World War Two was one of the largest wars in the history of the world. Roughly sixty million people were killed during this war which began in 1939 and ended in 1945. The war affected several countries including Germany, Poland, Japan, The United States of America, Russia and France among many others.  The people were not the only thing affected, towns were destroyed, landscapes ruined and animals slaughtered in result of the war. Photographers and journalists were sent in to battle to document what happened and where. They brought information home to the citizens of their respective countries and helped write history through their articles and photographs. 

The picture titled, "Reindeer Yasha at War" taken by Yevgeny Khaldei in the Murmansk area of Russia in 1941 shows a shell shocked reindeer as an explosion goes off and fighter planes fly over. Khaldei was a famous Russian photographer during World War Two, he liked to document everyday life contrasted against images of war. For example, he photographed a sunbathing couple next to a destroyed building, and a traffic director next to a sign with German towns written in Russian. (Selwyn-Holmes). The  picture of the Reindeer Yasha was taken in Russia and followed Khaldei's theme of life contrasted with war. The idea of everyday life being contrasted by war is presented with the visual techniques of framing, color contrast, and also the fact that the photo is fake. 

Yevgeny uses framing to emphasize the shellshocked reindeer. The pictures largest item is the reindeer which is surrounded by smaller items that put it in to a frame. The framing objects consist of airplanes, a tree trunk and the branches of another tree. The fact that the reindeer is framed shows that it is the main object in the photo and that the viewer should focus most on that but the framing objects convey the meaning of the picture. The fighter planes and the explosion show that there is a war going on. The dead tree and the branches barely hanging off the ground begin to present the idea of the destruction of nature and the negative effects war has on the lives of everything, not just people. The explosion being next to the reindeer is drawing the attention of the animal and it being so close to the animal shows how direct war can destroy nature. The reindeer is staring war in the face even though it did nothing to be involved, nature is an innocent bystander that is affected by war just as much as people are. 

Khaldei also emphasizes the reindeer by contrasting the color of the light grey background and the dark grey of the reindeer. All of the important objects that Khaldei wanted to emphasize are darker than the background, the darker colors range from a darker grey to complete black, allowing for those objects to be noticed. The technology of World War Two did not allow for colored pictures but the fact that this picture has been left black and white represents the seriousness of the picture and also shows that Khaldie wants to keep the picture very dark to represent the darkness of war. The darkest objects are the most negative, the spray of explosion debri and the fighter planes are much darker than the reindeer, the tree and the branches. This not only contrasts them with the background but also with the positive objects in the picture. Khaldei uses the darkness to express the negativity of war and the effect on nature, the images the represent the idea of war are much darker than those that represent nature. 

Although this photograph looks real, it is fake. Khaldei falsified the picture for dramatic effect. The actual picture shows the reindeer looking towards a group of Russian soldiers on the hillside. The original did not have the fighter planes flying over or the blast of the explosion. The soldiers were removed from the picture and replaced by the blast. Khaldei edited this picture to prove a point and follow a popular theme of his. The way Khaldei edited the photo is called superimposing, which is where a photographer lays one image over another so that both are still evident. He wanted to show the negative effects of war on nature and everyday life. He already showed the effect on normal life with the picture of the couple sunbathing next to destroyed buildings and he wanted to show the negative effect on nature so he edited this picture to do so. The reindeer came out of the woods during a bombing and went up to a group of soldiers because it did  not want to be alone with all of the chaos going on. Khaldei did not find this dramatic enough so he removed the soldiers and added fighter planes to exaggerate the German offensive on Murmansk which was codenamed Operation Reindeer. (Selwyn-Holmes). 

The visual tools used to convey the meaning of war destroying nature are framing, color contrast between the background and the forefront objects, and the fact that the photo was superimposed to dramatize the true situation of the photograph. Khaldei liked to photograph the negative effects of war on everyday life and nature. He took several pictures of the war and its negative effects on Russia. Photographers like Khaldei helped the world remember the war long after it ended. As the veterans who survived begin to pass, there are pictures of the atrocities they faced that allow them to be honored for their courage and bravery. Photographs such as the raising the flag on Iwo-Jima, the red flag hanging over Reichstag, and the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square when the war was declared to be over with. These moments would be forgotten if it was not for the photographers like Khaldei recording history. 

