WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 In my industry, 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:05.000 we believe that images can change the world. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Okay, we're naive, we're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.000 The truth is that we know that the 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.000 images themselves don't change the world, 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.000 but we're also aware that, since the beginning of photography, 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:18.000 images have provoked reactions in people, 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:21.000 and those reactions have caused change to happen. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.000 So let's begin with a group of images. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.000 I'd be extremely surprised 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.000 if you didn't recognize many or most of them. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.000 They're best described as iconic: 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:34.000 so iconic, perhaps, they're cliches. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.000 In fact, they're so well-known 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.000 that you might even recognize them 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:41.000 in a slightly or somewhat different form. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.000 But I think we're looking for something more. 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.000 We're looking for something more. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:51.000 We're looking for images that shine 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.000 an uncompromising light on crucial issues, 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.000 images that transcend borders, that transcend religions, 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.000 images that provoke us 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.000 to step up and do something -- 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:03.000 in other words, to act. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:06.000 Well, this image you've all seen. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.000 It changed our view of the physical world. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.000 We had never seen our planet from this perspective before. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:13.000 Many people credit 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:15.000 a lot of the birth of the environmental movement 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:17.000 to our seeing the planet like this 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:19.000 for the first time -- 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.000 its smallness, its fragility. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.000 Forty years later, this group, more than most, 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.000 are well aware of the destructive power 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.000 that our species can wield over our environment. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.000 And at last, we appear to be doing something about it. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.000 This destructive power takes many different forms. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.000 For example, these images taken by Brent Stirton 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.000 in the Congo. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.000 These gorillas were murdered, some would even say crucified, 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:47.000 and unsurprisingly, 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.000 they sparked international outrage. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.000 Most recently, 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.000 we've been tragically reminded of the destructive power of nature itself 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.000 with the recent earthquake in Haiti. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.000 Well, I think what is far worse 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.000 is man's destructive power over man. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.000 Samuel Pisar, an Auschwitz survivor, said, 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.000 and I'll quote him, 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.000 "The Holocaust teaches us that nature, 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.000 even in its cruelest moments, 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000 is benign in comparison with man, 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.000 when he loses his moral compass and his reason." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.000 There's another kind of crucifixion. 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.000 The horrifying images from Abu Ghraib 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000 as well as the images from Guantanamo 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.000 had a profound impact. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:29.000 The publication of those images, 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:31.000 as opposed to the images themselves, 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.000 caused a government to change its policies. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.000 Some would argue that it is those images 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.000 that did more to fuel the insurgency in Iraq 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.000 than virtually any other single act. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:44.000 Furthermore, those images forever removed 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.000 the so-called moral high ground of the occupying forces. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.000 Let's go back a little. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.000 In the 1960s and 1970s, 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.000 the Vietnam War was basically shown 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:55.000 in America's living rooms day in, day out. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.000 News photos brought people face to face 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.000 with the victims of the war: a little girl burned by napalm, 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.000 a student killed by the National Guard 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.000 at Kent State University in Ohio during a protest. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:09.000 In fact, these images became 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.000 the voices of protest themselves. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.000 Now, images have power 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.000 to shed light of understanding 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:17.000 on suspicion, ignorance, 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.000 and in particular -- I've given a lot of talks on this 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:22.000 but I'll just show one image -- 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.000 the issue of HIV/AIDS. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:28.000 In the 1980s, the stigmatization of people with the disease 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.000 was an enormous barrier 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.000 to even discussing or addressing it. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.000 A simple act, in 1987, of the most famous woman in the world, 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.000 the Princess of Wales, touching 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.000 an HIV/AIDS infected baby 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:42.000 did a great deal, especially in Europe, to stop that. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.000 She, better than most, knew the power of an image. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.000 So when we are confronted by a powerful image, 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.000 we all have a choice: 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:53.000 We can look away, or we can address the image. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000 Thankfully, when these photos appeared in 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000 The Guardian in 1998, 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.000 they put a lot of focus and attention and, in the end, a lot of money 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.000 towards the Sudan famine relief efforts. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.000 Did the images change the world? 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.000 No, but they had a major impact. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:09.000 Images often push us to question our core beliefs 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000 and our responsibilities to each other. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.000 We all saw those images after Katrina, 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:16.000 and I think for millions of people 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.000 they had a very strong impact. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.000 And I think it's very unlikely 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.000 that they were far from the minds of Americans 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.000 when they went to vote in November 2008. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.000 Unfortunately, some very important images 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:32.000 are deemed too graphic or disturbing for us to see them. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 I'll show you one photo here, 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.000 and it's a photo by Eugene Richards of an Iraq War veteran 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.000 from an extraordinary piece of work, 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.000 which has never been published, called War Is Personal. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.000 But images don't need to be graphic 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.000 in order to remind us of the tragedy of war. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.000 John Moore set up this photo at Arlington Cemetery. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.000 After all the tense moments of conflict 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.000 in all the conflict zones of the world, 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.000 there's one photograph from a much quieter place 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.000 that haunts me still, much more than the others. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.000 Ansel Adams said, and I'm going to disagree with him, 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.000 "You don't take a photograph, you make it." 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.000 In my view, it's not the photographer who makes the photo, 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.000 it's you. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 We bring to each image 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.000 our own values, our own belief systems, 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.000 and as a result of that, the image resonates with us. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.000 My company has 70 million images. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.000 I have one image in my office. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.000 Here it is. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:28.000 I hope that the next time you see 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.000 an image that sparks something in you, 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 you'll better understand why, 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.000 and I know that speaking to this audience, 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.000 you'll definitely do something about it. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.000 And thank you to all the photographers. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:41.000 (Applause)