Shekhar Deshpande’s “The Confident Gaze”

"The Confident Gaze” by Shekhar Deshpande is about how the National Geographic Magazine is creating an image for the “Western Eye” and modeling to fit the ideas in there opinion. National Geographic magazine is read by many people and teaches the “Western Eye” “by providing images of what ‘would have been’ if the life West had not taken a march toward ‘civilization.’” The photographers use pictures that show to show us the world and to how we compare to others. The “Western Eye” is somewhat better off.
When Deshpande talks about how pictures can be used to create an image of what people want to see. Or pictures are to portray a certain affect on a viewer. Deshpande uses the quote, “While we admire the accomplishments of its photographers to bring us the rest of the world, we forget that the photographs and it’s contexts in which they are placed represent a very conscious effort by the editors to make the world a happy place and a happy place especially for the ‘Western Eye.’” When we get into how beautiful or creative a picture is some times people forget what the picture is really showing or where it comes from.
Pictures aren’t the only thing that can change the way someone looks at another place. The magazine itself and how it is pieced together can change the meaning or looks. Deshpande states, “This gives the magazine its real power.” It’s how the author and photographer want the reader to view the work. Then she states, “[I]t can sanitize and even beautify the blood and gore of the conflict.” If we piece together work in a certain way or make the picture show only part of the scene it hides what’s really there. As the “Western Eye” we don’t always see what’s really happening since we have a sense of what we want to think places and people should look from our standards.