Mini Analysis of West Bank Turmoil Photo Essay

West Bank Turmoil: An Unexpected Death Raises the Tension

I picked to do a different photo essay to write my second mini analysis on, because I feel that we have already talked enough about the other two featured photo essays. The photo essay I have chosen shows protests in Israel against the imprisonment of a Palestinian named Arafat Jaradat, and then also shows pictures in Palestine of Arafat Jaradat’s death and further protest.



Starting out in the photo essay you begin to see problems arising with protestors in Israel. The photo above, shows how the photographer, who is very well in the middle of the protest, makes her to catch an angle where you seem like you are in the middle of things. With the haze and smoke coming off the tire, it makes the scene more eerie. Also, on the top left side you see light coming down, but it starts to disappear into the dark smoke to the right hand of the picture. As the protestor is looking towards the light, you kind of get a sense that there could be promise, but you can still see people through the haze who seem to be in a struggle, so it still leaves you with questions. The addition with the contrast coming from the tires as it mixes with the black smoke makes the picture pop more, and it kind of steals the focus from other parts of the picture to the middle.



This is the second photo that I believe sticks out to be deeply. During this time of turmoil, the Palestinian and Israeli people have gone through a lot of problems with each other and with this picture you can see that, because everything other than her hands grasping what looks like some prayer beads makes it believe that the only thing that these people have at this moment is their faith. A lot of times photographers try and use this approach of a fully dark scene with one part lightened up, but it often comes off as corny. This I believe brings a beautiful message, because you receive a strong message that the photo journalist is trying to present.

Really every photo in this essay is strong and holds a great message, but these were the two that stuck out to me.