Photojournalism: * Photojournalism: Reporting timely events to inform and entertain by use of pictures and words. * Typically refers to still images or video used in broadcast journalism

Distinguished from other forms of photography (such as documentary photography, celebrity photography, etc.) in 3 ways:

1) Timeliness: The images have meaning in the context of an (often) recently published record of events.

2) Objectivity: The situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the events they depict in tone and content.

3) Narrative: The images combine with other news elements to make facts relatable to the viewer or reader on a cultural level.

Like a writer, a photojournalist is a reporter – but he/she must often make decisions instantly.

HISTORY: * The practice of illustrating news stories with photos was made possible by printing and photography innovations that occurred between 1880 and 1897.

HISTORY: * Even though newsworthy events were photographed as early as the 1850s, printing presses could only publish from engravings until the 1880s. Early news photos required that they be re-interpreted by an engraver before they could be published.

HISTORY: First photojournalist – Carol Szathmari, who took pictures during the Crimean War (1853 to 1856). First actual photo published in a newspaper as a halftone rather than an engraving was on March 4, 1880 in the New York Daily Graphic.

Halftones are images made up of a series of dots in a specific pattern that simulates the look of a continuous tone image

HISTORY: The introduction of the 35 mm Leica camera in 1930s made it possible for photographers to move with the action; up until that time, they did not have small, portable cameras – but bulky, cumbersome gear which did not travel well.

HISTORY: The “Golden Age” of photojournalism (1930s – 1950s) Some newspapers and magazines built their huge readerships and reputations largely on their use of photography.

First LIFE magazine cover from 1936 – taken by a WOMAN photojournalist – Margaret Bourke-White

HISTORY: LIFE magazine was one of America’s most popular weekly magazines from 1936 through the early 1970s. LIFE became a standard by which the public judged photography, based on their oversize 11 X 14 pages filled with photographs.

HISTORY: Other similar-style magazines and newspapers of the time that had a large focus on photography: Sports Illustrated, LOOK, the Daily Mirror, Click, Pix, Picture Scoop, and See

HISTORY: Farm Security Administration (FSA) from 1935 to 1942 – designed to address agricultural problems and rural poverty associated with the Great Depression. A special photographic section of the agency headed by Roy Stryker was intended to provide public relations for the FSA, but instead produced one of the greatest collections of documentary photos in the U.S.

Professional organizations The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) was founded in 1946 in the U.S. and has about 10,000 members. First organized to gain respect from both the public and reporters in the newsroom, the focus became “to protect the working press photographer on the job.”

Moving forward: Smaller, lighter cameras greatly enhanced the role of the photojournalist. Since the 1960s, motor drives, electronic flash, auto-focus, and better lenses have made picture taking easier.

Digital Digital cameras allow photojournalists to shoot without the limitation of film roll length (or having to stop and change the film). Thousands of pictures can be stored on a disk.