I found the reading intriguing; I particularly enjoyed the image "Boy with Grandfather returning from baker," It's interesting how the photgraph was then manipulated to meet Visa credit cards requirements. From a quick glance the photograph hasn't been manipulated very much, but from a further dissection of it, one realizes very little from the account is completely accurate. Everything has been "tweeked" just a little bit to create a new image.
The images depicted make one question the sensationalism that can be evoked from a single documentary type photograph. I think we tend to attatch associations to the expressions of people as happy, sad, etc. and tend to forget that we all as humans display a variety of emotions in any given day or hour. On the same notion, this type of documentary photographing makes the viewer aware of certain situations, but as said before, a bias may exist between the photographer and the subjects.
Much devestation can be shown through documentary, but these tools can be used in a variety of ways. The images may be used to encourgage the viewer to engage in charaties, to feel empathy, etc. But this begs the question of culture, aside from the poverty that one may see through images, is it really just that the viewer feels uncomfortable that these "poor souls" customs are not normal to the western aesthetics? The relative distance from where an image was captured vs. broadcast on a television or magazine can create a disconnect as well.
