The Art of Photojournalism

             

 

Image source: Alexander Gardner

 

Photo source: http://rps.org/events/2015/october/02/the-invention-of-photojournalism-brady-gardner-and-the-american-civil-war

 

Year Created: 1852

 

Depth of Field

 This photo shows a great depth of field. And you can still clearly see the great depth of field in pretty good focus. The depth draws your attention because you see just how far this line of dead bodies goes, instead of just seeing a couple close up. It shows the extent of how fatal the war was.

 

Black and white

 This photo is in black and white, because at the time that was all that was possible. This lets you see how old this photo is, and shows you what the times were like then with the quality of this black and white photo. Though the photographer didn’t have a choice to use color, the black and white helps feel the depth and feeling behind this photo. I think if the photo were in color, it wouldn’t make you feel the same kind of way.

 

Use of lines

 This photo uses lines to its advantage. You can see the people laying in a curved line which really helps to show the rule of thirds, and the depth of field of just how many people there are. And the line and curve draws your attention to the main subject, which is the people.

 

Why did I choose this image?

I chose this image because it is an image from the civil war. The civil war was the first war where photos were captured on the battle field, making it a memorable time in photojournalism, and American history. The civil war was a big moment for photojournalism and was a fatal war .That is why I decided to choose this graphic photo from civil war.

 

 

 

 

Photo by: Margaret Bourke White

 

Image source: https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/25-iconic-photographers-in-history/

 

Year created: 1940

 

Rule of Thirds

The photographer placed him to the side of the frame instead of the middle, putting him in one of the thirds. Placing him in this part of the photo gives us a view at what he is actually doing, instead of just looking at him. It looks like he is using a cotton gin to potentially make clothes making this photojournalistic.

 

Exposure time

It looks like this picture could possibly be using a quick shutter speed to capture his movement. It looks like it could be capturing him opening the book, and what looks like the cotton gin moving. It is a little blurry though near the book, so it could have been maybe an exposure time that was quick, but not the quickest. Maybe a speed in the middle of fastest and slowest.

 

Direction of Light

I think the direction of light is interesting in this photo. It looks like the light is behind him, maybe coming through a window or something. It doesn’t look like a strong amount of light, but it looks good with the photo because it is just enough to see what is going on in the photo, but also gives it a mysterious kind of interesting feel which I enjoy about this photo.

 

Why did I choose this image?

I chose this image because Gandhi was an icon and is still very well known today. He was a famous humanitarian and was famous for protesting the British occupation and rule. Gandhi was unique in the way that he fought with peace and love, not war.

Photo by: Phillip Jones Griffiths

 

Photo source: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-photojournalists.php

 

Year created: 1968

 

Obvious main subject

 This photo shows who the obvious main subjects are which is the injured guy  and the soldiers around him. You can tell these are the main subjects of the picture because they take up most of the picture. The background is only show slightly, so your attention goes right to the main subject(s).

 

Subjects Expression

 I think the subjects expression is what really makes this photo what it is. Looking at the man’s face laying down looks like he is in pain, or injured maybe being helped by the soldiers. This represents the Vietnam war and it doesn't look staged at all, but is genuine.



Feelings the Image Created:

This image shows deep feelings just by looking at the subjects face; the man laying on the ground. I think this image expresses a lot of feelings, and emotions. The image kind of makes you ache a little bit, and at least for me, makes me wonder about this war and what It was really like for them. Just based on their facial expressions, and body language creates a lot of feelings in this photo.

 

Why did I choose this photo?

I chose this photo because it is a memorable photo from the Vietnam War. I like this photo specifically because there is so much emotion captured in just one picture, and really helps you to understand the Vietnam War. I think, just based on one moment caught in time explains what they were feeling, and what was going on making it an awesome photojournalistic image.

 

 

 

Speed Graphic Cameras

Jesica Callahan

        Speed graphic cameras were one of the first big “press” cameras, Manufactured by Graflex, a Rochester, New York based camera producer it was the dominant portable professional camera from the 1930's through the end of the 1950's. Photos were so important at this time because they were rare and cool to see. Back then in the newspapers only a few pages in a newspaper would have photographs, and those sold faster as opposed to ones without photographs. This is another reason why this camera became so popular, for its clearer photos. Though it wasn’t popular as a press camera until the 30’s, it was created at the start of the 1900’s and introduced the idea of having two separate shutters. Though they couldn’t be used at the same time, they were both very useful and the most skilled photographers knew how to change, and when to use both. The Speed Graphics camera had 7 different versions, like the Crown Graphic and Century Graphic. These were great cameras capable of the best quality of work, and still are known as great cameras today as one was even used by a professional photographer at the 2012 Olympics.

