Photojournalism

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Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that employs images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography, social documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work is both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media.

Timeliness
The images have meaning in the context of a recently published record of events.
Objectivity
The situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the events they depict in both content and tone.
Narrative
The images combine with other news elements to make facts relatable to the viewer or reader on a cultural level.

Like a writer, a photojournalist is a reporter but he or she must often make decisions instantly and carry photographic equipment, often while exposed to significant obstacles (e.g., physical danger, weather, crowds).

History[edit]

Origins in war photography[edit]

The practice of illustrating news stories with photographs was made possible by printing and photography innovations that occurred in the mid 19th century. Although early illustrations had appeared in newspapers, such as an illustration of the funeral of Lord Horatio Nelson in The Times (1806), the first weekly illustrated newspaper was the Illustrated London News, first printed in 1842.[1] The illustrations were printed with the use of engravings.

Versions of Valley of the Shadow of Death, with and without cannonballs

During the Crimean War, the ILN pioneered the birth of early photojournalism by printing pictures of the war that had been taken by Roger Fenton. Fenton was the first official war photographer and his work documenting the effects of the war on the troops, laid the groundwork for modern photojournalism.[2] Other photographers of the war included William Simpson and Carol Szathmari. Similarly, the American Civil War photographs of Mathew Brady were engraved before publication in Harper's Weekly. Disaster, including train wrecks and city fires, were also a popular subject for illustrated newspapers in these early days.[3]

Expansion[edit]

The Crawlers, London, 1876–1877, a photograph from John Thomson's Street Life in London photo-documentary

The printing of images in newspapers remained an isolated occurrence in this period. Photos were used to enhance the text rather than to act as a medium of information in its own right. This began to change with the work of one of the pioneers of photojournalism, John Thomson, in the late 1870s.[4] In collaboration with the radical journalist Adolphe Smith, he began publishing a monthly magazine, Street Life in London, from 1876 to 1877. The project documented in photographs and text, the lives of the street people of London and established social documentary photography as a form of photojournalism.[5] Instead of the images acting as a supplement to the text, he pioneered the use of printed photographs as the predominant medium for the imparting of information, successfully combining photography with the printed word.[6]

On March 4, 1880, The Daily Graphic (New York)[7] published the first halftone (rather than engraved) reproduction of a news photograph.

"Geronimo's camp before surrender to General Crook, March 27, 1886: Geronimo and Natches mounted; Geronimo's son (Perico) standing at his side holding baby." By C. S. Fly.

In March, 1886, when General George Crook received word that the Apache leader Geronimo would negotiate surrender terms, photographer C. S. Fly took his equipment and attached himself to the military column. During the three days of negotiations, Fly took about 15 exposures on 8 by 10 inches (200 by 250 mm) glass negatives.[8] His photos of Geronimo and the other free Apaches, taken on March 25 and 26th, are only the known photographs taken of American Indians while still at war with the United States.[9] Fly coolly posed his subjects, asking them to move and turn their heads and faces, to improve his composition. The popular publication Harper's Weekly published six of his images in their April 24, 1886 issue.[8] [8]

In 1887, flash powder was invented, enabling journalists such as Jacob Riis to photograph informal subjects indoors, which led to the landmark work How the Other Half Lives.[10] By 1897, it became possible to reproduce halftone photographs on printing presses running at full speed.[11][12]

In France, agencies such as Rol, Branger and Chusseau-Flaviens (ca. 1880-1910) syndicated photographs from around the world to meet the need for timely new illustration.[13] Despite these innovations, limitations remained, and many of the sensational newspaper and magazine stories in the period from 1897 to 1927 were illustrated with engravings. In 1921, the wirephoto made it possible to transmit pictures almost as quickly as news itself could travel.

Golden age[edit]

The "Golden Age of Photojournalism" is often considered to be roughly the 1930s through the 1950s.[14] It was made possible by the development of the commercial 35mm Leica camera in 1925, and the first flash bulbs between 1927 and 1930 that allowed the journalist true flexibility in taking pictures.

The Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung pioneered modern photojournalism and was widely copied. Pictured, the cover of issue of 26 August 1936: a meeting between Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola.

