my opinion. Cant say he deserved death, as most people dont deserve death, INCLUDING this child.
The child was already dying, obviously, if a vulture could already tell of that. It wouldn’t have helped any if Carter would’ve helped.
The first duty of a journalist is to portray the actual situation and circumstances prevailing in an area after the disasters or wars. Kevin Carter did whatever was his duty, so no one should blame him instead we should accept the fact that what this picture brought to the world’s mind?
I don’t give a ffiard what his “JOB” or first duty as a journalist is or was. His first DUTY AS A HUMAN BEING was to HELP that CHILD!!!
“Apple” Maybe you should try and help also?
Basic education for all would cost $6 BILLION a year:
* $8 BILLION is spent annually for cosmetics in the United States alone.
Installation of water and sanitation for all would cost $9 BILLION plus some annual costs:
* $11 BILLION is spent annually on ice cream in Europe.
Reproductive health services for all women would cost $12 BILLION a year:
* $12 BILLION a year is spent on perfumes in Europe and the United States.
Basic health care and nutrition would cost $13 BILLION:
* $17 BILLION a year is spent on pet food in Europe and the United States;
* $35 BILLION is spent on business entertainment in Japan;
* $50 BILLION on cigarettes in Europe;
* $105 BILLION on alcoholic drinks in Europe;
* $400 BILLION on narcotic drugs around the world; and
* $780 BILLION on the world’s militaries.
20% of the world’s people in industrialized countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures, while the poorest 20% account for 1.3%
Y’all need to read the book “The Bang-Bang Club”. It details the lives (and deaths, in Carter’s and Joao Silva’s case) of 4 conflict photographers, who had a huge hand in documenting post-Apartheid South Africa, as well as other events.
It also details the issues Carter had with this picture, and whether he did in fact help that child or not.
People don’t understand that you’re actually not really aloud to even touch people in that level of poverty. They carry diseases like lime disease… If you even touch them you could get seriously sick and probably die. If he helped the kid he would die himself.
is it strange or bad if this picture doesnt phase me? i think its cuz i see so many pictures of this kind of stuff…
Hey avalange dont be stupid the poor child needed help and carter not helping will pay for it dearly someday even though he is dead now how can he be so heartless and about anyone getting diseases touching them its all a lie.
Has anyone heard? – Don’t kill the messenger ?????
I guess its true “ignorance is bliss”. People who pass judgment on others..without using any logic or common sense. Hundreds were dying in that area alone. There are rules that outsiders have to abide by while there…there may be people who supervise him if an area is quarranteened. Point is he went to the gates of hell, and saw no devil …just indifference. No god would condone or promote this…just us people that feel no connection or care what happens to others far from us. Those of you that think karma had something to do w/ his suicide better hope you’re wrong…because the famine of the world can easily be eliminated if the developed countries really gave a damn, not to mention that many scientists attribute the drought in Africa directly to the pollution caused by us in the industrial countries…so karma?…yeeaaa
Ken in which century are you living in. Ever heard someone contracting HIV or Malaria for touching someone. Men i think you should apologize for that comment.Nkt!!!
for all of you bad mouthing here was the real story. the photographer was not allowed to help the child. he was not allowed to help anyone in the country of Sudan while he was there. the country did have the food to feed the people but only if they were willing to pledge all allegiance to Sudan (a corrupt government at the time) and not help anyone else get food. Kevin Carter didn’t help him not because he didn’t care but because he was not allowed. if he helped at all thee were very strict and harsh consequences and the world would have never seen the picture and would never have known the situation. really we should be thanking this guy because he shed some light on this horrific situation.next time-learn the facts before criticizing someone.
what i cant understand is…..If perhaps there was a warning or speech explaining the contents of the photograph, prior to publishing it, it could have prevented the photographer taking his own life………. Warning, this photograph was taken under excruciating pain etc. for the child and the photographer involved, however it is a story to be told!!!!
……and im pleased to know that Carter did give the child some candy and scared away the vulture…..he did all he could do……..R.I.P to both.
I would have helped the child regardless of the consciences! We are all humans and are here by the grace of God and it’s our duty to take care one another regardless of illness. How could anyone say they would just sit there and watch a child suffer… God bless the childs heart and soul and I pray that he/she is ok and if not may he rest in peace in the loving arms of our Lord Savior!
