Photojournalism 

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism which involves collecting and editing news material for a news publication. Photojournalism uses photographs in order to tell a story, it’s different to other types of photography such as documentary and street photography because of it’s rigid ethics  which demands that the photos are honest and impartial and are only telling the story in journalistic terms. The objective of photojournalism is to have images which are a fair representation of events of situations. Illustrating news story’s with photographs began in the mid 19th century in The Times newspaper of Lord Horatio Nelson’s funeral. The first newspaper with weekly illustrations was the Illustrated London News.

Street photography

Street photography is photography that shows human conditions within public places, however it doesn’t necessary have to include a street in it or an urban photography although this is very common. Timing and framing can be important aspects of street photography as some photographer aim to capture of decisive moments. On the other hand some street photographers focus on the human character, recording their history and their emotions. Street photography expanded in the late 19th century with the emerge of portable cameras. Eugene Atget is regarded as the ‘father’ of this genre, not because he was the first of his kind, but due to his popularity as a Parisian street photographer.

Children play around an impromptu bonfire in The Fountain, a Loyalist housing estate in Londonderry, Northern Ireland on Aug. 11, 1989.

In the last few blog posts I have spoken in some detail about Photojournalism. Photojournalism is a specific type of photography whereby the photographer records real-life events as they happen, usually to be published in a newspaper or magazine article.

The genre of photojournalism is separate from many other forms of photography as it is very restricted in the type of photographs that can be made, due to the fact that the photographer’s objective is to truthfully display their account of the world, without any deception or falsification. Photojournalist are expected to report on the world in a very distant and objective manner, producing work that is impartial and of no emotional attachment. This can be a problem for many photographers, who are often inclined to immerse themselves deeply in their subject matter, valuing creativity and interpretation over absolute realism. As a result, the work that photojournalists produce is under constant scrutiny and pressure by the world of journalism, and their have been many cases recently such as the World Press Photo controversy, in which prize winner Giovanni Tripoli was striped from his prize as it transpired he had staged and falsified some of his photographs. These issues have opened new question of the meaning and purpose of photojournalism.

Photojournalism is a very general meaning and relates to any type of photography which conveys and real-life news story and narrative. Because of this, it is seen as a genre in itself, treated as an umbrella category of various other forms of documentary photography including; War and Street Photography.

Henri Cartier-Bresson is viewed by many to be the master of modern photojournalism. He specialized in Street Photography and helped to popularize the genre of candid photographs.

Consider if photographs can change the world or change people’s perception?

The article by Lewis Bush entitled ‘Photographs  Won’t Change the World’ talks briefly about the influence photography has to affect how people view the world. Bush argues that photographs have the power to influence people and the way they think because they “present the idea that things are happening, or exist, or are possible”, therefore showing the viewer real life events to evoke a reaction. He does not however think that a single photograph has the direct influence to completely change a persons view, “Photographs don’t change people drastically, few people are transformed into ardent campaigners by an encounter with a single image”. Effectively Bush argues that photographs will not change the world directly but have the power to trigger responses in people, who in turn have the power to make big changes

His views are quite similar to mine in that I believe photographs are a powerful means of communication that show and reflect truth and important messages about the world; socially, politically and ethically. Photography is an effective means of doing so because a photograph is something which is very universal and therefore can bring people together in a common cause. The view that Bush raised concerning the effect of how we view photographs can be dangerous was very interesting as he states that “to claim that photographs, and by association the act of photographing, will in themselves change the world is disingenuous, a case of letting ourselves off the hook” and in contrast “to believe that photographs can’t drive us to change the world is to believe in a futile, solitary, and self-fulfilling prophecy”. These idea highlight shows how important photography is because it shows that our view of photography very much reflects who we are as human beings.

This iconic photograph of Martin Luther King helped to bring the civil right campaign of America to worldwide attention

This photograph taken by photojournalist John Filo, is of a young woman reacting to the shooting death of her friend Jeffery Miller during the Kent State Shooting in 1970. The photograph received worldwide recognition and  won a pulitzer prize. It was seen as the photograph which changed U.S. public attitude towards the Vietnam War, thereby impacting greatly the course of 20th Century History and the Cold War.

This photograph of a dead Syrian Migrant boy is a recent example of how photographs can change public perception. The image has affected the way European people view the recent refugee crisis in Europe, prompting greater sympathy, understanding and compassion.

At the World Press Photo contest, there was an uproar when an Italian photographer won the top prize and had misinterpreted the location of the photograph and had also staged them. This made the photographers question the line between photojournalism and art photography and the line between what is and isn’t acceptable. This lead to the judging panel rewriting their code of ethics so that staged photographs would not be permitted in the contest. Mr Leroy  who is founder of Visa Pour l’Image said he defined photojournalism as “witnessing the world.”  The fact that Mr Leroy used the word ‘witnessing’ implies that you shouldn’t influence the photograph but simply record what you see. Photograph’s today are easily manipulated and staged with the use of technology, photojournalists are known for ‘bare witnessing’ real life situations therefore it’s hard to establish how much photo manipulation is acceptable if any.

