海角大神

聽Anyone can be a photographer, but it takes a trained eye and intellect to use photography to make sense of the world. Filmmakers are masters of the captured image. So are photojournalists. Each works a different field, but each has essentially the same problem to navigate: truth.

聽Though most movies are fiction, they seek to be true in their own way. World War II veterans, for instance, have said the harrowing assault on the Normandy beaches in 鈥�Saving Private Ryan鈥� felt disturbingly real. Was 鈥�Zero Dark Thirty鈥� truthful about torture? Did 鈥淟incoln鈥� and 鈥淎rgo鈥� get it essentially right, or was history subordinated to drama? As Peter Rainer notes in his review of the Chilean film 鈥淣o鈥� (page 38), factual accuracy has become a hot cinematic issue.聽

聽Photojournalism is supposed to be all about factual accuracy. We think of a camera as an objective collector of reality. But as with reporting, history writing, and any form of documentary, subjectivity is unavoidable.

聽Monitor photo editor Alfredo Sosa and his team pore over dozens of images each day from photographers and agencies, looking for interesting but also fair depictions of the world. This requires honesty about stereotypes and biases.聽

聽The photos that flow into the Monitor, Alfredo says, too often show a sprawling culture like India as a place of snake charmers and poverty. 鈥淲hat you never see,鈥� Alfredo says, 鈥渋s the middle-class couple going to the movies or having dinner.鈥� Images from China usually show masses of people, and across the Middle East the cliche is angry crowds. But what about people just taking their kids to school or sharing a laugh?聽

聽Can normal be interesting? The answer is yes, but it takes a sensitive photographer and a careful editor.

聽Monitor photojournalism aims to counteracts visual stereotypes. In recent weeks, we鈥檝e shown you a cowboy-themed park in Lebanon, an Indian religious festival, Cairo鈥檚 ancient al Azhar University, and the streets of Northern Ireland.

A interesting image, carefully captured, is the start of good photojournalism. Thoughtful editing tries to make the image both true and interesting.

聽* * *

聽The films Monitor readers like tend to be human-oriented/ I know this from e-mails and letters you鈥檝e sent over the past couple of years in response to an earlier column about movies. Explosions and violence aren鈥檛 absent from your top choices, but big bangs, car chases, and gore aren鈥檛 relished. Those who wrote to me favor pluck and originality. Than can range from quirky ( 鈥淗arold & Maude鈥�) to rousing (鈥淭he Music Man鈥�), mordant ( 鈥淏eing There鈥�), to romantic (鈥淢oonstruck鈥�). You enjoy epics (鈥淥ut of Africa鈥�; 鈥淭he Godfather鈥�) and laughs (鈥淒umb and Dumber鈥�; 鈥淧arenthood鈥�). But it probably comes as no surprise that you really love classics:聽 鈥淩yan鈥檚 Daughter鈥�; 鈥淭hey Shoot Horses, Don鈥檛 They?鈥�; 鈥淭he Scent of the Green Papaya鈥�; 鈥�The Lives of Others.鈥澛�

聽There aren鈥檛 many alien invasions or space operas among your favorites. The one that comes closest is 鈥淭he Day the Earth Stood Still,鈥� which is really a parable about humanity.

聽Here鈥檚 the takeaway, at least for me: I鈥檇 enjoy a bag of popcorn with any of these movies.

John Yemma is editor of the Monitor. He can be reached at editor@csmonitor.com.