What it boils down to is self perseverance, physically and liberally, financially. When you see human life more important than, gain or self satisfaction then you understand the true meaning of life. You cant say on the one hand if had helped the child then his picture would have never been seen and “light” wouldn’t have been brought to the situation (sn and what good did bringing light to the situation do the situation in Sudan was no secret). Quite simply we find the life of animals more important than human life. Its a shame that many think its ok for him to turn a blind eye to a dying child but its easy to say when its not YOUR child. No matter how ill your own child is you will go to the ends of the earth to spare their life why didn’t this baby deserve the same compassion. I dont care what disease I could have possibly contracted helping her I would have went to meet God knowing I helped her. Giving her candy from his pocket didn’t save her life, shooing a persistent vulture away didn’t spare her life. Helping her could have. But i guess im just a bleeding heart that believes in human life no matter how dismal its future may be. IM not happy he killed himself, thats almost as sad as the picture but i do feel he probably gave in to his own heavy heart and grief
Much of the world lives on the brink of starvation so that developed countries can enjoy their luxuries. A picture like this should give us all pause before we buy our next flat screen tv, our ipad, or even go shopping in a grocery story, which is a shrine to excessive consumption. As long as 20% of the world in developed nations consume 96% of the resources, this picture or a similar one could be taken just about anywhere in the world. If it jolts your sensitivities, good! Now do something about it.
Why should it have mattered if he helped that one child ? What about the other thousands of children who crawl to these places for food? The picture serves to slap people in the face to make them realize our over production and wasteful habits. How Get off your first world high horses and start doing something for the millions of people that are dying from AIDS, Malaria, Hepatitis, Cholera, Measels, Yellow Fever, starvation and other preventable diseases. Obviously, prayer and judging others actions won’t help the other children that are crawling for food. Did he really exploit this child or did he just disturb your Victorian sensitivities? Think how many fast food franchises we have on every corner of our cities and how this child had to crawl on its stomach from the boondox to get its meals due to the lack of money. How about your fat, middle-American asses stand up and donate the 10 dollars you spend super-sizing your Big Mac meal? If you’re so offended then why don’t you get up and do something.
@Ken yes. yes i would have. seeing as i am a mother the only thing i would be able to see is my son. If that was my son i would want someone to help him, the poor child’s parents probably died. I would risk it to help the child i can afford the medication for diseases even AIDS that child couldn’t.
Eh, cycle of life. Animals eating other animals; We are animals ourselves, and someday I’ll be worm chow.
Although, witnessing that would make me take up drinking real quick – Cold hard facts be damned.
Actually, he did intend to help the child, but his guide told him that it would be a very heavy risk for a foreigner to help someone out in front of hundreds of people wanting food.
He was basically told
If you help this kid those people back there are going to get angry because you are giving food to an orphan.
He infect committed suicide 1 years and 3 months later; He could not perhaps feed the child because the body would go into shock because her body is not used to nutrition. This is what killed many people after the holocuast; soldiers would see the starving people in the camps and gave them food and there body went into shock. A starving person would only be given bits of food at a time so there body eventually has enough energy to actually digest it… This would be firt soup then soup and a roll etc.
ALSO the child is maybe to frail to even pick up? her bones ar brittle and weak ?
No one has the right to pass judgment on the photographer until they get their facts straight. It’s just ignorant. And for the record, there are many diseases you can get from being near someone. You are releasing tiny particles into the air every time you talk or breathe. That’s how germs are spread and to someone who’s immune system is not used to the bacteria and germs in that area it could be even more deadly. How can you help people when you yourself are just as sick? Thats why we have organizations dedicated to helping that take special precautions (ie. gloves, masks, immunizations) to avoid getting sick. If you feel so strongly about it don’t sit around on your computer and complain, go out and do something about it!
Do you guys realize that in order for a photographer to determine that a photograph would communicate a message with an impact, that photographer would have to empathize with what he/she sees? Considering that fact, this photograph ought to show you that he cared for what was going on within the frames of this picture and he expected his audience to care for it as well. Everyone certainly showed that they cared but then they overlooked the care of the photographer to have even taken the photo. Is it so hard to fathom that he would have had other reasons that he decided not to help the dying child? For example, the feeling of helplessness as he witnessed the scene.