A new style of magazine and newspaper sprung up that used photography more than text to tell their stories. The (Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung was the first to pioneer the format of the illustrated news magazine. Beginning in 1901, it began to print photographs inside the magazine, a revolutionary innovation. In the successive decades, it was developed into the prototype of the modern news magazine.[15]

It pioneered the photo-essay,[15][16] had a specialised staff and production unit for pictures and maintained a photo library.[17] It also introduced the use of candid photographs taken with the new smaller cameras.[18]

The magazine sought out reporters who could tell a story using photographs, notably the pioneer sports photographer Martin Munkácsi, the first staff photographer,[19][20] and Erich Salomon, one of the founders of photojournalism.[21]

Other magazines included, Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung (Berlin), Vu (France), Life (USA), Look (USA), Picture Post (London)); and newspapers, The Daily Mirror (London) and The New York Daily News. Famous photographers of the era included Robert Capa, Romano Cagnoni, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and W. Eugene Smith.[citation needed]

Henri Cartier-Bresson is held by some to be the father of modern photojournalism, although this appellation has been applied to various other photographers, such as Erich Salomon, whose candid pictures of political figures were novel in the 1930s.[citation needed]

In Migrant Mother Dorothea Lange produced the seminal image of the Great Depression. The FSA also employed several other photojournalists to document the depression.

Soldier Tony Vaccaro is also recognized as one of the pre-eminent photographers of World War II. His images taken with the modest Argus C3 captured horrific moments in war, similar to Capa's soldier being shot. Capa himself was on Omaha Beach on D-Day and captured pivotal images of the conflict on that occasion. Vaccaro is also known for having developed his own images in soldier's helmets, and using chemicals found in the ruins of a camera store in 1944.[citation needed]

Until the 1980s, most large newspapers were printed with turn-of-the-century "letterpress" technology using easily smudged oil-based ink, off-white, low-quality "newsprint" paper, and coarse engraving screens. While letterpresses produced legible text, the photoengraving dots that formed pictures often bled or smeared and became fuzzy and indistinct. In this way, even when newspapers used photographs well — a good crop, a respectable size — murky reproduction often left readers re-reading the caption to see what the photo was all about. The Wall Street Journal adopted stippled hedcuts in 1979 to publish portraits and avoid the limitations of letterpress printing. Not until the 1980s had a majority of newspapers switched to "offset" presses that reproduce photos with fidelity on better, whiter paper.[citation needed]

By contrast Life, one of America's most popular weekly magazines from 1936 through the early 1970s, was filled with photographs reproduced beautifully on oversize 11×14-inch pages, using fine engraving screens, high-quality inks, and glossy paper. Life often published a United Press International (UPI) or Associated Press (AP) photo that had been first reproduced in newspapers, but the quality magazine version appeared to be a different photo altogether. In large part because their pictures were clear enough to be appreciated, and because their name always appeared with their work, magazine photographers achieved near-celebrity status. Life became a standard by which the public judged photography, and many of today's photo books celebrate "photojournalism" as if it had been the exclusive province of near-celebrity magazine photographers.[citation needed]

Many photographic magazines celebrated the human spirit during the Second World War and when the war ended there was an optimistic period in the USA and Europe of unbridled consumerism and a general belief that things could only get better. The magazines celebrated humanism and the sense that anything was possible. Even if they showed poverty and hunger it was with an underlying message that by exposing it to public scrutiny things would improve.[citation needed]

In 1947 a few famous photographers founded the international photographic cooperative Magnum Photos. In 1989 Corbis Corporation and in 1993 Getty Images were founded. These powerful image libraries sell the rights to photographs and other still images.[citation needed]

Boy destroying piano at Pant-y-Waen, South Wales, by Philip Jones Griffiths, 1961

Decline[edit]

Sports photojournalists at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Golden Age of Photojournalism ended in the 1970s when many photo-magazines ceased publication. They found that they could not compete with other media for advertising revenue to sustain their large circulations and high costs. Still, those magazines taught journalism much about the photographic essay and the power of the still images.[22]

However, since the late 1970s, photojournalism and documentary photography have increasingly been accorded a place in art galleries alongside fine art photography. Luc Delahaye, Manuel Rivera-Ortiz and the members of VII Photo Agency are among many who regularly exhibit in galleries and museums.[23]

Professional organizations[edit]

The Danish Union of Press Photographers (Pressefotografforbundet) was the first national organization for newspaper photographers in the world. It was founded in 1912 in Copenhagen, Denmark by six press photographers.[24] Today it has over 800 members.

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) was founded in 1946 in the U.S., and has about 10,000 members. Others around the world include the British Press Photographers Association[25] (BPPA) founded in 1984, then relaunched in 2003, and now has around 450 members. Hong Kong Press Photographers Association (1989), Northern Ireland Press Photographers Association (2000), Pressfotografernas Klubb (Sweden, 1930), and PK — Pressefotografenes Klubb (Norway).[26]

Magnum Photos was founded in 1947 by Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, William Vandivert, Rita Vandivert and Maria Eisner, being one of the first photographic cooperatives, owned and administered entirely by its members worldwide.

