In my industry, we believe that images can change the world. Okay, we're naive, we're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The truth is that we know that the images themselves don't change the world, but we're also aware that, since the beginning of photography, images have provoked reactions in people, and those reactions have caused change to happen.
Ne industrine time, ne besojme qe imazhet mund te ndryshojne boten. Ne rregull, ne jemi naiv, ne jemi sy hapur. E verteta eshte se ne e dime se imazhet ne vete nuk e ndryshojne boten, por ne gjithashtu jemi ne dijeni, qe nga fillimi i fotografise, imazhet kan provokuar reagime ne njerez, dhe keto reagime kane shkaktuar ndryshime .
So let's begin with a group of images. I'd be extremely surprised if you didn't recognize many or most of them. They're best described as iconic: so iconic, perhaps, they're cliches. In fact, they're so well-known that you might even recognize them in a slightly or somewhat different form.
Pra le te fillojme me nje grup te imazheve. Une do te isha ekstemisht e befasuar nese ju nuk i njihni shume ose shumicen prej tyre. Ata me se miri jane te pershkruara si portrete pra portrete, ndoshta jane klishe. Ne fakt, ato jane aq te njohura saqe ndoshta mund ti njihni ato ne form te lehte ose paksa ndryshe.
(Laughter)
(Buzeqeshje)
But I think we're looking for something more. We're looking for something more. We're looking for images that shine an uncompromising light on crucial issues, images that transcend borders, that transcend religions, images that provoke us to step up and do something -- in other words, to act. Well, this image you've all seen. It changed our view of the physical world. We had never seen our planet from this perspective before. Many people credit a lot of the birth of the environmental movement to our seeing the planet like this for the first time -- its smallness, its fragility.
Por mendoj ne jemi duke kerkuar per dicka me shume. Ne jemi duke kerkuar per dicka me shume. Ne jemi duke kerkuar per imazhe qe shendritin nje drite pa kompromis per ceshtjet e rendesishme, imazhe qe kapercejne kufijet, qe kapercejne religjione, imazhe qe na provokojne neve te vihemi dhe te bejme dicka-- me fjale tjera, te aktrojme. Mire keto imazhe qe te gjithe ju i keni pare. Na kane ndryshuar pamjen tone per boten fizike. Ne kurre nuk e kemi pare planetin nga kjo prespektive me pare. Shume njerez atribuojne ne lindjen e levizjen te ambientit duke pare planetin keshtu per te paren here -- eshte i vogel, eshte fragjil.
Forty years later, this group, more than most, are well aware of the destructive power that our species can wield over our environment. And at last, we appear to be doing something about it. This destructive power takes many different forms. For example, these images taken by Brent Stirton in the Congo. These gorillas were murdered, some would even say crucified, and unsurprisingly, they sparked international outrage. Most recently, we've been tragically reminded of the destructive power of nature itself with the recent earthquake in Haiti.
Katerdhjete vite me vone, ky grup, shume sesa me shume jane te vetdijshem te fuqise destruktive qe speciet tona mund te zoterojne mjedisin tone. Dhe ne fund, ne duket qe bejme dicka per ate. Kjo fuqi destruktive merr shume forma te ndryshme. Per shembull, keto imazhe te marrura nga Brent Stirton ne Congo. Keto gorilla ishin vrare, disa mund te thone te kryqezuara, dhe jo befasisht, ata shkaktuan zemerim nderkomtar. Me e reja, neve tragjikisht na eshte kujtuar fuqia destruktive e natyres me termetin e fundit ne Haiti.
Well, I think what is far worse is man's destructive power over man. Samuel Pisar, an Auschwitz survivor, said, and I'll quote him, "The Holocaust teaches us that nature, even in its cruelest moments, is benign in comparison with man, when he loses his moral compass and his reason."
Mire, une mendoj se cka eshte me e keqja eshte fuqia destruktive e njerezimit mbi njerezim. Samuel Pisar, nje i mbjetuar ne Auschwitz, tha, dhe une do te citoj ate, " Hulocaust na meson neve se natyra, madje ne momentet me te egera eshte i pa rrezikshme ne krahasim me njeriun, kur ai humb perimetrin e tij moral dhe arsyen."
There's another kind of crucifixion. The horrifying images from Abu Ghraib as well as the images from Guantanamo had a profound impact. The publication of those images, as opposed to the images themselves, caused a government to change its policies. Some would argue that it is those images that did more to fuel the insurgency in Iraq than virtually any other single act. Furthermore, those images forever removed the so-called moral high ground of the occupying forces.
Eshte nje tjter lloj i kryqezimit. Imazhet tronditese nga Abu Ghraub gjithashtu edhe imazhet nga Gunatanamo paten nje ndikim te thelle. Publikimi i ketyre imazheve, te kunderta me imazhet ne vete, shkaktuan nje qeveri te ndryshojne politikat e tij. Disa do te argumentojne se jane keto imazhe qe e nxiten kryengritjen ne Irak se pothuajse cdo akt tjter. Per me shume, keto imazhe pergjithmone larguan te ashtu-quajteren toke morale e forcave pushtuese.
Let's go back a little. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam War was basically shown in America's living rooms day in, day out. News photos brought people face to face with the victims of the war: a little girl burned by napalm, a student killed by the National Guard at Kent State University in Ohio during a protest. In fact, these images became the voices of protest themselves.