I refuse to pass judgment on the photographer. Not my place to do – I wasn’t there and I don’t know what the actual facts were. He did bring a lot of recognition to the situation and he should at least be commended for doing that. I can only speak from my own heart, but I would have NEVER been able to just leave that child there like that. Even if I knew how important it was to capture the picture, after the picture was taken I would have taken action. At the very least I would have run to the UN food camp and alerted them to the child’s plight. If they did nothing then, yes, I would have picked that little baby up myself and took him/her the ONE KILOMETER to the camp. Diseases be damned. The idea of just walking away, or just shooing away the bird and giving the child a piece of candy, is just unfathomable to me. Doing everything within my power to try to help this child (even if it may have been too late) would have been my number one goal.
Again… I am not trying to pass judgment on the photographer. And I am only stating what I believe in my heart I would have done – which is easy to do sitting in my comfortable home behind my computer. None of us know what really happened that day or what the photographer was really thinking or feeling. I’m going to choose to think the best of my fellow man and believe that he did all he could for this little one. So tragic.
I’m sure he wanted to help her but couldn’t. But he could have gotten someone from the camp if it was only a kilometer away. It’s not like we can go back in time and go do something about it because this event is done. Even if some of us like I would like to go help we simply do not posses the time and resources to go there.
People should stop judging this talented photographer for helping to create awareness about the conflicts in this deeply troubled land. Nobody has all the facts about what took place in that hour when Mr. Carter took this award-winning photograph. I, personally, believe Kevin did nothing wrong. And why are some people accusing him of spending 20 minutes to take this photograph? Like i said before, Kevin committed no crimes against humanity when he was in this world, so let’s not condemn him as if he was a monster. And i’m sure that Kevin didn’t just abandon this poor child after taking the photograph.
He won the award because his photo of a child about to die with a vulture in the background, provokes us all to think about life and our vulnerabilities, our fears and hopefully our ability to love and care for someone we have never met. Kevin Carter was undoubtedly a great photographer, and without images as confronting as these, we would be ignorant to the plight of our fellow human beings. I am not a strong religious person, and i do hope there is a life for all of us after this one, because this life does become very hard to bare once you have witnessed some of the most gruesome images personally. I hope all of you never have to be confronted by such a crime, and perhaps make a decision to help rather than harm, that way this child did not die in vain.
Veronica (and to many others of you), I think it’s wonderful that you’re all giving up all your money, your possessions, your health, blood, and lives to save starving people, as you ridicule this photographer for not doing. You’re absolutely right, consciences be damned! (Although I think you meant to say consequences). This man may have contracted diseases by picking her up, may have been punished by the government, etc., but that’s no excuse. Just like all of you noble people, who I can only assume are living on park benches because you have given up all your money, are starving because you have given all your food to whatever sad child you see, and are limp and almost lifeless because you have donated all your blood, spare organs, plasma, and every other part of your body to those who need it.
But, to be sure, you shouldn’t do this for ALL the people who need it. Like a typical American, you should only feel sad for the people you SEE suffering, never mind the millions that DON’T get photographed. Like you, I only care when something makes me kinda sad. If it’s a child in a picture, people should stand up and help and do all they can! But if they don’t have a picture, well…they just didn’t try hard enough.
People who say that you can contract diseases from touching the child are idiots. Do you think the child would survive a deadly disease while in that obvious malnutrition state? You have literally no immunity in that condition. On the other hand, someone without lack of food like Carter, who also have access to the best medical care is going to die from helping the child? While the Sudan authorities may restrict him from helping the child, there is no excuse to not help the child. If he gave him candy afterward, he evidently was not too restricted. Granted, he should be commended for showing the world the tragedy of Sudan, but his priority of producing a prize winning photograph over the life of the child is clearly misplaced IMO.
And no you don’t introduce excessive nutrition to someone in that condition, you will kill them. But that doesn’t mean you can’t provide something to sustain them…
A very sad picture nonetheless. The lone child crawling to a food source a 1/2 mile away without a soul to help him clearly suggests he is an orphan… who probably will die before he gets there. Carter probably killed himself d/t guilt or depression from profiting from images such as that…