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A Picture Paints a Thousand Words
If you haven't already heard, let me be the first to tell you that Sophia Loren features in the latest Pirelli Calendar. Not in the autumnal October or November months that you might poetically expect but in January, March and April no less. And, if that wasn't impressive enough, guess who is gracing the cover?
A woman of 71 being celebrated by the publication renowned for blurring the edges between the glamour model and the artistic nude - it must surely arouse curiosity levels to that of feline demise.
I succumbed and, I have to say, there is considerable kittenesque charm in evidence. As well as a bone structure to die for, there is either photographic evidence of an age defying miracle or a lovingly applied airbrush. I'll let you be the judge but doesn't matter either way. This is Sophia Loren; feisty, talented, sexy, intelligent, strong, defiant and beautiful. I take my hat off to you, Ms Loren.
Pre-internet, the world famous calendar was only to be enjoyed by a comparatively few clients and associates cherished by the tyre company. Today, we all have access to at least a low-resolution peak at the pinnacle of naughty niceness.
The Pirelli Calendar web site is superbly presented - something you would expect from the company behind the Pirelli International Award, an annual prize for the best multimedia project involving communication conducted entirely on the Internet.
As a non-member of the site, you can browse through every month of the 2007 calendar and, if that only serves to whet your appetite, you can trawl through the archives stretching back to 1964.
The calendar is splendid for wasting a few spare moments but the images, whilst enjoyable, are hardly thought provoking. As the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words but how long is it since we have been challenged by a single photograph? I don't know if we are desentised or if the images are losing the battle with a barrage of celebrity snapshots. I went in search of an image that embeds itself into our hearts and minds - one that forces us to think about something more important than the circumference of the left thigh of the latest catwalk darling?
 I remember, on one of those rare occasions when a lecture captured my imagination, discussing the moral dilemma presented by a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. A tiny, starving Sudanese girl is curled up on a deserted path desperately trying to make her way to a food station in the famine-stricken wasteland. In the background is an ugly and intent vulture seemingly waiting patiently for her to take her last breath so he could dine.
This photograph made the front page of the New York Times in 1993 and the switchboard was besieged with calls from concerned readers asking if the little girl had reached her destination. The paper could only assure the callers that she had left the scene. Her fate was unknown.
There followed much debate about the moral duty of the photographer. How could he take such a powerful shot and not be moved to save the little girl? In retrospect, it may seem like a simple question but this was at a time when journalists and photographers were warned not to touch famine victims for fear of disease and, ultimately, death. As the debate raged on and just a few months after the photograph won the Pulitzer Prize, the photographer, Kevin Carter, committed suicide. I think it is safe to say we have our answer.
This image not only forced people to think but it unceremoniously rammed the message home. Starvation had another face. Not only a pathetic one but a shocking, ugly, horrific one. One without mercy or dignity and one that could not be ignored.
Don't misunderstand me. I am not a proponent of saturation levels of docu-photography to redress the balance between the airbrush and the conscience. But I do believe there is room for both. And, to that end, this week's Web Watch caters for each.
The World Press Photo web site is not for the feint-hearted. Their aim is to encourage professional high standards in photojournalism. The results are sure to make you wince, weep, laugh, smile, shudder, shake and cringe. I thoroughly recommend it.
The sports photography includes a shot bearing witness to the exact moment a US swimmer's head makes contact with the very diving board she has just left. Wince.
The arts section presents an elderly woman leaning over to take a very close look at the 'Mae West Lips Sofa' at a Salvador Dali exhibition. Laugh.
The next winning photograph captures the agony of a blood-splattered young girl screaming with grief just moments after her parents have been shot by US dusk patrol soldiers. Shudder.
Amongst the archives, going back to 1955, there is the most beautifully shocking picture of the tiny, withered black hand of a starving child resting in the palm of the older, healthier white hand belonging to a missionary. Weep.
Peppered amongst the heart-wrenching is the heart-warming and the artistic. It's quite a journey but one well worth making. And, if you're a little exhausted after your trans-global trip you can always pop back to Pirelli for a little light relief! Bon voyage.
Note: I would have included an image of Ms Loren's calendar appearance but the copyright message is quite clear and unforgiving and I don't have the resources to enter into a legal battle with the nice people of Pirelli! Please click the link to take a look.
Jacqueline Alexander
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