Photojournalism+Manifesto

Bauernfeind

[|Photojournalism] Manifesto Over the course of the semester I have taken an interest in photojournalism, not only as a profession but as an art form. Since photography has been possible, photographers have been trying to capture candid and honest moments in time, trying to tell a story through a simple photograph. However, it seems that the profession of photojournalism may be falling by the wayside. Due to the advent of digital technology to stock thousands of photos onto hard drives and have them re-edited and reused over and over again without an actual photographer ever having to go out in the world and take a genuine photograph. I believe that this should not be the case, there should be actual photojournalists out working to take real time photos of events; telling the narrative of an event in real space and time.

This of course brings up many other questions regarding photojournalism as an art form and as a career. I believe that although the photojournalist may not have the same kind of talent as a painter, sculptor, performance artist etc. They do however have the ability to know what will make a provocative, interesting and emotional photo taking place in real space and time. They also have the guts to go out into these places that may have many physical and emotional risks involved, something a painter or performance artist will never have to experience.

The meaning of a photo taken by a photojournalist may not be able to be determined simply by the photographer. A photo can have so many meanings to so many different people but the photo must first be taken before it can even be interpreted for meaning by the thousands or millions of other people that may see it. For example, a photo of the war in Iraq will have a total different meaning to a veteran of any war than it will to an anti-war protester never involved in a war and these are not meanings that can be determined when the photo is taken by the photojournalist.

Although we are in a time of digital photography and many other types of digital media I still feel that there is a lot to be said for the photo, even if it is taken digitally, to be taken and viewed in real space and time. Also, with the ever growing popularity and usage of Photoshop it has become extremely easier for photos to be manipulated and changed visually for dramatic affect. I feel that in a real act of photojournalism you should publish photos as they were taken and not alter them in Photoshop or in other ways for dramatic affect. It is hard to judge a work of photojournalism based on a monetary amount, however in these digital times it is also very hard to have an “original” copy of a photo. I do believe that photojournalists should be compensated for their work; because of their eye for what makes a good picture and tells a narrative of an event in real space and time. As far as putting photojournalistic photos in artistic galleries, I think this is a good movement to recognize the photojournalist as the artist that they are. I however, do not see a way to sell photos to individual patrons because of the ever growing ease of reproduction. But I do think that photojournalists should be compensated for photos they took that are published in newspapers, magazines, websites etc, unless of course they are already working for these publications.