When Nina Berman attended the wedding of US Marine Sergent Ty Ziegel, and his high-school sweetheart Renee Kline she did not know that the photo she took was going to be used as a promotional tool.
The back alleys on the internet would co-opt and corrupt a private moment of two traumatized youths.
The photo gained a new life after it won the first prize in World Press Photo. The photo was removed from context and stripped of its original meaning. Donald Trump requested to publish the article in his book after it appeared on a page called “cute relationship”. What was supposed to be a portrait about the “deep, lasting and human cost of war,” became “a crass show for idiots and manipulators.”
Listen to her story on the video.
Nina Berman’s talk was part of the BlowUp. This quarterly event is hosted by Feature Shoot, and sponsored by agency Access.