The struggles of a refugee are extremely difficult to convey.  They have been displaced from their homes and have to stay in a new place, usually with poor conditions.  In the photo essay "Outcast  --  Displaced People of the World" TIME Magazine tries to convey these struggles through a series of photos.  Each photo uses different techniques and styles such as framing, vanishing points, exposure time, and contrast in order to more effectively convey its unique meaning.

In India, the population has skyrocketed.  Rail way systems that were originally built by the British are now overwhelmed with 3 million visitors daily.  In order to capture the chaos, the photographer used a couple techniques.  First, and most noticeable, is the long exposure.  The long exposure allows the individuals to blur as the move, turning what would have been detailed individuals into unidentifiable beings moving within the mass.  This, and the fact that they all appear to be wearing the same thing forces the viewer to recognize the population as one mass rather than a group of individuals.  This could be a play on the classism that is seen in India, those who are forced to take over crowded public transport are seen as one group of lower class people by those richer.  They strip away the human aspect and see them as one big poor blur.  Another effective technique is the use of a vanishing point.  The actual vanishing point is covered by a large sign in the train station.  Due to this sign, we cannot see where the people stop.  This presents an illusion that gives the viewer a feeling that this massive crowd goes on forever.  This is not just a problem within the train station, rather a problem that stretches beyond the station as the picture illustrates.  Overcrowding in cities causes even more issues, so we can assume this results in problems with sanitation, unemployment, and even an inadequate distribution of wealth, which further develops a classist society.

In Hong Kong, a detention center is filled with over 3,000 children.  We are presented with a picture of a group of children playing in the courtyard of the detention center.  But the photograph is taken through the a series of fences and barbed wire.  This makes the photo much more effective than if it were taken from the inside or if the angle had been changed so that the barbed wire and fence weren't in the way of the children.  By leaving the barbed wire and fence in the shot, you get a sense of desperation.  These immigrants new they would be considered illegal when entering Hong Kong and they knew they would be put in detention centers but it goes to show that these people are happier being in a prison than were they came from, due to violence or oppression  Also, the way the photo is framed, being taken at the corner of the fence, makes the lines of the photo look similar to a cube.  This further the reality that people were forced and confined into a small area and couldn't do anything about it.  Not only are they trapped in the sense that they are now in a detention center, after being jailed for illegally entering the country, they are also trapped in the sense that they no longer have a home to go back to.  The conflict in their home country has made it inhospitable.  They now have to take what they can get to survive even if that means living in a prison as an illegal immigrant.

Thousands of Rwandans fled to Benako, Tanzanian in order to escape genocide. They were forced to be out in the elements with nothing but cloth tents, at this particular refugee camp. The photo uses framing in a very effective way.  Directly in the middle of the foreground, there is a mother sitting with her child on her lap, surrounded by make shift tents and pots and pans strewn about.  With is a very potent image because it shows that no one could stay at their home, men, women, and children, everyone, had to flee.  The contrast in this photo is also very effective.  The people are shown very light and the ground beneath them is almost white.  But, above them, the clouds are almost completely black.  This gives the feeling of a darkness looming above the people.  But this contrast also conveys that the people are bright and hopeful.  The third element of this photo that makes it effective is its use of the fog.  There is a fog in the background of the photo that really plays into the size of the group that has been displaced.  You can't the see end of the group, they just keep going until it fades away.  This could be interpreted in two ways.  First, it could be a tool used to amplify the size of the crowd. We cannot see the end therefore we feel as if the crowd goes on forever.  This is very effective and most certainly the most obvious way to interpret the fog.  But, if digging a little deeper may uncover a different meaning.  Looking closer at the image, those individuals in the fog begin to look almost like ghosts.  When looked at from this perspective it is possible the photographer was trying to hint as those that did not make it to the refugee camp. Maybe those in the background of the photograph represent those who were not so lucky to have survived the genocide.  This image becomes much more potent when looked at with this idea in mind.

Clearly it is difficult to convey the emotions and experiences of any group of people displaced and forced away from their homes.  But, this photo essay uses a large variety of techniques that more effectively convey the emotions and hardships these different groups of people faced.  Whether it is long exposure used to convey classism, framing to illustrate a group trapped with no other options, or a convenient fog to give the viewer an eerie feeling that ghosts are in the photo, all these tools used by the photographer developed deeper meanings that just a photograph of some sad people.  

