The majority of literature is written in the form of text, though, there is some that are written in the form of pictures. Photos put together in a literary fashion, allow the reader, or in this case, viewer, to analyze the work from a different standpoint than they normally would. Photos allow the viewer to actually see what is happening rather than creating their own pictures in their mind from reading a piece. Photos in literary works are commonly used to show something that cannot fully be described or expressed in words alone. Philip Levine does this exactly in his photo-essay on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Philip Levine uses various perspective, distinctive contrast, and strict realism in "A Photo-Essay on the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" to express the true horrors of the aftermath of events so devastating and somber.

In Levine's "A Photo-Essay on the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki", he shows many perspectives on these two events through the specific photos he selected to include in this piece. The first half of the essay includes photos from the bombing of Hiroshima. He arranged these photos in a way that gives an increasingly magnified view of the destruction as the pictures go on. His first photo is one that was taken from a sky point of view of the mushroom cloud hours after the bombing. This photo is taken from thousands of feet above the ground, unable to even see a city, only the huge cloud of dust that lingered even hours after the bomb had dropped. He continues to delve in a little closer with each photo, capturing a nearby city, a building, victims' possessions, and ends the section of the essay with the shadows that were left by leaves on a telephone pole due to the extreme force of the explosion and debris. This specific ordering of the photos allows the viewer to see many perspectives of the damaging event. Starting so far away from the city and little by little increasing the magnification, Levine provides the viewer observations from a large, far away, impersonal viewpoints, all the way to extreme detailed, close up, and personal viewpoints. This variety of perspective allows the viewer to understand the magnitude of the destruction that could not possibly be entirely understood with words alone.   

Levine also uses obvious contrast within his photo-essay to deepen the thought of the photos in the viewer's mind. Levine purposely divides the essay into two separate sections, one for Hiroshima and one for Nagasaki. In the section for Hiroshima, he shows many pictures from afar, a broader view of the destruction. These pictures include the huge mushroom cloud viewed from above and images of large sections of the city and a surrounding city. In the section for Nagasaki, every image is more personal by containing only people or single objects. This contrast shows that these two cities are different and looked significantly different before this catastrophe. In the same way, this contrast allows the viewer to examine that after these events, the cities appeared merely the same. Levine makes this distinct difference only to show that there is actually no difference at all. The two cities experienced something so similar that one would not be able to tell the difference between the two unless it was specified. These two cities were demolished to the point of unrecognition. In one of his photos from the Nagasaki section, it contains only dust and debris with a single traditional Japanese torii which is commonly used to symbolize Japan. This monument allows the viewer to connect this photo to Japan, but only that. The viewer could not possibly tell whether this photo was taken in Hiroshima or Nagasaki unless told otherwise due to the extreme destruction. Levine uses this recognizable contrast between the two cities to portray a deeper understanding that in reality, not much was distinctly different between the two cities after the bombings. Furthermore, this connects to the fact that this absence of variation between two distinctly different cities could not possibly been shown through the use of only words.  

Levine also uses harsh realism in his photo-essay through the implementation of graphic photos. He does this to illustrate properly what life was like in the aftermath of the bombings. Levine does not only include pictures of the fallen debris and destruction of the cities but also ones that depict the impact it had on life, affecting not only humans, but animals and vegetative life too. He includes an extremely graphic picture of a girl, charred black with sections of her own skin hanging from her body. The viewer is able to observe the dangling skin in such a way that could only be understood by viewing that exact picture and not only from the use of words. It is photos like this that allows the viewer to understand the horrific event in a more personal way. The viewer gains a deeper understanding and is able to connect to the images and to the event. Levine also includes a picture of a horse that has severe burns. This presents to the viewer that these bombings affected all forms of life in such a disturbing manner. Levine includes these disturbingly realistic photos because it is hard for a reader to picture the extent of these photos from words alone. The realism in these photos display the intensity of the aftermath of the bombings to the viewer.

In "A Photo-Essay on the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki", Philip Levine uses various perspective, noticeable contrast, and severe realism to exhibit the accurate aftermath of the cities after these horrific bombings. Certain topics or events are nearly impossible to precisely describe in a way that allows the reader to create the exact image in their mind that the author is trying to portray. The events of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are ones that are impossible to entirely understand to the full extent without the use of pictures, making Levine's photo-essay an excellent example of why photos are necessary to describe certain events or stories.  