VII Photo Agency was founded in September 2001 and got its name from the original seven founders, Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey and John Stanmeyer. Today it has 30 members, along with a mentor program.

News organizations and journalism schools run many different awards for photojournalists. Since 1968, Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded for the following categories of photojournalism: 'Feature Photography', 'Spot News Photography'. Other awards are World Press Photo, Best of Photojournalism, and Pictures of the Year as well as the UK based The Press Photographer's Year.[27]

Ethical and legal considerations[edit]

Photojournalism works within the same ethical approaches to objectivity that are applied by other journalists. What to shoot, how to frame and how to edit are constant considerations. Photographing news for an assignment is one of the most ethical problems photographers face. Photojournalists have a moral responsibility to decide what pictures to take, what picture to stage, and what pictures to show the public. For example, photographs of violence and tragedy are prevalent in American journalism because as an understated rule of thumb, that "if it bleeds, it leads". The public is attracted to gruesome photographs and dramatic stories. A lot of controversy arises when deciding which photographs are too violent to show the public.[citation needed]

Photographs of the dead or injured arouse controversy because more often than not, the name of person depicted in the photograph is not given in the caption. The family of the person is often not informed of the photograph until they see it published. The photograph of the street execution of a suspected Viet Cong soldier during the Vietnam War provoked a lot of interest because it captured the exact moment of death. The family of the victim was also not informed that the picture would run publicly.[citation needed]

Other issues involving photojournalism include the right to privacy and the compensation of the news subject. Especially regarding pictures of violence, photojournalists face the ethical dilemma of whether or not to publish images of the victims. The victim's right to privacy is sometimes not addressed or the picture is printed without their knowledge or consent. The compensation of the subject is another issue. Subjects often want to be paid in order for the picture to be published, especially if the picture is of a controversial subject.[citation needed]

Another major issue of photojournalism is photo manipulation – what degree is acceptable?  Some pictures are simply manipulated for color enhancement, whereas others are manipulated to the extent where people are edited in or out of the picture. War photography has always been a genre of photojournalism that is frequently staged – see war photography: history for early examples). Due to the bulkiness and types of cameras present during past wars in history, it was rare when a photograph could capture a spontaneous news event. Subjects were carefully composed and staged in order to capture better images. Another ethical issue is false or misleading captioning. The 2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies is a notable example of some of these issue, and see photo manipulation: use in journalism for other examples.[citation needed]

The emergence of digital photography offers whole new realms of opportunity for the manipulation, reproduction, and transmission of images. It has inevitably complicated many of the ethical issues involved.[citation needed]

Often, ethical conflicts can be mitigated or enhanced by the actions of a sub-editor or picture editor, who takes control of the images once they have been delivered to the news organization. The photojournalist often has no control as to how images are ultimately used.[citation needed]

The United States National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) is a professional society that acknowledges concern for the public's right to freedom in searching for truth in a photograph and the public's right to be informed about the events that occur in the world. Since the same ethical approaches are applied to photojournalism as to other journalism forms, photographs should illustrate news in an object manner to keep the public accurately informed. The following are the Code of Ethics that the members of NPPA follow:[citation needed]

  1. The practice of photojournalism, both as a science and art, is worthy of the very best thought and effort of those who enter into it as a profession.
  2. Photojournalism affords an opportunity to serve the public that is equaled by few other vocations and all members of the profession should strive by example and influence to maintain high standards of ethical conduct free of mercenary considerations of any kind.
  3. It is the individual responsibility of every photojournalist at all times to strive for pictures that report truthfully, honestly and objectively.
  4. Business promotion in its many forms is essential, but untrue statements of any nature are not worthy of a professional photojournalist and we severely condemn any such practice.
  5. It is our duty to encourage and assist all members of our profession, individually and collectively, so that the quality of photojournalism may constantly be raised to higher standards.
  6. It is the duty of every photojournalist to work to preserve all freedom-of-the-press rights recognized by law and to work to protect and expand freedom-of-access to all sources of news and visual information.
  7. Our standards of business dealings, ambitions and relations shall have in them a note of sympathy for our common humanity and shall always require us to take into consideration our highest duties as members of society. In every situation in our business life, in every responsibility that comes before us, our chief thought shall be to fulfill that responsibility and discharge that duty so that when each of us is finished we shall have endeavored to lift the level of human ideals and achievement higher than we found it.
  8. No Code of Ethics can prejudge every situation, thus common sense and good judgment are required in applying ethical principles.[28]

Laws regarding photography can vary significantly from nation to nation. The legal situation is further complicated when one considers that photojournalism made in one country will often be published in many other countries.[citation needed]

Unethical practices[edit]

In the history of photojournalism there were some photographers who did not follow ethical principles and sought only to gain celebrity through taking spectacular shots. Many of them faced loss of credibility and were also fired from the newspapers.

