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Saturday, May 25, 2013
February 7, 2010

BagNewsSalon: Haiti Aftermath

<p>PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI &#8211; JANUARY 14: Rescuers carry a 3-month old baby found alive following a powerful earthquake that left much of the capital in ruins January 14, 2010 in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti January 12 causing widespread devastation and fatalities estimated in the tens of thousands. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getting Images)</p> <p>Haitians watch as military helicopter take off from the National Palace grounds in the centre of Port-au-Prince. (Dominic Nahr for the Wall Street Journal)</p> <p>Looters run away with good stolen from a damaged building in Port-au-Prince, 5 days after a powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale devastated the city. Timothy Fadek / Polaris for TIME January 17, 2010.</p> <p>A boy waited his turn to receive water being given out in front of the collapsed National Palace United Nations peacekeeping troops from Bolivia. (Maggie Steber for The New York Times)</p> <p>TITANYEN, HAITI &#8211; JANUARY 18: (Editor&#8217;s Note: Graphic Content) Dead bodies from this week&#8217;s devastating earthquake lie in a pile January 16, 2010 in Titanyen, Haiti. Officials, overwhelmed by the thousands of dead from the 7.0 strong earthquake on January 12 earthquake, have resorted to burying the corpses without ceremony in hastily-dug pits in a rural area outside of Port-au-Prince. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)</p> <p>Photojournalist surround a Haitian policemen as he aims his rifle at looters in downtown Port-au-Prince, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)</p> <p>Port-au-Prince, Haiti &#8211; Jan. 17, 2010: Hundreds of looters riot in downtown Port-au-Prince and police opened fire, killing at least one, Haiti on Sunday Jan 17th (Julie Platner for the Wall Street Journal)</p> <p>A young women hugged her husband moments after identifying the body of a loved one lying on the street outside a hospital in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 15. Bodies lay outside because the morgue was full. (Julie Platner for the Wall Street Journal)</p> <p>A man covered with debris takes a moment to catch his breath after hunting in the rubble. (Shaul Schwarz/Reportage via Getty Images for TIME)</p>

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – JANUARY 14: Rescuers carry a 3-month old baby found alive following a powerful earthquake that left much of the capital in ruins January 14, 2010 in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti January 12 causing widespread devastation and fatalities estimated in the tens of thousands. (Photo by Frederic Dupoux/Getting Images)

This BAGnewsSalon examined a small group of images from the week following the devastating Haitian earthquake, considering: the boundaries of the graphic and sensational; how much the pictures presented a representative versus generic or stereotyped view of the Haitian people; and whether the pictures overly skewed toward human suffering and physical devastation. Participants included: professors Loret Steinberg (R.I.T.), Nathan Stormer (U. of Maine) and Fred Ritchen (NYU); photographer and BAGnewsNotes contributor Alan Chin; photographers Erin Siegel (Redux), Aric Mayer, Tim Fadek (Polaris), Chris Hondros (Getty) and Willie Davis (Veras); host Michael Shaw (publisher – BAGnewsNotes); BAGnewsSALON producer Neil Harris; moderator Cara Finnegan (U. of Illinois). Tim, Chris and Willie were all shooting in Haiti that week.