        The Speed Graphic was originally made for general purpose commercial photography such as wedding, portrait, advertising and landscape photography. The Speed Graphic looks complicated, due to its size, and everything going on, but is one of the simplest cameras made and was a miraculous camera of the time. Every version of the camera had new and improved lenses, shutter speeds and more. The biggest innovations about this camera though, was that first and most importantly, it could be used onthe go but also that the lenses were interchangeable, it accepted sheet film,it has a viewfinder, came equipped with an optical and has a ground glass focusing screen. Though this camera wasn’t the only kind of “press camera” and there were other portable cameras, this one was the most popular for its picture quality, and how easy it was to use, and offered for an affordable price.

            Before the press cameras like this one, just to take one simple photo took a lot of time, work, and bulky equipment. In order to take a photo, the photographer needed a whole van full of equipment. Photographers had to cut the plates, put different chemicals on a plate, then put the wet plate into the camera, take the picture, then put the plate back in to chemicals to make them useable as real photos. And if this process isn't done right, and photos aren't processed carefully and correctly, they will be ruined and it will all be a waste. And not only is it a process, but the subject of the photo had to stay completely still, sometimes even for 8 minutes to get the exposure right to take the picture. Sometimes they would even have a brace to hold up the persons head. Also with these cameras photojournalism was difficult because you couldn’t move around or take action shots. Many said this wasn’t even considered photojournalism because you had to take a still photo. Like the picture Professor Nordell posted, taken by Roger Fenton, in 1855 had to be taken with the subject staying still. The  Speed graphic camera was a revolutionary device specifically for photojournalists because now photojournalists actually had a good portable camera so they could move around without an issue.

            When taking my digital photograph and comparing it with photographs taken with the speed graphic camera, there are some very obvious differences. First off the speed graphic camera only took black and white images, while cameras today can not only take color photos, but they can take high definition colored photos, with lots of graphic detail. Today’s cameras can takes pictures in all sorts of different modes, and different colors like sepia, or darkened, lightened, or pretty much anything you want. Also this camera didn’t make a great view camera like the professional cameras made today, and still nothing in the camera was automated. Everything had to be set by hand so the photographer had to know what they were doing. This could take a lot of time and effort, especially if you were a photojournalist on the move because that meant you had to change these things every time you moved the camera, to different brightness, settings, everything. One photographer who got the concept down was Weegee Feelig, a great photographer who's philosophy was “f/8 and be there”, "so simple, yet so elegant. It’s a window into the mind of a great photojournalist, and it nearly gives away all of his secrets in just five syllables." He made f/8 his standard to go by to always get a good, high quality photo. Like this photo below taken by him using a speed graphic camera.

photo by: Weegee Feelig

image source: getty images

         Today even the most unskilled photographer could click one button on their digital camera and get a way better picture then they did with the speed graphic. This is because the aperture, shutter speed, everything had to be set by hand to even get a picture you could see. Though this camera did have some great aspects and additions, making it able to still create a cool and interesting photo today, it isn’t nearly like the technology we have today.  Now with digital cameras, there is faster shutter speeds, a lot less work behind taking the photo, and a better result. I personally felt taking my photo on my cell phone with just the click of a button and getting a clear, bright, detailed photo was a lot less work for a clearer photo then what people had to go through with the speed graphic cameras. As you can see in my photo taken below, I just used my digital camera without really having to adjust anything and using auto focus I was able to get a clear colored photo of my dog Patty without many adjustments.

 

Photo by: Jessica Callahan

 

 

 

Can photographs change the world?

                    
I think there is a possibility that photographs can change the world. I am not sure if there is one photograph that actually has changed the whole entire world, but I can think of a couple types of photographs that may have changed a wide variety of people thoughts and opinions. And this then can change the world. It’s not actually the photo itself that changes the world, but is the response to the photo that can change a thought or an action, then changing people, then changing the world. Some popular photos which may have changed the world are war photos, or photos of people injured, fighting, or something that shows us something about the world we live in that we didn’t know. For example in the video of TED it shows us a picture where we are looking at the earth from a view we have never seen. This has in response “changed the world” because we were all shocked to see that was the world we lived in because we had never seen anything like it before, changing everyone’s thoughts and opinions had then changed the world. Or the pictures that were shown from Guantanamo had a major result. As Ted Says “the publication of those images had a major impact as opposed to the images themselves, caused a government to change its policies." Showing just how powerful a photograph can be.

Photo by: Sarah Callahan

This photo has affected me and my life personally, because it is a picture of my new niece I will be meeting in just a few short months. This picture represents a big change for me and my family so it affected all of us, my sister especially who is currently pregnant with her new baby to be. My sister, already has one daughter so this will be her second daughter. This picture represents the change my sister, Sarah and her daughter, Madeline and my parents, my sister’s boyfriend, his family and many others are going to experience by having a new little one to care for. This photo also represents happiness, excitement and enjoyment for all of us, in such a simple photo. An ultrasound photo is seen every day by multiple people but represents so much change, excitement and a whole bunch of emotions for a person. Another photo like this one that has affected many people’s lives, is the famous photo of Borisin Yeltzer dancing at a rock concert. Such a simple photo people don’t really think about it “changing the world” but it did. Due to this photo, people saw that he was healthy, which was a question of interest before, and potentially is the photo that made him win the Russian presidential race.

