Today, I attended a lecture presentation by a photojournalist Val Mazzenga who won the Pulitzer Prize several times. The title was 窶弋he Untold Story.窶� He worked in a newspaper company, Chicago Tribune. As a photographer, he has had many unusual experiences. He has a rather different point of view. The lecture was like a presentation; the audience saw the hundreds of pictures which he has taken so far.

According to him, there are four important keys for our life; Attitude, Determination, Anticipation, Preparation, Teeny. Photographer should be creative and courageous, in addition, should be always ready to go.

We saw many wartime窶冱 pictures.

One of them was in Afghanistan. It was taken in 1978, Russian invaded the country. Although Taliban soldiers and guerrillas defeated Russia at last, one thirds of the population became refugees. Destroyed village, they didn窶冲 have any places to live. Because of the ground mines, many people lost their legs. I saw these "lost legs" – but I can imagine easily – pictures.

Another one is in Sudan, entitled 窶廝arefoot Doctor.窶� There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in the country. Then, a young doctor came to help people. Surprisingly, she was just 16 years old. She came to Sudan right after her graduation from the nursing school. I saw pictures that she is helping children.

The most incredible story was the mass murder by a cult leader. I think I have heard of this story long time ago, but it was still brand-new information for me. Some of the readers might know this incident. It happens in November 1978 in Guyana, South America. It seems to be called Jonestown. 913 people were killed by poison, shooting drugs, and guns.
I saw a picture which is taken from the helicopter. At first, I couldn窶冲 figure out what was going on that picture. But at last, I found there were great many dead bodies on the ground. It was unbelievable scenery. Trying to look the picture carefully, I can see many human bodies. I thought I won窶冲 see that picture never again.

In addition to the wartime pictures, we saw many 窶徘eaceful窶� pictures such as sports or his travel around the world.

In the end of the lecture, he suggested us students to try to 窶徇ake a difference,窶� then said, 窶弋he world will find you.窶� His advice was impressive.

Just we talked about the 窶忤orld peace窶� in the discussion class today. However, the lecture and his experience told me that our discussion was, after all, only the 窶彭esk theory.窶� Well, I am not going to deny the importance of the theories. But the reality is rather different. Photojournalist must be a tough and deadly job. I know one Japanese photojournalist died somewhere in the world, might be in Cambodia, by the ground mine when he was trying to take pictures. Taking this story into account, what the lecturer said was realistic and persuasive. The world peace should be considered globally, but not for the big or strong countries, but for the comparatively small or less-power countries. As the "main" history shows, these countries were always the objects of the exploitation. That shouldn窶冲 be repeated. His point of view and the title 窶忖ntold history窶� seemed to imply that we should remember the people who are forced to live in poverty and war. These stories tend to be forgotten from the world. In this sense, I got a good perspective today. I would like to try to make use of it in the future.

For more information, visit the website below.
http://www.valmazzenga.com/