WHAT IS PHOTOJOURNALISM?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, photojournalism is defined as “journalism in which written copy is subordinate to pictorial usually photographic presentation of news stories or in which a high proportion of historical presentation is used.” In other words, photojournalism captures a moment in time and freezes history. It distinguishes itself by being able to tell a story in an image or even a series of images based off of what is prominent in the photo.

Photojournalists have to put themselves out there and reach out to companies or organizations such as newspapers and magazines or they could choose to freelance. A photojournalist’s client would be whoever is buying the photo whether that be for something that is printed or that is online. Professional organizations that represent these photojournalists could be Magnum Photos, National Press Photographer and tons more. These agencies help you build up a portfolio and present your work through their brand thus creating a library of your images to be shown to the targeted audience. I would dream about being a National Geographic photojournalist because I always wanted to travel and take photos while learning about other places and the people and animal who live there. I’d obviously start off somewhere here in the U.S., but why wouldn’t I want to explore other countries and cities around the world?

Photojournalism’s Golden Age ran through roughly the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Several top photographers from this time included John Chillingworth, Robert Capa, and W. Eugene Smith. During this period, these three photographers took some of the most well-known and historical photos that people can even recognize today.

A contemporary source of photojournalism I found was Street Bounty online and it has really cool blog posts from what looks like to be around the world and each post has one or more photos telling a story along with the article. A contemporary photojournalist whose work I looked through and enjoyed would be Stephanie Sinclair. She is most well known for her project that she has followed for fifteen years regarding girls and women in other countries forced into getting married at a young age. The image above comes from her work Too Young to Wed: Nepal. https://stephaniesinclair.com/