Why the latest Gulf wildlife photos matter so much

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100604/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2418


Fri Jun 4, 4:24 pm ET

Over the past 46 days, the media have captured hundreds of images from the oil spill, from grainy, underwater video of oil gushing into the Gulf to President Obama arriving in the region.

But as the oil begins washing ashore, photos will capture the more wrenching, and dramatic, impact of the spill on wildlife in the Gulf Coast region.

Some of these images have already been published, but it wasn't until Thursday, when an Associated Press photographer snapped disturbing pictures of pelicans and other birds completely submerged in oil, that the spill's devastating effect on wildlife truly reverberated across media platforms, from Twitter to blogs, cable news to the daily paper.

Santiago Lyon, the AP's director of photography, told Yahoo! News that when he first saw photographer Charlie Riedel's shots Thursday afternoon, he "immediately recognized these were extraordinary and unique images."

(Click the image to see slide show of Riedel's grim Gulf images)

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Judging by the public response, Riedel's images stand out from what's been shot so far, recalling the images of oil-soaked wildlife forever linked to the Exxon Valdez spill. On Thursday, there was immediately buzz on Twitter and cable news, with the Boston Globe publishing eight of the oil photos on its popular blog "The Big Picture." By Friday morning, newspaper readers across the country awoke to the same AP images on their doorsteps.

In the nation's capital, lawmakers could have seen them on the cover of the Washington Post, which ran two photos above the fold Friday morning, or the Washington Times, which placed one at the bottom of the front page. The AP photos ran on front pages far outside the Beltway, too, including Georgia's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Florida's Palm Beach Post, Virginia's Danville Register & Bee, Wyoming's Boomerang, and Alaska's Anchorage Daily News. (Politico's Patrick Gavin highlights many more).

Lyon said there are two reasons why photojournalists are able to get such shots now. For one, the bulk of the oil had been at sea, but is now approaching land. And second, Lyon stressed that journalists have had limited access to the spill, with BP enlisting local and federal government officials to restrict reporting from the area. Riedel was able to get these photos because he traveled with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to the state's East Grand Terre Island.
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They hurt, but they are necessary.

These large sea animals and birds represent all the rest that are being physically harmed, including humans. People have to see to believe...

Let them not have died in vain. Wake up America.

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