I read that too. Kevin Carter witnessed things in his photojournalism that haunted him. He was already unstable when he took that photo. He had done so much already to document the horrors of apartheid and war, and this photo drew the world's attention to the plight of starving children in Africa. There is a short documentary about him and much to be read about his life. Not long before his death, he and his close photojournalism friends were photographing something near Johannesburg. He left for another appointment, but trouble brewed and his best friend was shot without him there. The death of his best friend Kevin was very difficult for him to cope with.
At the time he committed suicide, he had a six year old daughter. In the documentary created about her father ten years after his death, she said something about her father that made me think:
"She said that in the photograph of the vulture and the child she actually saw Kevin as the child and the world as the vulture. It was a very interesting perspective because a lot of people envisioned Kevin as the vulture, if you apply the symbolism of that picture to Kevin Carter's particular circumstance."
The article went on to state:
"He returned to South Africa in a state of despair and depression. Not only did he have to deal with the horror of the scene he had photographed, he was now at the centre of an ethical debate. The messenger was being shot at in a different way now. Had he done enough by bringing the plight of the children of the Sudan to the world's breakfast tables? He told friends that if he had the opportunity again, he would have helped the girl."
"He was the photographer who saw too much. His was a cautionary tale that we whispered among ourselves about the dangers of becoming too sensitised to your subjects and to witnessing extreme violence."
- Dan Krauss, who made the 2004 film The Life of Kevin Carter.
"Every photographer who has been involved in these stories has been affected. You become changed forever. Nobody does this kind of work to make themselves feel good. It is very hard to continue."
- James Nachtwey.
"So many of these guys, after what they've seen, they become so tormented and they don't know where to put all this horror."
- Amy Eldon, filmmaker and sister of Dan, a young photojournalist who was beaten to death by a mob in Somalia.
"I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain, of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners...
I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."
- Carter's suicide note.
h2g2 - Kevin Carter - Photojournalist - Edited Entry
I love photography, and I believe photojournalism is important work. Carter's Pulitzer Prize winning work, as well his other work, bring attention to the suffering and problems in the world. I couldn't do their work, nor can I condemn Carter for his photograph. I was both moved and saddened by both the photograph and the story of Kevin Carter's plight.
Cincinnati World Cinema :: The Death of Kevin Carter