How Did Kevin Carter Gain Power?

Power is the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events. Kevin Carter obtained power through demonstrating the third world problems first hand, documenting and sharing photographic power across the world. The most powerful of photographs, which was taken by Carter had a very devastating effect on his life. What he didn’t know at the time caused worldwide controversy among many tabloid newspapers and people in the world. Carter sold the image rights to the New York Times, on March 26th 1993. The photograph, which is now 22 years old, still holds that controversy and power that first enlightened the tabloid newspapers back in the 90s.
Kevin Carter, who was a South African photojournalist and part of The Bang Bang Club, he was in Sudan near the village of Ayod when he spotted the young toddler and the vulture. He found the small emaciated little girl struggling to make her way to the food station
nearby. Carter took the opportunity to photograph something very spectacular but at the same time, very sickening and distressing to view. The young toddler stopped to take a rest in the blazing sun, whilst the vulture landed nearby with eyes on the young girl. Carter took 20 minutes to position himself correctly to take the best shot of a very distressing scene. He then chased the vulture away from the young girl to assure safety when she travelled to the nearby food bank.
The New York Times published the photograph which caused the world to draw attention on Carters actions and responsibilities of the young girl in the photograph. The New York Times issued a statement claiming that the young girl did in fact make it to the food bank. But beyond that vague statement, no one knew about the child’s welfare. The photograph was now very popular among The New York times and the world.
The world turned on Kevin, branding him as predator and a vulture. St Petersburg Times of Florida said “The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene”. However, Carter was working in a time where Photographers were not allowed to touch famine victims in fear of spreading disease among the world. Carter had estimated that 20 people per hour were dying at the food centre where the young girl was travelling to. The young girl was sadly part of something which was common back then. Regardless, “Carter often expressed regret that he had not done anything to help the girl, even though there was not much he could have done”.
Carter’s actions were now becoming very questionable to the naive population who didn’t know the background of the goings on in the photograph. The world had many questions for Cater. Not many people knew that Photographers were not allowed to touch famine victims, as ones reactions would be to help and care for the young emaciated toddler being preyed on by the vulture which was harrowing though the lens and eyes of Carter.
“The image presaged no celebration: a child barely alive, a vulture so eager for food.
Yet the photograph that epitomized Sudan's famine would win Kevin Carters fame”. In May 1994, Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for the now famous photograph of the vulture stalking a child, now over a year from when it was taken. Carter couldn’t enjoy the prize because of his absolute regret of not helping the young little girl. Cater was consumed by the violence had had witnessed and haunted by the questions not only from the press, but also from the world. The photograph could not be unseen or deleted. Carter was not the only one to be affected by how the media responded, so did his daughter. She responded “I see my dad as the suffering child. And the rest of the world is the vulture”. The photography techniques used to take the photograph is analogue, which means there will always be a hard copy of the image though a negative. That negative can then be reproduced, copied and spread across the world. There was no escape for Kevin
Carter.
Kevin Carter is unfortunately the tragic example of the toll photographing such suffering can take on a person. Along with the famous photograph of the vulture stalking the child, carter has captured very harrowing scenes across many countries. Carter has captured the public necklacing execution which took place back in the 1980’s in South Africa. Along with the violence which occurred at the time, including shootouts and other executions, the vulture stalking a child is much more talked about, than the distressing scenes which are worse than the vulture stalking a child who seems innocent compared with what he was witnessing. Carter spoke about the thoughts when he took the photographs; "I had to think visually. I am zooming in on a tight shot of the dead guy and a splash of red. Going into his khaki uniform in a pool of blood in the sand. The dead man's face is slightly gray. You are making a visual here. But inside something is screaming, 'My God.' But it is time to work. Deal with the rest later. If you can't do it, get out of the game."
Carter’s suicide is not a direct result of the Sudanese child, nor the accusations that he staged the scene of the young girl, or criticisms that he did not assist her in any way for help. Carter had spiralled into a depression, to which many things contributed to it. One was his vocation of a photojournalist back in the 1980’s, witnessing many things no human could possibly imagine. Carter and his friends Ken Oosterbroek, Greg Marinovich, and Joao Silva longed to expose the brutality to the world. They captured the violence of South Africa so vividly that a Johannesburg magazine Living dubbed them "The Bang-Bang Club." The title then stuck.

On April 18th 1994, only 6 days after Carter won the Pulitzer Prize, the Bang-Bang Club made their way to Tokowa to photograph an outbreak of violence there. At around noon, Carter returned to the city, and heard later on the radio that Oosterbroek had been killed in the conflict, and that Marinovich had been seriously wounded. It was obvious to his friends that Carter blamed himself for Oosterbroek's death, and he even confided in his friends that he felt as though he "should have taken the bullet."
The death of Oosterbroek hit Carter hard. The little things in his life simply began to fall apart. He was constantly haunted by the atrocities he had witnessed across the years as a photojournalist. Finally on July 27th, 1994, aged just 33 years old, Carter committed suicide. His suicide note read, "I'm really, really sorry. The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist...depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners... I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."
A photograph which seemed so minor, after Carter witnessing devastating scenes in third world countries, spiralled out of control which took a toll on the life of Kevin Carter. For something which was way out of control of his hands, became something which haunted Carters life. As a photojournalist, all he was trying to do was spread news across the world of third world countries have affect on its tragic population. Instead it turned into a catastrophic downwards spiral for Carter, resulting to the sad decision, and to commit suicide. The power one photograph can have on the world can either be good or bad. But for Carter, the power overtook him which paid the price of his life.