Mike Meadows of the Los Angeles Times was covering a major wild fire sweeping southern California. His picture of a fireman cooling himself off with water in a pool ran not only in the Times but also nationally. Prior to submitting the photograph for a contest, the newspaper's editor contacted the fireman, who said he had been asked by the photographer to go to the pool and splash water on his head. The photographer responded "I may have been guilty of saying 'this would make a nice shot', but I did not directly ask him to do that". What Meadows did not understand was that even a suggestion to a subject in a news situation is a form of interference—and thus out of place on the continuum of control. The picture was withdrawn from competition and the photographer left the paper.[citation needed]

Edward Keating, a Pulitzer Prize winner from The New York Times, photographed a young boy pointing a toy gun outside a Middle Eastern grocery store, near a town where the FBI raided an alleged Al Qaeda cell. Other photographers at the scene claimed that Keating pointed with his own arm to show the boy which way to look and aim the gun. After the Columbia Journalism Review reported the incident, Keating was forced to leave the paper.[29]

The impact of new technologies[edit]

Smaller, lighter cameras greatly enhanced the role of the photojournalist. Since the 1960s, motor drives, electronic flash, auto-focus, better lenses and other camera enhancements have made picture taking easier. New digital cameras free photojournalists from the limitation of film roll length, as thousands of images can be stored on a single memory card.[citation needed]

Social media is playing a big part in revealing world events to a vast audience. Whenever there is a major event in the world, there are usually people with camera phones ready to capture photos and post them on various social networks. Such convenience allows the Associated Press to reach out to the citizen journalist who holds ownership of the photos and get permission to use those photos in news outlets.[30]

The content of photos tends to outweigh the quality when it comes to news value. On February 18, 2004, The New York Times published on their front page a photo of AT&T CEO John Zeglis which was taken with a camera phone.[31] Content remains the most important element of photojournalism, but the ability to extend deadlines with rapid gathering and editing of images has brought significant changes. As recently as 15 years ago, nearly 30 minutes were needed to scan and transmit a single color photograph from a remote location to a news office for printing. Now, equipped with a digital camera, a mobile phone and a laptop computer, a photojournalist can send a high-quality image in minutes, even seconds after an event occurs. Camera phones and portable satellite links increasingly allow for the mobile transmission of images from almost any point on the earth.[citation needed]

There is some concern by news photographers that the profession of photojournalism as it is known today could change to such a degree that it is unrecognizable as image-capturing technology naturally progresses.[32] Citizen journalism and the increase in user contribution and submission of amateur photos to news sites is becoming more widespread. As early as the Crimean War in the mid-19th century, photographers were using the novel technology of the box camera to record images of British soldiers in the field. However, the widespread use of cameras as a way of reporting news did not come until the advent of smaller, more portable cameras that used the enlargeable film negative to record images. The introduction of the 35 mm Leica camera in the 1930s made it possible for photographers to move with the action, taking shots of events as they were unfolding.[citation needed]

The age of the citizen journalist and the attainment of news photos from amateur bystanders have contributed to the art of photojournalism. Paul Levinson attributes this shift to the Kodak camera, one of the first cheap and accessible photo technologies that "put a piece of visual reality into every person's potential grasp."[33] The empowered news audience with the advent of the Internet sparked the creation of blogs, podcasts and online news, independent of the traditional outlets, and "for the first time in our history, the news increasingly is produced by companies outside journalism".[34][35] Dan Chung, a former photojournalist for The Guardian and Reuters, believes that professional photojournalists will have to adapt to video to make a living.[36] Many digital single lens reflex bodies are being equipped withvideo capabilities such as the Canon 5D Mark III

See also[edit]

Portal icon Journalism portal

References[edit]

