Marti Friedlander

1. Describe your attitude towards photos. For example, do you agree with the old saying that a picture speaks a thousand words?
2. Choose a photo of yourself that you have. Explain why it was taken and the importance of the event it shows.
3. Explain how photography, in her new country, helped Marti.
4. Explain how Marti Friedlander’s work helps the preservation of culture and helps us understand diversity in our culture.
5. Discuss the link between photographs and national identity.
6. Web search: Find pictures that Marti has taken and decide which is your favourite. Be ready to justify your choice.

A self-portrait by Marti Friedlander

Photos are a big part of our time, most people can just pull their phones and take a picture, preserving that moment in time. The moment, from there, can be shared with anyone or kept to yourself, or some people try to steal that moment away and share it with everyone. A single moment can tell a story of a thousand words or even more. Some can be ashamed of the stories that these moments captured in time tell. Others flaunt these moments, proud of the things they did and saw. A single album of photos can tell a million word story, they can tell a story of someone's life, someone's loss, someones love.

To the right is a photo that was taken of me and my friend Chloe, it was taken to help us remember the good time we had at Mega Zone. This photo will also help us remember what we were like back then when we look back at it in the future  

Photography, for Marti, would have been something she used to understand not just the country, but the countries culture and past. While taking photos of countries or places native people and land, you learn about them and how they live compared to how you’ve grown up in a completely different place and community, around such different people and traditions. I think it would have been incredibly important to Marti and her understanding of New Zealand’s culture and people.

Marti’s work helps New Zealand with the preservation of culture in so many different ways. Photos help us understand the diversity in our unique culture. You can’t just throw photos away because there is always going to the memory of taking the photo for the photographer and the subject. Photos are always going to be there, online or in albums, they are almost eternal. People can always look back and look at pictures, they can see what the meaning behind the photos are and what the story behind it is. Whether it be about war, love or mistakes, or even all of them! They help us understand our cultures and countries mistakes and gains.

Between photos and national identity, no one usually makes a link between the two and how they can help each other. When trying to understand a countries identity and what makes them a country that's different from others. We don't realize that the difference between countries is their landscape, people and how the people of that country act. Photos of those landscapes and people reveal how the people of that place and other places around the world identify that country compared to others.

Through a google search, I have found this photo which I believe Marti took. This is my favourite because of the story it could be telling, the boy could simply be on vacation, or he could be a stow-away on a rich yacht! There are so many different stories that this single photo could tell over and over again.