Photography & Vietnam: Opinions please

Firstly, if this is deemed 'political' by the mods then I understand but I think it should be ok! If so, rather than deleting it could we just have replies by PM?

Basically, i'm really in need of help from you wonderful people over in the US.

I'm writing my History dissertation along the lines of photography and vietnam and at the minute I think my question is

'To what extent was photography important in shaping public opinion during(/on?) the Vietnam War'.

Or something along those lines, i'm struggling a bit with wording but hopefully that will be sorted soon.

Obviously, my main research will come from reading newspapers from the time / books / literary reviews etc but i'm interested in finding out what you guys here think on the subject. I know there's alot of VET's on here and also alot of people who lived during the war. I would be extremely thankful if anybody could just simply let me know what they think. Also if you believe that my question could be manipulated a bit then go for it!

Kind Regards,
Adam

EDIT: Mods, maybe this would be better off in the 'Talk about Photography' section?!

Good subject for the disseration there. The Viet-Nam was one of the first wars where photo-journalists actively got to the front line and spend time with the troops.

If you can find a copy, then I'd recommend a read of Philip Caputo's "DelCorso's Gallery" - while not an autobiography, it's a good insight into war photographers in Viet-Nam.

If you like, PM me your address and I'll lend you my copy (I don't need to read it again for a while, and it's a pretty good read too).

Pete wrote in post #4894668
Good subject for the disseration there. The Viet-Nam was one of the first wars where photo-journalists actively got to the front line and spend time with the troops.

If you can find a copy, then I'd recommend a read of Philip Caputo's "DelCorso's Gallery" - while not an autobiography, it's a good insight into war photographers in Viet-Nam.

If you like, PM me your address and I'll lend you my copy (I don't need to read it again for a while, and it's a pretty good read too).

That would be fantastic thanks. I can pay for postage if you like?

At the minute I still need to decide on sections. I.e. don't know whether to extend it to things such as:
- Do I compare the impact of photography against other factors such as military successes/failures, the Civil Rights movement, and perhaps other media (TV/journalism)?
- Whether or not to compare the photo's coming out of Vietnam against those of the Spanish Civil War (Capa etc), WW2 (Eugene Smith etc)? In terms of impact, style, target audience etc.

I've got about 3 months to do this so getting pretty stressful now, so much to decide whether to include or not. Think once I start getting into it i'll really want to be specific and limit the areas as 8000 words isn't actually that much.

Also if anybody could recommend any books then that would be great. More so on the impact if possible but i'm open to any suggestions. I'm currently working my way through Vietnam Inc. as it seems to pretty much THE key work from the time. Trying not to read too much into Noam Chomsky's intro though!

It would be interesting to also include the Civil Rights movement as well, since it was happening at the same time. News and photographic accounts at the time would also have swayed public opinion as much as the war.

I probably wouldn't include old wars (Spanish CW or WWII), but it might be interesting to contrast against the current Gulf War/Iraq since there's obvious similarities between the two.

Blurb from that book:-

Don't worry about the postage, I'll just stuff it in a jiffy bag with a few stamps on...

Pete wrote in post #4894691
It would be interesting to also include the Civil Rights movement as well, since it was happening at the same time. News and photographic accounts at the time would also have swayed public opinion as much as the war.

I probably wouldn't include old wars (Spanish CW or WWII), but it might be interesting to contrast against the current Gulf War/Iraq since there's obvious similarities between the two.

Blurb from that book:-


Don't worry about the postage, I'll just stuff it in a jiffy bag with a few stamps on...

Yeah I think i'll have to include the CR movement etc as i'm doing 'to what extent...', which obviously requires comparisons. I was only going to involve old wars (mainly as my dissertation leader suggested it as an after thought) to compare whether or not Vietnam was the first time photography had swayed public opinion. Iraq/the Gulf would probably be more interesting as long as I can get hold of decent material. Obviously, like I said, there is a danger of making this too broad which will give me a major headache later!

Yup, and making things too broad would also lose you marks as well, I'm sure!

Yeah, 8000 words isn't actually that much for such a large area of study. Thanks for your help.

Probably going to have to wake for those Americans to wake up to hear their opinions

Actually on the Iraq topic, if anybody can think of any striking images from the current conflic which they think have shaped public opinion that would be great too. I'm thinking Abu Ghraib which shows a different nature of photography, i.e. not strictly photojournalism.

NSFW - GRAPHIC SUBJECT

Do research on this subject. The photo, taken during the Tet Offensive, had an impact on how Americans viewed the war.

Another Angle? Is the Vietnam war the fist war where troops carried their cameras with them? My father carried his.

Pete wrote in post #4894668
Good subject for the disseration there. The Viet-Nam was one of the first wars where photo-journalists actively got to the front line and spend time with the troops.

This sort of photo-jounalism goes back as far as the Spanish Civil War in 1936

Roy Mathers wrote in post #4895548
This sort of photo-jounalism goes back as far as the Spanish Civil War in 1936

I guess... But people didn't usually get to see the shots until weeks or months later. 'Nam had the wire service...

Pete wrote in post #4895559
I guess... But people didn't usually get to see the shots until weeks or months later. 'Nam had the wire service...

Ah, but that's not what you said!

Where the (troops = foot soldiers) carried their own personnel cameras not where only professional photographers or a reporter provided all of the photography.

Pete wrote in post #4894668
Good subject for the disseration there. The Viet-Nam was one of the first wars where photo-journalists actively got to the front line and spend time with the troops.

Pete, google W. Eugene Smith, and check out his work.

Flashstan wrote in post #4895638
Where the (troops = foot soldiers) carried their own personnel cameras not where only professional photographers or a reporter provided all of the photography.

The Spanish Civil War had professional photo-journalists.