Le te kthehemi pak. Ne 1960 dhe 1970, Lufta e Vietnamit ne thelb ishte shfaqur ne dhomat e ndenjes Amerikane. Foto te reja kane sjellur njerezit balle per balle me viktimat e liftes: nje vajze e vogel e djekur nga napalmi, nje student i vrare nga Rojet Kombetare ne Universitetin Kent State ne Ohio gjate nje proteste. Ne fakt, keto imazhe u bene zerat e protestave.
Now, images have power to shed light of understanding on suspicion, ignorance, and in particular -- I've given a lot of talks on this but I'll just show one image -- the issue of HIV/AIDS. In the 1980s, the stigmatization of people with the disease was an enormous barrier to even discussing or addressing it. A simple act, in 1987, of the most famous woman in the world, the Princess of Wales, touching an HIV/AIDS infected baby did a great deal, especially in Europe, to stop that. She, better than most, knew the power of an image.
Tani, imazhet kane fuqi per te ndare driten e kuptimushmerise ne dyshim, injorance, dhe ne vecanti-- Une kam dhene shume diskutime per kete por une vetem do te ju tregoj nje imazh-- ceshtja e HIV/AIDS. Ne 1980, njollosja e njerezve me semundjen ishte nje barriere e tmershme biles per te diskutuar ose adresuar ate Nje akt i thjeshte, ne 1987, te gruas me te famshme ne bote, Princesha e Wales, duke prekur nje femije te infektuar me HIV/AIDS berei nje pune te mire, vecanerisht ne Europe, per te ndaluar ate. Ajo, me mire se shumica, e ka ditur fuqine e imazhit.
So when we are confronted by a powerful image, we all have a choice: We can look away, or we can address the image. Thankfully, when these photos appeared in The Guardian in 1998, they put a lot of focus and attention and, in the end, a lot of money towards the Sudan famine relief efforts. Did the images change the world? No, but they had a major impact. Images often push us to question our core beliefs and our responsibilities to each other. We all saw those images after Katrina, and I think for millions of people they had a very strong impact. And I think it's very unlikely that they were far from the minds of Americans when they went to vote in November 2008.
Pra kur ne konfrontohemi nga nje imazh i fuqishem, ne te gjithe e kemi nje zgjidhje: Ne mund te shikojme larg, ose mund te adresojme imazhin. Fatmiresisht, kur keto foto u shfaqen Guardian ne 1988, ata vendosen shume fokus dhe vemendje, ne fund , shume para ndaj perpjekjeve per te zvogeluar urine ne Sudan. A e ndryshuan imazhet boten? Jo, por ata paten ndikimin kryesor. Imazhet zakonisht na shtyejne neve te pyesim per besimet tona thelbesore dhe pergjegjesit tona per njeri tjetrin. Ne te gjithe pame keto imazhe pas Katrina, dhe mendoj per miliona njerez ata paten nje ndikm shume te fuqishem. Dhe une mendoj eshte shume e papelqyeshme qe ata ishin larg nga intelekti i Amerikaneve kur ata shkuan te votoj ne Nentor 2008.
Unfortunately, some very important images are deemed too graphic or disturbing for us to see them. I'll show you one photo here, and it's a photo by Eugene Richards of an Iraq War veteran from an extraordinary piece of work, which has never been published, called War Is Personal. But images don't need to be graphic in order to remind us of the tragedy of war. John Moore set up this photo at Arlington Cemetery. After all the tense moments of conflict in all the conflict zones of the world, there's one photograph from a much quieter place that haunts me still, much more than the others.
Fatkeqeshit, disa imazhe shume te rendesishme konsiderohen shume grafik ose shetesuese per ne per ti pare ato. Une do te ja tregoj nje foto ketu, dhe eshte nje foto nga Eugene Richards te nje veterani ne luften e Irakut nga nje pjese e jashtezakonshme e punes, i cila asnjehere nuk ka qene e publikuar, e quajtur Lufta eshte Personale. Por imazhet nuk kane nevoje te jene grafike ne menyre qe te na kujtohet tragjedia e luftes. John Moore e vendosi kete foto ne Arlington Cemetery. Pas te gjithave momente tensionuese te konfliktit ne te gjitha zonat e konfliktit te botes, eshte nje fotofraf nga nje vend me i qete i qe me shqetson mua ende, shume me shume se te tjeret.
Ansel Adams said, and I'm going to disagree with him, "You don't take a photograph, you make it." In my view, it's not the photographer who makes the photo, it's you. We bring to each image our own values, our own belief systems, and as a result of that, the image resonates with us. My company has 70 million images. I have one image in my office. Here it is. I hope that the next time you see an image that sparks something in you, you'll better understand why, and I know that speaking to this audience, you'll definitely do something about it.
Ansel Adams tha, une nuk do te pajtohem me te, " Ju nuk e merrni nje fotograf, ju e beni ate." Sipas opinionit tim, nuk eshte fotografi qe e bene foton, jeni ju. Ne sjellim te cdo imazh vlerat tona, sistemet tona te besimit, dhe si rezultat i saj, imazhi bashkevepron me ne. Comapania ime ka 7- milion imazhe. Une kam nje imazh ne zyren time. Ja ku eshte. Shpresoj qe heren tjeter te shihni nje imazh qe ngjall dicka ne ju, ju me se mire do te kuptoni pse, dhe une e di se te folurit me audiencen ju definitivisht do te beni dicka rreth saj.
And thank you to all the photographers.
Dhe faleminderit per te gjithe fotografet.
(Applause)
(Duartroktije)