Photojournalism

GUENTHER CARTWRIGHT
Rochester Institute of Technology

Most dictionaries define photojournalism as “Journalism in which the written word is subordinate to pictorial usage.” In the third edition of this encyclopedia, Angus McDougall attributes the term photojournalism to F. L. Mott, the Dean of the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Journalism School, in 1924. “Photojournalism is the visual reporting of news for publication in newspapers and magazine,” he espoused. That definition is succinct but perhaps a bit too narrowly defined in this era. An article about photojournalism in U.S. News & World Reports 12 described the photojournalist as “a witness, an adventurer, and an interpreter of history.” I have often heard it said, in a more poetic manner, that a photojournalist is a “writer with light.”

Regardless of the exact wording of the definition, there has been a change in the perception of what photojournalism is. The term’s roots were tied to F. L. Mott’s 1924 definition of being related to news and reportage. At that time, the photo-journalist was truly an observer or witness. Prior to World War II, most photojournalists were not college-educated; they became photojournalists by working in an apprentice system of first being a lab technician in a newspaper’s darkroom and then being promoted to “shooter.” In 1944, the G.I. Bill provided educational opportunities, which allowed aspiring photojournalists to attend college. This new breed of photojournalist was now equal to the writers and reporters of the publications for whom they photographed. Not only did this new breed of photojournalist study journalism and photography, but after the 1950s, photojournalists sought degree programs in political science, economics, English, anthropology, and history. Many of these photographers ultimately worked for high-level photography agencies throughout the world.

In 1946 the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) was formed as a professional organization to provide educational support for its members. The mission statement of the NPPA states: “The National Press Photographers Association is dedicated to the advancement of photojournalism, its creation, editing and distribution, in all news media. NPPA encourages photojournalists to reflect high standards of quality in their professional performance and in their personal code of ethics. NPPA vigorously promotes freedom of the press in all its forms. To this end, NPPA provides continuing educational programs and fraternalism without bias, as we support and acknowledge the best the profession has to offer.” 13 The group has approximately 10,000 members worldwide.

Just as photojournalists have begun to pursue educational opportunities, the readers of publications have also become visually more sophisticated over time. As this confluence of visual literacy emerged, more and more photojournalists have become interpreters of what they’ve witnessed. Rather than answering the 5 “Ws” of journalism, they are raising more questions than they answer.

As an educator, I am very comfortable with this and it seems that the term photojournalism has much wider definition than ever before. Rather than just including news and reportage, photojournalism encompasses the visual areas of historical documentary, street photography, social documentary, and visual anthropology. It is perceived by some college photojournalism programs that the definition of photojournalism is seen as being too closely allied to news and reportage and they have created program curricula that are titled Visual Journalism or Visual Communication in an effort to be more inclusive.

Throughout its history, photojournalism has faced many challenges. I’ve been a photographer since the 1960s. I have seen one or both of these headlines at least once every decade: “Is Photojournalism Dead?” or “Photojournalism is Dead!” This question/pronouncement has created many heated debates in the field. It is 2006, and photojournalism is still actively practiced, but the field has evolved, and like any living organism, it is constantly adapting.

Since its origins, many challenges have confronted photojournalism, and a number of future challenges are on the horizon. The democratization of photography is one challenge: As cameras and techniques of photography became easier, amateurs have the ability and opportunity to witness and record history. The word amateur is not pejorative. One of the most famous visual documents of the 20th Century is the 8mm Abraham Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Any number of amateur photographers can be found on the list of Pulitzer Prizes awarded for spot news.

In the 21st century, millions of people own cellular telephones that are equipped with built-in digital cameras—millions! These camera users may have access and opportunity that rivals the access often reserved for a bona fide members of the media. The quality of the resulting digital image from these cameras is questionable. Yet if the image is important enough historically, the lack of quality can be overlooked. Consider the following three instances in the past where the lack of technical quality was clearly overshadowed by the importance of the event: Robert Capa’s damaged negatives of the D-Day landing, Abraham Zapruder’s 8 mm film of the Kennedy assassination, and Thomas Howard’s surreptitious photograph of the electrocution of Ruth Snyder. The mobile telephone is ubiquitous and its image quality will only improve; it will certainly create more of the these situations.