                                           Photo by: Abdul-Hakim-Shabazz 

Image Source: http://indypolitics.org/2016/03/18/indiana-senate-candidate-writings-call-hitler-a-great-leader/
 
One photograph I believe has changed the world is this one of Hitler. If I showed this photo to pretty much anyone there is not a doubt in my mind that they would know who it is, and what is going on. Not only making this a nationally known photo, but has also changed the world for many reasons. Hitler saluting has become a symbol for the holocaust and this time period. The meaning of this photo and what it stands for, has not only changed the world, but has shown us where we have been, and how far we have come. Without pictures like this one, I think it wouldn’t be known as such a landmark in history. Another thing to note while looking at this photo, is how lucky we are to be able to get photos like this one. As compared to how the media is changing today, we were lucky to be able to get this much exposure to real images. Today there seems to be the issue more and more of media hiding the truth, or sugar coating it even in photos. For example in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars tens of thousands of American soldiers have been badly injured and killed. “Images from these "real" wars have been studiously sanitized to the point that a well-informed news consumer could be excused for thinking that their country's latest wars are virtually bloodless." And even though events like this one were a bad time, and maybe something we don’t want to remember. We need to remember it to be able to never experience anything like it again, and realize what we had been through as a nation.

Photojournalism is there to spread ideas, to spread thoughts and to help provoke reactions and possibly then change the world from these reactions. Photojournalism is about having the freedom to show these situations, even the images from the really bad and scary situations that maybe some people don’t want the citizens to see. But thanks to freedom of the press it makes it possible for us to be informed and to make a difference through seeing photo journalistic images. Though we are free to take, and see what we want, the issues with actually having exposure to these life changing photos are arising. According to professor Nordell, this is because all the small newspaper, book publishing and all the media sources like that ,that used to keep us informed, have pretty much all been bought out by the six corporations. One of them being Time Warner which “owns news sites read by millions of Americans every year.” and as professor Nordell says with his take on the whole situation, that this can “constrict the flow of information.” Meaning that basically these big corporations pick what they want to show, so we potentially could not be getting all the information that we want, and need to be shown to feel safe, and change the world. Instead often we are only being shown what the corporations want to show. Mainly being photos that will make them money, or make them look good. It's seeming more often its not about what the viewers and the citizens really want to know about. Real photographs of real events need to continue to be alive and shown, and not hidden and played down by big media corporations. In order for us to make history, learn from it, and continue to make photo journalistic pictures that change the world, there needs to be more then just these big corporations running the business.

History of Photojournalism

                                                       . 

Photojournalism is taking photos and using them to tell a story or explain an event. It also can be videos or pictures all put together to tell a news story, and is the study of history. It is a study of the world we live in past and present. Photojournalism is a depiction of our behavior, feelings, moods and thoughts. It is what we live through and experience every day in our lives all brought into one moment and captured as a trace in time. Photojournalism helps us keep up with the world and understand events better as many people like to see things visually to understand, photojournalism is the perfect way of doing that.

          Like it says in his video; everyone can’t be there so photographers go there to show them, reach out, grab people and make them pay attention to what is going on. They try to capture pictures strong enough, with enough detail to reach out, and make them realize what is really going on whether it be around the world, or right in your country. Some photographers do this to make you aware and educated on the world you live in. They do this by taking in depth pictures to make viewers understand. Photojournalism can also be excitement and risk as in the past many journalists have put their lives at risk to videotape wars, violence and other dangerous situations. For example, In the video, in harm’s way, with Zoriah and Alissa they talk about how they put their life in danger everyday with their jobs of taking war photos. They risk their lives just to capture the action to share with the world and spread awareness. They Also said that they risk their lives for this, to not even be sure if the picture they get will even sell when they get back home.

photo by: Judy Woodruff

Image source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remembering-photojournalist-niedringhaus/

           I think it’s very important to know the history of photojournalism as it is important to know the history of anything. Photojournalism goes back many years and has transformed, developed, and changed in so many ways since then, as does anything with time. The beginning of photojournalism started with bulky equipment, like tripods and lights, making it quite difficult to move around, and get all the action. It wasn't until 1925 when according to Ndsu.edu,“The beginning of modern photo journalism took place in Germany. The event was the invention of the first 35 mm camera, the Leica” This was the first step of developing photojournalism because now they didn’t have to carry around all the large equipment but instead could just carry the camera and move quickly like they needed too which revolutionized photojournalism.

           Looking at history shows us what we were at one time and how far we have become and developed, just as it has with the technology and shows us how much photojournalism has developed. As cameras, colored photos and technology advances, so does photojournalism. The history helps us to make improvements and understand the past, and how we got where we are today. As the video “why study history” says, “you can apply history from the past to analyze and solve problems in the present." Without knowing our history, we would keep making the same mistakes, and trying the same things, we wouldn’t be expanding without history. As that applies to every aspect of the world, it does as well in photojournalism. 

Photo by: Gordon Parks

Image source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJWwZybxlNs