Sept. 20: Week in Photography

Your lens to the internet's most powerful photographs.

📸 MOST POWERFUL PHOTO OF THE WEEK 📸

Gerald Herbert / AP Images

Last week, fires; this week, floods. Such is the state of our lives in the era of climate change. I can't quite promise that this newsletter will never talk about the state of our planet (I can't help it — it’s inescapable), but the past two weeks have been particularly jarring.

The flooding in the South has received less attention than the West Coast fires, but that doesn't make its impact any less devastating. This photo for the AP by Gerald Herbert from Pensacola, Florida, struck me — there is something about the demeanor of the man, watching the cars being swept away with a sense of acceptance of forces larger than himself, that feels poignant. I hope he and his neighbors remained safe and that a speedy recovery is possible.

📸For Your 👀 Only:

A LOOK AT THE NEW ERA OF ANTHROPECENE

The images of Daniel Prude before his death are shocking, even in this year filled with tough photos. While the protests against police brutality in Rochester, New York, have garnered far less attention than some other demonstrations this summer, they are still ongoing despite the firing of the police chief this week. We spoke with Joshua Rashaad McFadden, a photographer and professor based in Rochester who has been covering the protests and whose past work has beautifully explored race and masculinity.

How has being from Rochester informed your work, both your personal projects and covering the current protests?

The city of Rochester is known for photography, so growing up here has undoubtedly influenced my love for the craft. However, to photograph headlining stories across the nation only to return home to more of the same is disheartening and frustrating. On the other hand, it also positions me to hold a deeper understanding of the state of American society and those affected most. Now I am more sensitive to these stories, the truths, as well as the ways key players exploit this attention.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden

Your work deals directly with how Black men are perceived and focuses on reshaping the narrative away from negative stereotypes. Can you talk a bit about your reaction to seeing the images of Daniel Prude?

As I've discussed before, images are powerful and have been used against the Back community since slavery. One of the most important personal and political acts performed by abolitionist Frederick Douglass — whom I feature in my Evidence exhibition — is taking ownership of his portraiture to prove his and future Black men's humanity through strong imagery. Unfortunately, the converse is occurring now. There have been so many Black Americans killed by police that the public has yet to discover. In the middle of a mental health emergency, Daniel Prude was treated as less than human, then killed by members of the Rochester Police Department. These are the images we are left to consume and make sense of through our individual frames of reference. And our references are very different, depending on which side of history we are on.

This summer has seen an outpouring of demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice across the country. What was it like covering protests in your hometown?

There was and is a huge outpouring of demonstrations, as there should be. The number of injustices occurring is entirely out of hand. I documented unrest in Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Louisville, Kentucky. These cities are deviated because of the police killings of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and Breonna Taylor, and we unbelievably are uncovering more tragedies as this year progresses. A few weeks after I returned to Rochester, law enforcement body camera footage was released, exhibiting the police killing of Daniel Prude.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden

This certainly hit home for me — literally and figuratively — because this is my city and now part of my story. I had to be there to capture the community and official response. These are the moments that will be written in history to make sense of this moment in time. However, what I witnessed didn’t resemble the perception of America we are taught to believe and love. We need truth; we need answers. It’s exhausting to continue to see this blatant disregard for human life.

Protesters have been protesting every day since the police bodycam footage was released. Demonstrators have recently occupied City Hall by blocking the entrance and sleeping outside the building. Protesters have acknowledged the resignation [of Police Chief Singletary, which preceded his firing], but they still want all of their demands met, including the mayor's resignation.

What would you like to see changed in how racial issues are covered?

I only hope the ongoing coverage will bring about the visibility required to spur widespread change. It’s time to stop seeing these issues through the oppressor’s lens and a system built to oppress Black Americans. White photographers and editors must recognize the times we are in and be willing to move aside and hire Black photographers and editors to freely tell the story. This is much too sensitive a topic. With overt hate crimes, microaggressions, and every other form of racism in between, we cannot afford to hand this generation’s narrative over to those who cannot or will not treat it with respect, whether inadvertently or blatantly. To the Black photographers: Regardless of who hires you or not, keep telling our stories.

I recently had the pleasure of writing and photo editing for a story with VII Photo Agency. I included the work of Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Amir Saadiq, both amazing photographers telling unique stories. I also had an opportunity to work with Wayne Lawrence and Stephanie Mei-Ling recently, both great photographers. I also want to mention Diversify Photo, which is an international online database of BIPOC and non-Western photographers, editors, and visual producers. Editors at major media outlets use this platform to diversify their rosters of visual storytellers.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden

📸THE WEEK'S PHOTO STORIES FROM BUZZFEED NEWS 📸

This week, we saw the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg. The longstanding judge had become a pop culture icon and will be remembered for her liberal legacy in court. We also looked at the ongoing impacts of climate change. For more good news from our friends across the internet, check out our photo story roundup.

THE LIFE OF JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG IN PHOTOS

Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images

SEE THE FULL STORY

DEVASTATING PHOTOS SHOW THE AFTERMATH OF THE OREGON FIRES

Rob Schumacher / Getty Images

SEE THE FULL STORY

📸SOME HOPE 📸

Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images

Sometimes we all need a lift

"That's it from us this time — see you next week!" —Kate

“Today everything exists to end in a photograph.”
— Susan Sontag