Photojournalism and Bias

 

Subjects expression:

The soldier looks very emotional as do the people around him. You can tell this guy is feeling a lot of emotion and is very sad by his facial expression, and is looking up to the sky like for help. You can tell by the look on his face how deeply he is feeling whatever has happened, and from the people around him. There expression also looks very unhappy or even focused on the guy and sad.

Black and white:

This photo being in black and white makes you feel the emotion more within it. I think in color you could still feel the emotion, but the black and white makes it feel more real. I think the black and white also helps to explain the times it was taken in, and what life was like then. 

Abstraction:

This photo is representational with all the emotion and feeling it shows. Meanings emerge in this photo just based on the subject’s facial expressions. You can tell the man and the people in the background seem angry or upset so that is the meaning that emerges for me. It makes you feel how there feeling because of the strong emotion shown and makes it come to life.

 

 

 

 

 

I think this photo shows so much emotion. It looks sad like maybe he is playing his music for a sad event that had just happened. But it also looks like he is playing with so much soul. Like he is playing his music for a cause, and with a purpose. It doesn’t look relaxed and casual but like he is more into it than that. The people in the back also don’t look happy but also not quite sad either. They look a little more concerned or focused more emotionless then the man, the main subject of the photo. I think the people in the background are like this because they are very focused on him or the situation at hand it  just feels like a very emotional photo. This photos emotion is a lot Like that of the feminist photo Bettye Lane: A Feminist Photojournalist’s Arresting Images,because they both portray a meaning. Though the feminist photo is a little clearer, holding a sign and marching down a street its clear there asking for equal right for women. Though the Going Home picture isn’t clear as to what exactly there doing, at least not to me, but you can feel the emotion in the strong facial expression and body movements. This goes to show images can portray things in so many different ways, and everyone can see a picture so differently.

 

 

Image source: http://www.ecstudents.net/14springb3f/thuang/issue.html

Photo by: ecstudents

 

                                                                            Texture:

 

 This photo shows a lot of texture. It shows wetness from the water where the kids are standing. And there is texture with the kids and their bodies because there coming out of the water. It helps make the picture more detailed, and feel more real and 3D even seeing the ripples in the water adds to the texture and reality.

                                                           Feelings the Image Created:

 

 The image created a feeling of sadness sort of because it looks like kids are working. Usually children this age you see out having fun but instead they appear hard at work. Also, the two boys looking at the camera don look mad, but more serious so it gives a feeling of seriousness to the image that you usually don’t see in children. Which makes this photo kind of depressing.

                                                                 Quality of Light: 

 

I like the quality of light in this photo because it works well to compliment the kids. Since its outside, I’m assuming its natural light which makes it even more authentic. The light looks like it shines maybe coming from behind the camera towards the kids, or from up above. This makes the background darker, and where the kids are lighter bringing your attention more to them and not what’s behind them.

 

This photo represents truth because it appears to be showing African kids in their real environment. I think it hard to tell if any photo is telling the truth because anyone can stage anything. Also, everyone has a different opinion of what a “real’ photograph is.  As the video “I want to live” with Shahidulalam says, “there is an assumption that there is only one truth, or onlyone at of looking at things… a story has many truths and many levels.” I agree with this idea; one person can look at a photo and see it as untruthful and another look at it and see the truth. It’s all about perception and how someone looks at a photo which is based on their life, and their experiences. To me a real photo is one that is unedited or not photo shopped. I think a photo that has any type of photo shopping is the most fake kind of photo there is. I also think a photo is truth if the feelings or vision portrayed from it are what’s actually going on. The way these children in this photo are dressed, and where there playing is really how it usually is for them. That looks like somewhere they could possibly be around a lot and to me it portrays truth. That’s as truthful as a photo can get. And as Nordell says, in his Photojournalism and bias-part 1 video, “your Truth and bias can change over time.” I think that’s true as well, and the two really go hand in hand, truth and bias. What you see as truth can always change like he says too because as you grow and your life changes, everyone starts to see things differently. With that being said, as you grow and see, and realize more when looking at photos for truth or not truth is always changing, as are your thoughts and feelings on truth. Language and authority is what made me feel like this image is real. From learning in classes, and seeing things in life is what has made me able to realize what it is like in Africa, and what they go through. This gives me previous knowledge on children like these where I have some insight to determine if the image is real or fake. If I never had seen anything from Africa or learned about it, I wouldn’t be able to determine at all if this is how they really lived, or looked like to determine if it could be truthful.

Image source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981273/Ultra-orthodox-Jewish-children-dress-clowns-cuddly-bears-scarecrows-celebrate-traditional-festival-Purim.html

Photo by: Dailymail.com

 

In Focus:

This photo is very much in focus. You can see the colors and details very clearly. And even though his face isn't that close, you can see his facial features in focus as well. The background is a little more out of focus then the subject, but it is still clear. and the background being less clear, brings more attention to the subject being more in focus.

Obvious Main Subject:

This image shows an obvious man subject because the boy takes up pretty much the whole shot. Also, because he is wearing a bright color compared to the background it makes him stand out more. And since he is in more focus you can easily tell right away he is the clear main subject.

Keep it Simple:

This photo is very simple because there isn't a lot going on. What makes it simple is that it is not cluttered with a lot of different things to look at. The subject is really the only thing that grabs your attention making it very simple and clear.

I think a photo being not the truth is a photo that portrays anything not real or that is fake. I think this photo is unreal because it appears to be a boy dressed up as something he is not. He is dressed up as like an old king of some sort and appears to be costume which I think makes it untruthful because it’s not portraying who he really is. Other things that make an untruthful photo are things like Photoshopping in many cases like I said, or taking a picture in a way that looks different than reality I think makes it not real. like Nordell’s post; photojournalismand bias part too shows a good example of not showing the whole picture. First he presents a photo of a crowd that shows depth of field all the way back to the tree so you can see how many people are there. Then it shows a second photo close-up of just a couple people. The close-up can in a way be “not real” because if people just saw that photo and weren’t there it would look like there wasn’t a lot of people, which wasn’t the reality. It can be little things like this that changes the viewer’s perception which then makes the photo look unreal. Another photo that shows this type of thing is in the article called The Rules of Photojournalism are Keeping us From the Truth. It talks about images not portraying the truth, even when they look like the truth. It goes on to say “Amplified technique threatens to dominate the image, and it will lead to picturesque gluttony.” This is referring to how overused technique, or photo editing can take way from the photo. Sometimes making it not present the whole truth, as it does in a couple of photos in this post. Like the photography from the Orange Revolution, shown is bad because It doesn’t portray what the revolution was actually like in the photo shown. With this being said though, I think it’s not always a photographer not trying to show realty or trying to show a fake photo but sometimes, like these cases I think the photographer may not even realize what there presenting in not the truth. It’s really how people view it weather its truth or not to them. With this image, I used logic and reason to perceive it as not true. I know that this is a young Jewish boy and using my own logic and reasoning I know he typically doesn’t dress like that because I know what they typically wear. In this photo is looks like he is dressing up as someone like a king or something from ancient times. I know this based on what I previously have learned and know that it looks like a costume. Making this photo of a boy dressing up is portraying an untruthful photo. And I would probably not know this was untrue without my logic and reasoning.