What Is Photojournalism?

Photojournalism is a form of journalism that uses images rather than words in order to tell a story or report some significant news. It is now usually used to refer to still images but in some cases it also refers to the use of videos in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close genres of photography such as street photography by using a strict ethical framework which demands that the work is honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strict journalistic terms. Photojournalists must be well informed and knowledgeable about events happening in the world. They deliver news in a creative and entertaining format.

Photojournalism started off by being inspired by war photography in order to create an accurate representation of war. They would aim to show the suffering and complete devastation of the wars to potentially prevent these wars from occurring. Due to this there was a large expansion of photography which soon inspired the Golden age – This is often considered to be roughly the 1930s through the 1950s. It was made possible by the development of the compact commercial  camera in 1925 and so journalist true flexibility in taking pictures.

Photojournalism goes hand in hand with street photography in the sense that they both aim to present a truthful representation of a situation in which people are unaware of and therefore help to make an impact. They are both hard hitting genres for some people to view and really embrace the viewer to feel as if they are in the scene themselves.

This photograph is an example of photojournalism. It displays an unexpected real life situation which is a devastating event. It is hard for the viewer to intake this kind of image as it is extremely saddening and makes you think how unfortunate some are. The positive thing which comes out of this kind of photography is that it makes us want to help people in these areas and positively impact the world.