This assignment was the second of three essays we had to write during Honors Core 1. This essay was to write a critical analysis of one or more images of human suffering that engages at least one of Sontag’s arguments in the book, Regarding the Pain of Others. In our analysis, we had to present a formal, argumentative thesis, use evidence and analysis of the image(s) to prove our thesis, apply or otherwise engage Sontag’s work, and clearly explain the significance of your argument by answering the “so what” question.

This essay was not easy by any means, but it was the easiest of the three that we had to write. I think this comes from the fact that I am a photographer, and so is my dad and most of his friends, so I have been taught from a young age how to capture emotion in images.

For this assignment, I conducted an interview with both photographers to get their side of what the image portrayed and used that information when analyzing the image using arguments from the Sontag book. Through these interviews, I was able to practice skills in communication and determining what is the important information that needs to be discussed.