WHAT IS PHOTOJOURNALISM?

Nathan Trevizo

9-03-2019

What is Photojournalism?

With the rapid advancement of technology and new mediums available for both journalism and photography the meaning of photojournalism has also advanced. Although in the last few years the specifics of photojournalism may have changed at the heart of it photojournalism is the process of story telling using the medium of photography as your main story telling device. “While a journalist will use their pen and paper to tell stories, a photojournalist will use their camera to capture the visual representation of a story.”(“What is Photojournalism?”, 2019) The advancement of multimedia technology however has led to an evolution in the field of photojournalism. In an interview with the New Yorker magazine, photographer Ed Kashi was asked how he defined photojournalism his answer was, “Photojournalism is a unique and powerful form of visual storytelling originally created for print magazines and newspapers but has now morphed into multimedia and even documentary filmmaking. Through the internet, apps and the mobile device explosion, photojournalism can now reach audiences never before imagined with immediate impact, while continuing to write our visual history and form our collective memories.” (Kashi, 2011) Photojournalism is a very unique subfield of photography. Photojournalism is photography, however just because it is photography does not make it photojournalism. To better clarify, a photojournalist shoots what is in front of them. They do not rearrange or set up their subjects they must capture a true moment that tells the story. The editing process in photojournalism is also quite different than other photography subfields, mainly there is less enfaces on post-production such as Photoshop. There are several ways a photojournalist can make a living doing what they love. One can be an assignment photographer, an on staff employee for a publication, or also a freelance photographer. Clients that photojournalists often work for include National Geographic, Time Magazine, ESPN, and the Associated Press. The origins of photojournalism can be traced back to war photography, as time and technology advanced it allowed artists to take more liberties with their work and capture photos they were previously unable to capture. This would lead into the 1930’s and through the 1970’s, which would come to be known as the “Golden Age” of photojournalism. Photographers such as Robert Capa, Romano Cagnoni and Alfred Eisenstaedt would help further expand photojournalism during this time period. Although within the last decade we have been witness to the death of print media and print journalism publications such as National Geographic have managed to survive this transition. It is likely due to their dedication to their craft and their refusal to divert from what has made them successful. A popular photojournalist that is currently working in the field is Michael Christopher Brown. Brown began his career covering the Libyan revolution in 2011, using only his iPhone to capture the events. Since then Brown has continued covering conflicts and other crisis others would avoid.

References

Kashi. (2011, November 10). What is photojournalism? Retrieved from https://edkashi.com/what-is-photojournalism/

(n.d.). What is Photojournalism? Retrieved from https://photographyicon.com/photojournalism/

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Nathan Trevizo

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