Whale Hunt

I’ve been struggling to figure out whether or not to classify Jonathan Harris’ Whale Hunt as textual media or a narrative. I find the pictures interesting–except for the bloody parts–and intriguing though they have no textual writing on them at all. Though no words are really “written” to tell a story, I think each picture captures some form a story. The expressions on the people’s faces, their body movements, and their struggles are all captured and we are left to create our own story for the image. And though each image has its own story, all of the images combined make a nice slide show of the photographers journey with the hunting of the whales. It’s as if we, as the “readers,” are right there along side the entire team since the images are so clear and vivid. I guess it doesn’t really need words to tell a story and shows, rather than tells.

The concept behind Harris’ work is pretty unique and creative. With the camera snapping pictures every 5 minutes, we get a sense of action, almost like a movie. The slide show continues and documents the entire trip, hardly leaving anything out. The pictures of the food at the restaurant in the beginning and the chopped up whale meat at the end create a great beginning and end for the piece.