In this picture, photographer Kevin Carter took this picture of a vulture looking over a malnourished child. This photo received the Pulitzer Prize, but came with lots of criticism. People questioned why he didn’t do anything to help the girl because of the condition she was in. And unfortunately as a photographer, there is not much he can do. All he can do is chase the bird away, and not much else. What he does in the photo itself is he uses realism, color, contrast, and form to relay his point to the viewers. He captures this image because he wants to show the world the problems that is going on in this region. This photo was taken in 1993, and at this time, the second Sudanese civil war was underway. This was leaving the country in an atrocious famine, and the UN had to set up camps for refugees who have lost their homes in the war. Carter captured this photo of a little girl who was trying to crawl to the center, and the vulture appeared. Carter waited 15 minutes before trying to get the shot, then chased the bird away. Although this photo was taken in 1993, which is 23 years ago, conditions have not made he changes. The Sudan, where this photo was taken, has an infant mortality rate of 53 infants per thousand. That is nine times the number in the U.S. They also have an average life expectancy of 64 for females and 61 for males. These are just a few statistics that show why conditions there are so bad. So the reason this photo from 1993 is still important today is because nothing has changed. 

When taking photographs, many times the photographer’s goal is always to try to capture the realism in the photo. They want to do this because it may shine light on a situation that they are passionate about, or they may do it just for the sake of the picture. Carter captures this very real and very scary moment, and what it does is it gives the viewers a look at situations that are not just in their backyard. This photo was taken in Sudan, Africa, where clearly the health conditions are not good at all. People are starving all over, and food is being brought in on planes to the people. Finding water that is safe to drink and not from bottles is nearly impossible, so they need to rely on other countries to bring it in. Most people would not be able to last a week in these conditions, let alone live like this. As important as noticing the child in the photo, it is just as important to make note of the vulture. Vultures are known for preying on dead animals, and this photo shows no difference. Except in this situation, the prey is a human. You see the vulture looking at the little girl like she is nothing more than dinner that night. And she cannot do anything about it because she is just too weak. She would not have the strength to fight off the bird, and was lucky that the photographer was there to chase it off. That’s the sad truth about how conditions were back in the early 90’s, and not much has changed. Flooding still ravishes the area, malnourishment leads to infections which then lead to diseases, and people cannot leave because they do not have the funds to do so. We have a home to live in, clothes on our back, and we do not have to worry if we will be eating dinner that night or if our water will be clean. That is the purpose of the photo; it makes you think about what it would be like if you were in this situation. Carter uses realism has his main point in trying to get his message across, which is the change he believes need to be made in these parts of the world. Realism plays a huge role in showing how the picture affects people around the world, but other concepts, such as color, play just as big a role. 

Photographers are always focused on trying to find the perfect lighting for a shot. The reason they do this is so they can capture all the colors that are present in the image. Colors have great meaning in the art world because each color has a different meaning. Carter takes full advantage of this in the photo. The way he captures the color in the photo plays a huge role in making the viewers of the photo feel emotion towards the girl. For example, there are no flowers or any sort of bright colors that might make it seem like there is a sign of life. He just captures the brown dirt and dead grass. In this photo, brown is clearly the dominant color. This is symbolic for the not only the death toll in that part of the land, but also for the lack of life. It seems like as of now, things are not getting better, and there is little to look forward to. The brown is also used to show how there is no real advances in any sort of technology or even society. The photo shows that this area is simple in the sense of what life is like. You do not see any houses or paved roads or even street lights. What you do see is a dead field with no green grass what seems to be hay in the background, and a child who is in clear need of help. While brown plays the dominant role in the sense of color, yellow also has a part in this. Yellow, in literature, has been used to show illness and decay, and this is an accurate representation of the photo. The child on the ground is clearly malnourished, and in need of help. Her bones are fragile, and does not have the strength to stand up on her own.  We can see the illness in the child, but it is also in the land. It is clear that there is no fertile land to be able to grow food The brown is supposed to give an earth feel, but the yellowish green show that the earth in this photo is dead. The color scheme is used to make the viewer see that there is no life going on in the picture. The society is one that is unfortunately dead, and the people are struggling. You will not find any big green grass backyards or a white picket fence, but instead struggling fields and a society that needs help. 

If you look closely at the photo, you see that the focus of the photo is on the vulture and the little girl, while the rest of the photo is blurry, and seems unimportant. This is Carter’s way of using contrast to get the viewer to look right at his point of focus. He wants the viewer to immediately see what is wrong in the picture, He wants us to look into the fact that there is a vulture looking at this child like it is going to be its next meal. He wants people to realize that there are people living in these horrible conditions and it is unacceptable. That is why he includes nothing else in the photo besides the vulture and the girl, and blurs everything else out. While the focus of the photo is on the vulture and the girl, Carter still gets the dead land in his focal point of the photo. This is important because not only is Carter trying to capture the fact that the people are not healthy, but he wants us to see that it is not entirely their fault. Some parts of land they are living on are inhabitable, and he wants to make note of this in the photo. This is why he makes sure to capture the dead grass and dusty part of the land where the girl is laying down. 

The final feature that Carter addresses in this image is form. The two most important examples are the way the child is laying down, and the way the vulture is looking at her. For the child, she is laying down in a fetal position on the ground. When people think of the fetal position, it is used to describe something small that needs protection. She is curled up on the floor because she is unable to protect herself from the vulture. She has no strength, so all she can do is lay down and hope for the best. What is freighting about the photo is it is not like she is defending herself from another human being. She has to protect herself from a bird. While vultures can be dangerous animals, it is not common to think that people would need to protect themselves from one. Humans are the most advanced creatures on the planet, so the fact that in this instance a human’s only form of defense is to get into the fetal position is a scary thought. Then there is the form of the vulture. Vultures are predatory animals, and we see the vulture preying on the girl here. The vulture is looking at the little girl with its neck out and just waiting there. It looks like it is going to attack her and eat her. This is the most important aspect of this photo, because it addresses what most people are thinking the first time they view it. Carter wants people to realize that there are places in the world where human beings do not have the strength to defend themselves against animals. He took this photo to raise awareness for the conditions that the people in this region of the Sudan are living in. 

Carter captured this moment and what it does is it shows how these people are living. He wanted to show people that conditions in other parts of the world do not have the same accessibility to necessities that we have. The child in the photo is helpless against mother nature because she is so malnourished. He shows us that help is needed around the world, and that people really do have it this bad. In the photo, the vulture represents two things. One is a threat to the child. The child is clearly in need of help, and it poses a current threat to her. The vulture also represents a threat to society. The photo captures only one example of how these people are in need of help. The girl represents all the people who are living in these conditions, and how different threats are always with them. Whether it be sickness, lack of food or drink, or a predator, all these are a danger to these people. It seems like they cannot survive without help from an outside source. The photo really shows our earth is a tale of two worlds. Photos like these show people that their life should not be taken for granted, because other people would switch lives in an instant. 