Can Photographs change the world?

Some people argue that a powerful photograph has the ability to change the world, by influencing peoples perspective and bringing out emotions in them. Photographs inform the viewers visually about world events often with little description, which I think sometimes is more powerful than a detailed report because the photograph allows you to sympathize with what is going on. However other people argue that it cant change the world.  Photographer Lewis Bush believes that photographs can’t change the world, but “Photographs represent the idea that things are happening, or exist, or are possible”. He believes that it’s not so much the photograph that can change the world but the effect it has on people and the action they take. I think that photographs are capable of changing the world if they are powerful enough and transmit a strong message. I do think there is something about photography which brings people together. However, I do agree that a large part of changing the world through a photograph is how people react and take an  action after having seen the photograph itself.

Can photojournalists preserve their integrity and maintain trust?

Photojournalism is known for it’s credibility, however as the use of technology rises photographers are manipulating their photographs more and more which in turn is making viewers more skeptical of weather or not to believe what they see and they begin to loose trust.  Donald Weber said by taking away photojournalism’s credibility  “we’re only killing our own profession.”  In NPPA’S code ethics for journalists in one of their rules they state  “Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.” which justifies why the manipulated photographs were disqualified. However, although there is a code of conduct which photojournalists should obey many of them don’t which makes it harder to preserve photography integrity.

https://nppa.org/code_of_ethics

More recently, a photograph of a 3 year old Syrian boy who had been washed up on the beach after travelling from Turkey to Greece in a rubber raft played an important part of getting peoples attention. This photograph was spread all over social media, the news and magazines which alerted people to the seriousness and the consequences of the refugee crisis. This photograph promoted politicians all over the world to  take action and ‘support’ the people who are part of the refugee crisis. I think this is a good example of how photographs can change the world and do have a big influence on peoples actions, however was it morally right for the photographer to have taken this photograph? The article below shows how the photograph affected the boys family.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/world/europe/syria-boy-drowning.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Photographer Study- Lynsey Addario 

Lynsey Addario is an American photojournalist who has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, the Congo and Iraq. I am studying four of her photojournalist projects, War and Revolution in the Middle East, Africa- Democratic Republic of Congo, Women at war and Miss India Beauty Pageant 2001. Addario’s work primarily focuses on the position and role of women in traditional societies, however, also explores human right issues and conflicts. Addario began photographing professionally in 1996 and began freelancing with Cuba being her focus point. During 2000 Addario photographed in Afghanistan, she has also visisted Chad at least once a month since August 2004. She has photographed for for The New York Times, National Geographic and Time. Addario has a publication ‘It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War.’

Documentary photography follows a single topic or story in-depth over a long period of time. This is different to photojournalism which documents real-time coverage of breaking news and events. Documentary photography hold the main purpose of educating the public about a subject.Documentary photography allows the viewers knowledge of the subject to expand and be more in depth. By deepening our understanding and emotional connection to stories of injustice, documentary photography can capture and sustain public attention, allowing the public to be more educated about issues such as human rights.

Mary Ellen Mark

A example of a documentary photography is Mary Ellen Mark. she was an American photographer that photographed people who were away from the normal main stream of life. For example people who were more troubled. Mark had 18 publishes of work, however her most famous ones were ward 81 and streetwise.

Streetwise

Mary Ellen Mark traveled to the city of Seattle with Cheryl McCall in 1983 to do an article for LIFE Magazine on runaway children. Mark and McCall spent a lot of time with the children who lived around Seattle and photographed them in their every day lives. Here are some of the photos from the Streetwise project.

Mary Ellen Mark was inspired by lots of photographs before starting this project such as, Robert Frank , Cartier-Bresson, Kertesz and plenty more. Mark appreciated these photographers because they took powerful images that sent a message to the viewers. I really like the  ‘streetwise’ collection of work because it gives a true representation of life in Seattle in the 80’s. I also really like that she has put all of the photographs into a black and white filter as it foreshadows that she is photographing the truth and isn’t editing the photographs in anyway to make them more aesthetically pleasing.

Tableau Photography

Tableau photography is a form of a ‘living picture’, it is part of the genre of documentary photography however is staged therefore uses models in order to create the desired image. The picture produced it normally theatrical and has a meaningful message. Tableau photography allows photographers to experiment and develop their own individual style whilst style documenting truth concerning difficult topics. There is a level of freedom which I think can’t be accessed in documentary photography. This genre of photography explores the minds of individuals, artists are able to reflect a society which is honest and real. Photographers are able to be creative and push the boundaries in tableau photography.

David Hilliard

David Hilliard is an American photographer, he mainly produces  work focused on panoramic photographs. Most of his images have been staged, however, uses the environment and personal life as his focus. Therefore, a middle ground between fact and fiction. I think Hilliard’s work is fascinating to research, it is a perfect example of tableau photography as it’s a combination of styles. Hilliard’s are very different from other tableau photographers I have looked at as he uses this distinctive panoramic style where he splits the photograph into three sections. Although his layout out is important to mention, I think Hilliard explores a deeper meaning in his images particularly the image I have chosen to focus on.