Visual Analysis #1: A Train Near Madgeburg

A Train Near Madgeburg
Major Clarence L.  Benjamin 

This picture was taken by Major Benjamin. I didn't choose this picture because I thought it was a picture that I could analyze for hours and hours. I didn't choose the picture because it was deep, but I chose it because when I read the caption, and later, the story behind it, it made me smile. This picture was taken on Friday April 13, 1945, the midst and near-ending of World War II. In this refreshing moment when the picture had been taken, these people were being released from their internment camp, "death train". In the picture, a woman in the background has her arms flung out to her sides, soaking the warmth of the sun that some hadn't seen for many weeks. According to the photographer, the woman in the foreground had found rations in a tin seconds later, and was attacked by the skeletal bodies around her, just to grab a piece of what she found. The photographer had to push his way through the ragged women to display a considerably heroic act of saving the poor woman, who was in tears five minutes after the photo was taken. The content of the photo is critical when trying to understand how the picture can relate to modern life. In all honesty, I almost cried looking at the picture. It gave me a better understanding of how precious every single moment I live actually is.  I take so many things for granted that I shouldn't, and it think the photographer properly displayed this through the emotion that was depicted by the people in this photo. It's amazing how much a photo can make a person think of every single good thing that they have in their life, and not many photos are able to do that; this one did that for me. It makes me thankful for the world we live in now, and all of the changes made in history to get us to the point that we are at now. In contrast, it can also show how a picture does not always depict the situation that is seemingly being shown in the picture. I would have never guessed that the woman in the picture would be tackled seconds later because she found bread on the ground. Photos not only capture the essence of emotion in that specific second, but they can also lie about the next few moments in time as well.