  1. ^ Laurel Brake, Marysa Demoor, Margaret Beetham (2009). Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press. p. 495. 
  2. ^ Keith Hayward, Mike Presdee (2010). Framing Crime: Cultural Criminology and the Image. Routledge. p. 38. 
  3. ^ Carlebach, Michael L. (1992). The Origins of Photojournalism in America. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-159-8. 
  4. ^ Elliott S. Parker (1977). John Thomson, Photojournalist in Asia, 1862-1872. 
  5. ^ "The photographs of John Thomson". National Library of Scotland. 
  6. ^ Ovenden, Richard (1997). John Thomson (1837-1921) Photographer. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland. p. 42. ISBN 0114958335. 
  7. ^ "Welcome to... / Bienvenue r". Collections.ic.gc.ca. 2001-05-01. Retrieved 2011-12-10. 
  8. ^ a b c Vaughan, Thomas. "C.S. Fly Pioneer Photojournalist". The Journal of Arizona History (Autumn, 1989 ed.) 30 (3): 303–318. 
  9. ^ "Mary "Mollie" E. Fly (1847-1925)". Retrieved 22 October 2014. 
  10. ^ How the Other Half Lives complete text and photos online
  11. ^ Robert Taft, Photography and the American scene: A social history, 1839–1889 (New York: Dover, 1964), 446
  12. ^ Campbell, W. Joseph (2004). "1897 American journalism's exceptional year". Journalism History. Winter. ISSN 0094-7679. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 
  13. ^ Gervais, Thierry (May 2005). "Photographies de presse". Études photographiques (in French) (16): 166–181. Retrieved 13 June 2012. 
  14. ^ Moran, Terence P. Introduction to the History of Communication: Evolutions & Revolutions. Peter Lang Publishing, 2010. p. 181.
  15. ^ a b Mila Ganeva, Women in Weimar Fashion: Discourses and Displays in German Culture, 1918–1933, Screen cultures, Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2008, ISBN 9781571132055, p. 53.
  16. ^ Mary Warner Marien, Photography: A Cultural History, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002, ISBN 9780810905597, p. 235.
  17. ^ Corey Ross (2008). Media and the Making of Modern Germany: Mass Communications, Society, and Politics from the Empire to the Third Reich. Oxford/New York: Oxford University. p. 30. ISBN 9780191557293. 
  18. ^ Brett Abbott (2010), Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography Since the Sixties Exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, p. 6, ISBN 9781606060223 
  19. ^ Tim Gidal, "Modern Photojournalism: The First Years", Creative Camera, July/August 1982, repr. in: David Brittain, ed., Creative Camera: 30 Years of Writing, Critical Image, Manchester: Manchester University, 1999, ISBN 9780719058042, pp. 73–80, p. 75.
  20. ^ Maria Morris Hambourg, "Photography between the Wars: Selections from the Ford Motor Company Collection", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin N.S. 45.4, Spring 1988, pp. 5–56, p. 17.
  21. ^ Sherre Lynn Paris, "Raising Press Photography to Visual Communication in American Schools of Journalism, with Attention to the Universities of Missouri and Texas, 1880's–1990's", Dissertation, University of Texas, 2007, OCLC 311853822, p. 116.
  22. ^ Stovall, Jim (2005). "Magazines and Photojournalism's Golden Age". Jprof.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16. 
  23. ^ Malo, Alejandro. "Documentary Art". ZoneZero. Retrieved 2010-12-05. 
  24. ^ "Historie" (in Danish). pressefotografforbundet.dk. 
  25. ^ thebppa.com
  26. ^ British Press Photographers Association; Hong Kong Press Photographers Association; Northern Ireland Press Photographers Association; (Swedish) Pressfotografernas Klubb; (Norwegian) Fotojournalisten.
  27. ^ World Press Photo; Best of Photojournalism; Pictures of the Year; The Press Photographer's Year
  28. ^ USNPPA Code of Ethics
  29. ^ Kenneth Kobre. 2008. Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach
  30. ^ Keller, Jared. "Photojournalism in the Age of New Media". theatlantic.com. theatlantic.com. 
  31. ^ Quinn, Stephen (2005). Convergent journalism : the fundamentals of multimedia reporting. New York: Peter Lang. p. 35. ISBN 0820474525. 
  32. ^ "Lament for a Dying Field: Photojournalism," New York Times, August 10, 2009
  33. ^ Paul Levinson. 1997. The Soft Edge: a Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution, Routledge, London and New York, p. 39
  34. ^ Kovach, B.; Rosenstiel, T. (2006). "The Elements of Journalism; What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect". journalism.org. 
  35. ^ "Gamma's Bankruptcy Shows Shift in Photojournalism". New York Times. August 10, 2009. 
  36. ^ dpreview.com 'No Future in Photojournalism' Interview: Dan Chung Barney Britton Feb 10, 2012.

Further reading[edit]

  • Kenneth Kobre, Photojournalism : The Professional's Approach 6th edition Focal Press, 2008.

External links[edit]

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