Photojournalism

Photojournalism

Application-individual people who influenced photojournalism:


Robert Capa- June 6, 1944.
American Soldiers landing on Omaha Beach, Normandy.

-Robert Capa

Robert Capa was a famous war photographer, particularly known for risking his life to take great photos in World War 2. He was a freelancer for Life Magazine, where he was given an assignment to capture significant war photos. Unfortunately, his films were destroyed purely by mistake, meaning he couldnt publish what he believed were his best photos.
Capa used a Leica camera, the first practical 35mm camera used mainly for landscape photography. He used this camera everywhere he went during the war, and since then has produced what some believe are the most unique war photos of our time.


-Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson- 1932.

Henri Cartier-Bresson believed strongly in 'decisive moments', meaning that you can't decide what's going to happen in the pictures, so must be at the right place at the right time. Cartier-Bresson was always waiting for something to happen, and he famously quoted 'In this space, something will come', he didn't actually know what, but he just knew something would-whether it be unneccassary or not.
Cartier-Bresson is most famous for his picture 'Behind the Gare Saint-Lazar', captured in 1932. This image shows a broken wheel, which some people of Britain saw as a coinscidence, as the picture shows a man jumping from what looks like a broken fallen down ladder into water-'the unknown'. This image defined Europe at the time, 'jumping into the unknown', just like Europe was with the war. Cartier-Bresson was also reffered to by many people as the 'Godfather of Photojournalism'.

-Tony Vaccaro

Tony Vaccaro-War photograph

Tony Vaccaro was once a Private in the U.S Army. He fought in the war for 2 years, and then became an official photographer for the Army's newspaper. He then moved to Germany where he got his first proffessional photography job. However, Vaccaro's photos were sensored from being published into the divisions newspaper as they did not want the US civilians to see or think that the American soldiers were dying, giving off the impression that they weren't doing very well, therefore the photos were sensored due to the subject (dead Americans). Vaccaro used the Argus C3 Camera to take all of his photos, which was said to be the best selling camera for nearly three whole decades.

Context-the way the photographs are displayed:
Robert Capa tried to show his photos to the world through a magazine that he worked for (Life), however all the pictures were ruined and so he couldnt.
Tony Vaccaro couldnt publish his photos as they were sensored with dead americans in them.

Photojournalism is also since then online as well as in newspapers and magazines because of the changes in technology throughout the years. For example, photos and videos are now displayed online through various websites to show a news story.

Technique-techniques utilised to create images
Capa and Cartier-Bresson both used the Leica camera, which was produced in 1925. The camera is originally German, and was particularly useful for Cartier-Bresson as he could see whats going on around him which made making his 'decisive moments' easier, as with the camera it only covered one eye.
The photographers all had to process their photos in water and other different chemicals and then left out to dry in order to show them to the public eye.

Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a type of photography that is published in newspapers/books/magazines in order to tell a news story. As well as just still images, photojournalism can now be published as videos on the internet on various news websites.

Photojournalist Robert Capa worked for a magazine called 'Life' where he published his photos from World War 2. This is a clear demonstration of what a photojournalist does; communicates news through photos.

These three photographers all believed that you had to be in the right place at the right time, as you can never decide what is going to happen in the pictures. You must take the photo at exactly the right time in order to show the world, or target audience, what the news you are trying to broadcast through photos is.

Photojournalism is different to other types of photography such as portraiture or fashion, as the pictures tell a story and show us truth, whereas fashion photography advertises the clothes or make up or hair styles, and portraiture shows us feelings. Photojournalism is typically just what the photographer wants you to see, not truth. The photo shows us a news story, however we, as readers, don't actually know whats going on until the photographer tells us whats in the shot. For example, the Thomas Hoepker photo of New York and the 9/11, the young adults in the photo could be discussing whats going on behind them, but instead they were all critisised for 'looking too relaxed' and being 'careless'.

I think that photojournalism is an unreliable form of photography because photographers do not know what they are going to capture, meaning they might not actually be able to get the photo that they need, as the photo is a moment of truth and a real event-it is unpredictable. It is also unreliable because the photographers do not know when the moment of the event will come. The photographer can only wait until the right moment comes, just like Henri Cartier-Bresson said.