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Photo By: Kristen Foster |
Each individual has something that drives them to complete certain tasks or just to guide them through life. This can be a certain goal or person that motivates them to be the best they can be and to get the job done. This is especially true among photojournalists.
The first photojournalist I researched was Marie Hansen. Hansen caught my eye typically because she worked during a time when the workforce was male dominant, and she still stuck out. As Kevin Ames states in the article On Photography: Marie Hansen, 1918-1969, “
Marie Hansen realized and wrote that women photojournalists had the same capabilities as men. She worked hard to be accepted as equal”. What truly motivated Hansen was the need to rise above society’s beliefs, to be the best photojournalist that she could be. As Lynn Johnson stated in the video Lynn Johnson Women in Photojournalism “
This world of photojournalism, world of photography, is still very much a male community”. For Hansen to make her mark in a male predominant field, and still be recognized today she had to be motivated to be better than the societal norms told her she could be.
Another photojournalist that stuck out to me in my research was David Burnett. Not only was he a photojournalist, but he also became and entrepreneur when he opened up his own phot agency. According to Ash Grant’s article Top 10 Photojournalists “
Even though he opened his own photo agency, Burnett was still heavily devoted to his job and passion as a photographer”. Burnett used his passion for photojournalism as his motivation to keep pursuing his own career aside from owning a business. In the video Kenyan Photojournalist Felix Masi says “
I could see joy, I could see pain through my lens”. This quotation closely relates to Burnett’s motivation because he truly cared about successfully conveying human emotion in his work .
The final photojournalist that stuck out to me during my research was Robert Capa. What was so unique about Capa was that he, at a very young age, started a completely new life on his own, even changing his name. According to Ash Grant’s article Top Ten Photojournalists, “
Robert Capa, born as Endre Friedmann, is well-known for his wartime photos during WWII as well as his boldness and bravery and his involvement in Magnum Photos. His life as a photographer started at the age of 18 when he moved out of his native home in Hungary and left for Berlin where he worked as a darkroom apprentice”. What motivated Capa was to create a new life for himself centered around what he was passionate about, photojournalism. As stated on the Gordan Parks Foundation’s website “
Born into poverty and segregation in Kansas in 1912, Parks was drawn to photography as a young man when he saw images of migrant workers published in a magazine”. Photojournalist Gordan Parks’s story resembles the life of Capa. Both rose above the situations they were born into and changed their lives for the better as a result of their passion for photojournalism.
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If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough.”-Robert Capa
A similarity in motivation that I noticed among these photojournalists and myself was the drive to make a better life for ourselves. For instance, Capa literally moved to an entirely knew country to make a better life for himself. A significant difference that I noticed was that none of these photojournalists brought up money as a motivation to them, whereas I included money on my motivation chart. I think that this difference has a lot to do with the fact that they are much older than I am and they have more life experiences that have matured them. Overall, the most significant motivation among these photojournalists has been the passion for photojournalism.
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