Wednesday 10 October 2012

Photojournalism



Photojournalism is a mixture of Photograhy and Journalism, it is much cheaper for a Newspaper or Magazine to hire a photojournalist than it is to higher a journalist or photographer.

Why hire two people to do two seperate things when you can hire one to do both?

A photojournalist will go out and take pictures of a certain event, such as a football match. They will then select one or two of the photos they've taken and then insert them in to their story which will be written around the photos.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photojournalist who is quite offen reffered to as the godfather of Photojournalism. Born on the 22nd August 1908, Cartier-Bresson was at first just a painter and it wasn't until 1937 that his photojournalism career started when he covered the coronation of King George VI, for the French magazine Regards.  

In September 1939, Cartier-Bresson joined the French Army as a Corporal in the Film and Photo unit after World War II broke out.  He is one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos. One of his most famous photographs is his snap of a man jumping over a puddle (right), which he took in 1932 outside a station in Paris. It is now rated as one of the greatest photos of the 20th Century. Cartier-Bresson had a certain style of work. He would wait in a certain place and he would wait and wait and wait until someone or something came along for him to snap with his Leica. He is famous for coining the term 'the decisive moment', he believed that the key to capturing a good photo was down to waiting for the decisive moment to take the snap. This is still a way of business for many present day photographers.

Robert Capa was also one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos and was a war photographer. Capa covered 5 different wars including the Spanish Civil War and World War II. He travelled to New York at the start of WWII to escape the Nazi's, however the experienced combat photographer was sent to Europe to travel with American soldiers for photography assignments. He worked for various companies and snapped many frontline photos for them including 'the falling man' (left).

Tony Vaccaro was also a soldier photographer and took photographs throughout the Second World War. He took photos across Europe in 1944 and 1945 and then in Germany straight after the war had finished to document post-war life.

Vaccaro was raised in Italy, after being born in the USA. He moved back to America when WWII broke out. At the age of 17, Vaccaro finished his education and was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was sent off to Europe as a scout and would take photographs in his spare time. When Vaccaro finally came home after the war, he became a fashion and lifestlye photographer for American magazines.

Eddie Adams was an American photographer and photojournalist mostly known for his coverage of 13 different wars. He was a combat photographer during the Korean War for the United States Marine Corps.

Adams is best known for a photograph he took in 1968 during the Vietnam war. He captured the moment General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, South Vietnam's Police Chief, executed Nguyễn Văn Lém on a busy street in Saigon (right). The photograph became one of the most famous pictures to be taken during the war and Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography and the World Press Photo award for his piece.

The execution was also caught on camera by and NBC news crew, however many people agree that Adams photograph is much more powerful than the clip. The photo is shown much more than the video is to illustrate the killing.

 
The video is very quick, the action all happens before you realise what is actually going on. However, if you take one look at the photograph then you see a busy street, you can see a soldier, you can see the bullet entering Nguyễn Văn Lém's head. Everything is much clearer in the photo and it gives you a better understanding of the situation.
 
I believe, especially in this case, that photojournalism is more powerful than a video. A video shows you what happened whereas a photograph gives you a message, a powerful message which is supported by what is written about the photo.
 
 
 
 
 

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