Photography is paradoxical by nature. It can often mislead or lead to misinterpretation. When photography was invented in 1839, its sense of realism (although only black and white) challenged both the landscape and portrait painters of the day. Photographs presented illusions of truth. However, it was not long before the photography was utilized to share a person’s reality. In 1858, Henry Peach Robinson presented a photograph titled “Fading Away” at an exhibition in England. The photograph shows a dying young girl attended to by her grief-stricken family. Victorian sensibility deemed this photograph offensive, as it intruded in on such a private moment. Robinson then revealed that this photograph was a composite made from five separate negatives. He was chastised for fooling people (see Ethical concerns in the 19th century).

The history of photography is replete with instances of darkroom manipulation, as in the Henry Peach Robinson episode or in the photo essay shot by W. Eugene Smith, for LIFE magazine, about Albert Schweitzer. To achieve better composition and drama in that essay, Smith combined two negatives to make one print.

In addition to darkroom-manipulated images, there have been many discoveries of images of wonderful “moments” that were proven, disappointingly, to be staged. The well-known photograph of Robert Doisneau’s Paris street kiss is such an example. Some staged photographs from the past were the results of the cumbersome equipment used by photographers. After World War II, smaller cameras and faster film became more popular. As camera, lens, and film technology improved along with portable lighting systems, photojournalists could more easily take images the were both more immediate and more intimate.

The advent of digital photography in the mid-1980s created a host of new opportunities and problems. Since most professional digital single-lens-reflex (SLR) cameras are modeled on 35mm film cameras, the ability to be immediate and intimate still exists. In addition, the digital SLR allows the photographer to immediately review the images directly on an LCD viewing screen built into the camera back. There is no film to process and the image is generated almost immediately. Photojournalists no longer have to worry about whether they got their shot. The digital camera allows for on-site editing of images and the transmission of images back to the publisher by using a laptop computer and mobile telephone.

The digital revolution has been quite bloodless, in an economic sense. Media publication companies are saving money by not having to purchase film, process film, or buy expensive processing equipment. The environment is helped because newspapers and other media companies are no longer disposing photographic chemicals.

Economically, since photographers no longer have to spend time processing film, more assignments can be covered per day. A photographer can now stay longer at a scene and get a deeper, more complete story. However, along with this new digital technology comes the ability to electronically alter, enhance, or manipulate an image almost undetectably. The original digital technology was so expensive and so complicated that only the largest publishing companies could afford the cost of the imaging systems, had the appropriate space for these large systems, and could hire the full-time technician required to operate this technology. By the mid-1980s computer hardware and software had decreased in size, cost, and complexity—so much so that most newspapers could easily afford to go digital, particularly in light of the overall cost-savings mentioned earlier. Colleges could afford these new systems and educate the new breed of digital photojournalists entering the field today. All daily metro newspapers in the United States have gone totally digital.

With this digital democratization comes some problems. Now more people have access to technology that can easily be used in unethical ways with a minimal risk of detection. The technology is here and so is the temptation! At the turn of the 21st century, debates and conversations about publication ethics have steadily grown and become very important. Newspapers and magazines cannot afford to have their readers question the veracity of the images being published. If you can’t believe a photograph in news media, what’s the point of having it? The NPPA has taken a lead role in the discussion of ethical issues facing publications today. Photojournalists need to be educated on the importance of this issue. NPPA holds an ethics seminar at every conference, and ethics is part of the curriculum of every reputable college photojournalism program.

Photojournalism has survived the challenge of television and cable news. The Internet provided an initial challenge, yet now, the Internet is being seen by some experts as the newspapers’ salvation. The Internet allows newspapers to potentially reach younger readers who are not buying and reading a newspaper everyday. In addition, the Internet allows photojournalists to use multimedia technology and techniques to tell their stories. The business of publishing is adjusting and responding to a changing readership.

In all of this, I am reminded of my own experience with photojournalism. As an eight-year-old refugee from war-torn Germany, I remember coming across a copy of the book The Family of Man . Not only could I not read at that time, but I also could not understand English. Yet as I leafed through that old book, I understood what I was seeing, without words—only through pictures. One stood out from all of the rest. The photograph showed a scene of Africans from Bechuanaland, around what appeared to be a campfire. An elderly man was at the center of a crowd of young children. His face and hands, along with his body language, told me that he was speaking to these young children with great passion. The children were giving him their total attention. The photograph transformed the elder into their story teller. They were all bathed in the light of the campfire, and that connected them. That light at the camp is a metaphor for photojournalism’s future. People will always want to know the stories, and we will always be connected by the power of light, regardless of the technology.