Chapter 11

            

Now that we are nearing the end of this course, I certainly have a revised definition of photojournalism. For instance, at the very beginning of this class, I thought of photojournalism as a hobby, but now I see that it is a means of communication. Photojournalism is a way of sharing news or events, that normally would not be seen with others, with the world.

Knowing the history of photojournalism is so important because you are learning about the world you exist in. The history of photojournalism is like history class using only pictures. As students who will be soon entering the workforce, we can take this history we learned through photojournalism and apply it to society so we do not make the same mistakes as society has in previous years.

During this course I have had a few “Aha” moments. The first one that comes to mind is when I realized that photojournalism really does have a large impact on the world. For instance, Photojournalism brings to light the physical and emotionally crisis that exists in the world. While people can hear about terrible things that happen in another country, it’s entirely different to actually see them. In Maria Jehle’s blog post, she uses a quotation from Thomas Peschak that says “Yet, the photographs I took of the poaching and barren seascapes created a more visceral and immediate response from the public. In that moment, I just knew I could further my efforts in this conservation issue and made my photographs a better insight then statistics”. This quotation shows the awareness that photographs of disastrous events can bring to people around the world that would not have found out about them.

Another “Aha” moment I had was when I realized how motivated photojournalists are. The photojournalists that are still being recognized today were among the most highly motivated, as their hard work left an impact big enough to still be recognized decades later. Great example is in Mechealea Giordano’s profile on the photojournalist Hansel. Mechealea stated “In 1930, when Hansel arrived in the United States and began working as a migrant worker, she acquired a second- hand Leica that began her photojournalism career, capturing her life and others around her”. This quotation shows how Hansel came to this country during the time of the Great Depression, with absolutely nothing, and she made not only a career for herself but a legacy that is still alive today.

Another thing that I learned was from Nahiomy Martinez’s profile on Nicole Tung. What I learned is that innocent people are often put in harmful situations to send messages to others. For instance, Nahiomy included a quote from Tung that said “As a war photojournalist what really moves her is seeing children and young people being used to fuel the fires of war”. It’s so heartbreaking to think about how many innocent people especially young children have been hurt because of war going on.

There have been a few images that I encountered this semester that have changed the way I view the world. One image was taken by Elliott Erwitt in 1950. The picture is of segregated water fountains. The whites’ water fountain was nicer and obviously more expensive, while the African Americans’ water fountain was smaller and beaten down. This imaging change the way I view the world because it allowed me to see the level of hatred humans are truly capable of. I was not when this segregation took place, so it’s always shocks me when I see photographs like these.

Photo By: Elliott Erwitt

Another image that changed the way I view the world was an image of people jumping out of the twin towers after the planes crashed into them. The photographer of this image is unknown. These images were so devastating because this event never should have happened. Thousands of people were lost that day because of terrorism. The people who were jumping literally had to jump out a window over a thousand feet off the ground to avoid burning to death. After seeing this image, it is hard to believe that there is still good in this world.

Photo By: Unknown

 I feel that my photographs from section two are similarly related to section three as I was trying to act more like a photojournalist. I used my polaroid camera for a few of the photographs to get the feel of using an actual camera rather than just using my phone. I also included a picture I took with my phone just to compare the two different cameras.

Photo By: Kristen Foster 

Photo By: Kristen Foster 

Photo By: Kristen Foster