To Biafra on the Ammunition Plane

The difficulty of photographing scenes like this is that it calls into question your commitment. What can I achieve by taking pictures of starving children? What kind of a risk am I taking here? What am I giving back here? I’m taking but I’m not giving. If you photograph a person who’s dying, you’re not going to save that person’s life and you start having all these things go through your head that could wind up sending you mad. I took a photograph of an albino boy there. I photographed him and just walked away, but he followed me and held onto my hand. Every time that I’m in the darkroom and that image comes up through the developer it’s a haunting experience. I rarely print that picture. That boy and many people in those images did not survive, and you say, How can I justify this? But how can I not do it? You’re trapped in a no-win situation. You want to go out there and bring attention to what’s happening there so that others might be saved. But you’re not going to save that boy, so whatever your achievements are, however small or large they may be, you still walk away with a slight crime on your hands.