Comments on: Photojournalists – Providing The Pictures That We Need To See

By: LO

LO — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:40:18 +0000

RT @PhotoWalkPro: Photojournalists – Providing The Pictures That We Need To See http://bit.ly/4rxQ9c # photog #haiti

By: inf3ktion

inf3ktion — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:21:02 +0000

Photojournalists – Providing The Pictures That We Need To See http://bit.ly/4rxQ9c # photog #haiti (via @photowalkpro)

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Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:59:23 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jeff Revell and Andrew Deci, Alltop. Alltop said: Photojournalists – Providing The Pictures That We Need To See http://bit.ly/4F4rLM Photography.alltop [...]

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:43:00 +0000

Jeff, I couldn’t agree with you more. Photojournalism is one of the most difficult jobs out there. It takes a unique person to balance ethics, employment, and extraordinary circumstances. After being one of the Tsunami survivors and having other survivors benefit – in the form of donations – from the impact that my photos made on other eyes of those that couldn’t help, I realized the importance of photojournalism. If we, as photojournalists, continue to check ourselves and our work, on a image by image basis, showing only the truth, then I think the images and “the photojournalist” are important to our society. I continually ask myself, why I am I taking a particular photo, but I know in my heart that it may help others to ‘see’.

By: Iskandar Azaman

Iskandar Azaman — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:12:23 +0000

I totally agree with you too. The first image that comes up off the link you provided, by Daniel Morel/Getty Images was the one that affected me the most. I was walking by a newsstand last night and that was the image on the frontpage of one of the local papers. It was the first image that i’ve seen of the earthquake victims. It actually made me stop to have a look. You hear about an earthquake somewhere thousands of miles across the world, but you never know how bad it is until you see the suffering. I think these sort of images actually help a lot in jump starting relief efforts. I know it’s a cliche but photojournalists do have ‘pictures that are worth a thousand words’.

By: Andrew Deci

Andrew Deci — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:24:39 +0000

RT @PhotoWalkPro: Photojournalists – Providing The Pictures That We Need To See http://bit.ly/4rxQ9c # photog #haiti

By: Jeff Revell

Jeff Revell — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:15:52 +0000

Photojournalists – Providing The Pictures That We Need To See http://bit.ly/4rxQ9c # photog #haiti

By: jeff

jeff — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:05:30 +0000

Gene and Victoria, thanks for adding to the discussion. I really enjoyed both of your perspectives on this topic.

Jeff

By: Victoria Pickering

Victoria Pickering — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:50:12 +0000

I totally agree with you that photojournalists take on a very difficult and important role in making the news come alive for the rest of the world, and compel others to help out. But it also may involve complex tradeoffs between what is for the collective good and what is good for the individuals in the photographs, either in terms of help for them, their privacy, or their surviving family members viewing the photos. I’ve seen it from the other side a few years ago when the search for my daughter and her death brought on media attention that we didn’t get to control, and media coverage isn’t a benign process from the point of view of those being covered. So while I think that the photographic coverage in Haiti is vital for the relief efforts, there are, as you say, “the one or two that might have been helped had they put down their cameras,” as well as others in the photographs who would not have consented to being photographed had they been given a choice. And, of course, the viewers of the photographs are also a diverse group – the majority may be compelled to help, but there are also some voyeurs. So I think that the results of the photojournalism are necessary and good for our world, but also produce some individual damage. And I also assume that all good photojournalists understand this, which must make their jobs extremely difficult as they try to balance the needs in any specific situation, as well as respond to the goals of their employers.

By: gene Lowinger

gene Lowinger — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:43:10 +0000

Photojournalists are indeed the eyes and conscience of the World. I’ve heard the ‘rag’ that I should put down my camera and help dozens of times. To do that I’d be just one more of dozens of sets of hands. As a photographer I am one or maybe two at a scene doing what I do best. Most often from how i see it my hands would only get in the way of the rescue efforts anyway.

What disconcerts me as a photojournalist most however is that my co-workers (other shooters) are all looking for the eye catching shots that will grab public (and thus their editor’s) attention. So often in doing that the story emerges incompletely. The ‘back’ story is often missed entirely. During all that devastation of the poor in Haiti has there been one shooter who broke away from the major scenes to document how the wealthy of the country are responding with complete indifference to the suffering of their fellow countrymen?