Eddie Adams was at the right place at the right time to take this photo, “Saigon Execution”, which has found its way into the history books.  This picture was used in the opposite way it was intended to be used at a time where there was much controversy over the war in Vietnam.  Despite the controversy this photo caused at the time, the different principles involved in the photo displays the true meaning of the photo, and helps it relate back into modern times.  Some of the principles used in the picture include contrast, color, dominance, and hierarchy.  These all play a role to increase the significance of this photo and made it become much more than just a war photo, but a photo that defines what warfare has evolved into.

The photo has a clear hierarchy by looking at the different figures on the same y-axis plane.  Starting left to right, there are two South Vietnamese soldiers, the gun, then the man being shot.  They are all on the same plane vertically, which adds to the importance of the figures.  The hierarchy of the figures show that they are of equal importance.  The man shooting the gun is General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, who was a General in the South Vietnamese army and was the chief of the national police.  The man being shot, who looks like a civilian in the photo, was Captain Bay Lop.  He was a high ranking officer in the Viet Cong.  He was also a well-known assassin and leader of the Viet Cong death squad, whose mission was to kill officers and their families.  By presenting both of these characters in a straight line, Eddie Adams is showing that they are both well respected people.  By just looking at Captain Bay Lop, it may seem like he is another innocent civilian being killed by the violence of war, but the hierarchy in the photo helps display that he is a high ranking officer, just like the Chief of the National Police, who is shooting him.  The contrast between the two characters in the photo is very little because of the same background they have.

Contrast is used by Eddie Adams as a tool to develop the photo and give it an uncomfortable feeling.  In the photo, the left side is very different from the right side.  On the left side, the background has more of a forest feel to it.  The right side of the photo’s background contains the urban sense.  It shows a well-developed city, which is Saigon.  By the flow of the photo going left to right, it could be interpreted that this shows what war is progressing towards.  Typically, war is thought of as being in the woods or a battle field.  This photo helps show that war is progressing towards cities that are typically thought of as civilized.  This idea carries over to today, where our war is against terrorism.  The war isn’t just fought on the battlefields in the middle of nowhere, but it occurs on our streets.  Also, on the left side of the photo, the figures are in army uniforms, while the man on the right side is in everyday civilian clothes.  With the left to right progression, Adams is showing that warfare is progressing further.  Typically, all soldiers wear uniforms, like the ones on the left.  It is progressing towards anyone being a soldier.  You cannot tell who is who because of the lack of uniforms.  The right side of the photo shows what warfare has become while the left shows what it used to be.  The transition was taking place at the time the photo was taken and Adams captured it well.  Today, terrorism has continued to take war off of the battlefield and into cities, while keeping in relative disguise, similar to Captain Bay Lop.  Vietnam was the first time that war faced these types of problems on a large scale.  Adams was able to witness the transformation that the world was taking first hand, which was why the photograph became so dominant in media at the time.

The dominance used by the photographer helped to display the meaning of the photo as well.  The picture is focused around the gun in the center of the frame.  Most of the picture is reacting to it, such as the soldier on the left looking at it, General Loan, who is shooting the gun, and Captain Bay Lop reacting to the gun being fired at him.  The gun signifies the violence going on at the time, especially at such an unexpected place. The city where this is taking place looks like a city that we live in.  We associate these cities to home, where we feel safe.  The man being shot seems to be just a normal man, another innocent civilian.  The focus on the gun puts an unsatisfying effect on the surroundings, and displays the meaning very clearly, that violence has reached the cities and places that seemed to be far displaced from war violence.  Warfare started to reach the places that we thought were safe in modern times, which is what Eddie Adams was trying to achieve in this photo.  Today, with the terrorist attacks that occur, places that are thought are safe to be and considered home are dangerous.  Typically, the wars take place in far off lands, like the mountains of Afghanistan.  Places like Paris seem to be far removed from the violence that the war is causing, but at any time, an attack could occur, even though it may seem out of place, just like the gun disrupting the mood of the photo.

Color was used to accomplish two things within the photo, to set the mood, and to show that the enemy is indistinguishable.  The photo is in black and white in a time that pictures were taken in color.  The black and white effect of the photo helps deliver the dreariness.  A man being executed in the street is never a good thing, even if it was for the better.  Since the violence was taking place in a city, where many call home and associate it with safety, it is a tragedy.  There is a depressing mood set over this picture, beginning with the faces of the figures.  The black and white helps amplify that mood in the photo.  The other way that color is used is the race of the characters involved.  All of the characters are Vietnamese.  If none of the figures had uniforms and were all in civilian clothes, you wouldn’t be able to tell who was on which side.  The soldier and the police chief are both on the same side while the man being shot is considered the enemy.  Typically, in conventional warfare, nationality would bring people together onto the same side.  At the time of the picture, it was one of the first times that the enemy was indistinguishable with the other side.  In this photo, the man being shot looks just like the man executing himself.  If he didn’t find Captain Bay Lop at a mass grave of the men he killed, the police and army would never have known that he is the enemy.  They could not tell who is who, even when someone attacks.  The enemy had the advantage because they blended in with everyone that was innocent.  This advanced warfare to where it is today in the war on terror.  An example of this is the Boston marathon bombing.  The bombers looked just like normal people you see every day on the street.  The backpack looked nothing out of the ordinary.  Two of the most dangerous and evil people were able to walk the streets without anyone thinking anything.  This was started in Vietnam, where the enemy wasn’t clear.  The enemy could blend in to plain sight.  There are no more uniforms and there is no set ethnicity or nationality that is the enemy.  You can’t tell who is innocent and who is guilty, which is what makes this image so powerful.

Eddie Adams’ photo, “Saigon Execution”, used a couple different principles and elements to add power and meaning to the photo.  When the photo was first released, it was used as a piece of anti-war propaganda, thinking that it showed a senseless war crime against an innocent man.  Instead, there is a lot of meaning behind it.  By using elements and principles of images, there is much more information behind the photo than originally thought and the meaning is much deeper than originally expected.  He used contrast from the left side of the photo to the right side of the photo to show a progression of what war is turning to as warfare continues to be modernized.  The color in the photo sets the mood as well as show that sides cannot be told just by nationality, and that the enemy could be anywhere and look like another innocent civilian.  The line of figures is used to show that they are all of the same importance. Also, the dominance of the photo is based around the gun, which holds all of the power in the situation.  The gun signifies the violence occurring in the middle of a normal looking city, which makes the picture more disturbing.  These aid the photo to provide the meaning behind it, that warfare is advancing to what it is today, where the enemy is no longer clear.
