Photojournalist Profile

The photojournalist that I chose to profile was Lynsey Addario. Throughout the course I've come to learn more and more about Lynsey. I got to see her photographs and the different stories that she has covered and I just got a sense of the kind of photojournalist she is. She became one of my favorite photojournalists pretty quickly. Her photographs stuck in my mind and I would look through her own personal blog because I was intrigued. She is definitely a very inspiring and brave photojournalist.

What motivates Photojournalists

David Guttenfelder

David is a famous photojournalist that is known for his journey to North Korea. David Guttenfelder while working for the national geographic, took many real life photographs of people around the world. David gets motivated by wanting to clear up false accusations of things and people around the world, and that is one of the main reasons he took the job to go to North Korea. He wanted to show the world that people in North Korea are just like us. In an interview David describes how the people of North Korea are and how they do the same everyday things like us, he says, "These things that are just the most normal things in the world.. so that's the kind of pictures I've always tried to take." David tried to be apart of them to truly understand them, just like Stacy Pearsall in the Veterans Portrait Project video says, "Working with them, I become part of their story". He's motivated by the truth of the story and telling that truth.

Photo by : National Geographic

Image Source : https://www.nationalgeographic.org/find-explorers/david-guttenfelder

Photo by : David Guttenfelder

Image source : https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/04/glimpses-of-humanity-in-choreographed-north-korea/100280/

Ami Vitale

Ami in a Ted Talk talks about her journey to war zones, her mindset in the field, and what motivates her work. She talks about what the people wanted to see verses what she wanted to show. "I thought that was what they wanted, to bring back the most violent, dramatic images. And the stories that give us joy, that help us relate to with one another are not worth telling." Ami wanted to show not only the bad things that we were going on but also the good. Ami is motivated by showing some of the good in the world. That not everything is always bad, and that the good is worth telling too. Like Xyra Cruz once said, "I want my images to help people, if my images help people, it makes me feel useful to society." I think Ami Vitale has that same mindset as well. She wants to show the good while helping people, helping our world. To show them that not everyone is violent, or evil, but that we have good things in this world as well.

Photo by : National Geographic

Image source : https://www.amivitale.com/about-ami/

Photo by : Ami Vitale

Image source : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2016/08/ami-vitale-photographer-q-a/

Greg Constantine

Greg's main focus is human rights, injustice, and inequality. He is motivated by giving people that voice when no one else will, and he gives it to them by his photographs. Greg talks about different words he hears from these people and puts them into sentences, "I fly through this life with no where to land. These are words of men, women, and children all around the world. What binds them together to make this one voice." His photographs get published and with that their voices, their needs, their worries get published. He learns their stories, takes photographs, and tells their stories through the photographs. You can feel his passion, his anger: you can feel him in his work.

Photo by : Pulitzer Center 

Image source : https://pulitzercenter.org/people/greg-constantine

Photo by : Greg Constantine 

Image source : https://www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org/person/greg-constantine/

Photo by : Liliya Stepanchuk

With the three photojournalists that I researched, I agree with all three of their motivations. David Guttenfelder takes photographs of the truth, and one of my most important motivations is also the truth. Ami Vitale wants people to see the good in others and our world, and I find that also so important. Greg Constantine wants to make people equal and give them a voice so that they have a different future, and one of the things that motivates me is the future. With all three of these photojournalists, they all portray a challenge. They all go all around the world to take photographs to tell a story, or to say a message. And the places they go aren't all that great and safe, but they go to pursue what they love and they are driven by what motivates them.

Photojournalism and Bias

Photo by : Ed Clark

Image source : http://time.com/3764064/mourning-fdr-in-a-classic-photo-the-face-of-a-nations-loss/

This is definitely an example of an emotional driven photograph. These kinds of images provoke messages that aren't written out or clearly shown, but it's through the emotion that makes this photograph so powerful. I see a man in the middle with a lot of emotion on his face and the crowd shows many different emotions as well. This makes me some sort of sorrow for the man in the middle. I don't know why he is so upset but the amount of pain on his face, in a way makes me, the viewer, feel that sadness. It is the field of photography, that by far the most significant gains have taken place. Meaning that photographs are more then just images that people look at but they also have a deeper concept to them, and sometimes photographs bring change to our world.

Focus 

In this photograph of the man in the middle, it i clear that he is then main focus of the image. The back is somewhat blurred, making the man stand out. With this composition is leads the viewers eye to what is most clear in the photograph, which is the man in the middle. 

Face Expressions

A vital part of the image is the face expression portrayed on both the man in the middle and the people in the background. With face's visible it gives the photograph it's emotional and it's meaning. While the man clearly shows a lot of sadness because he is crying and the emotion is written n his face. The people in the background show different emotions. Some are looking at him with judgment or confusion, while others are also showing signs of sadness.

Background

As talked about in the face expressions portion, the background is also very important in this image. The people play a big role in what the photo is trying to show. The crowd and way they are looking at the man, and the way some are showing emotion, it all adds up for the whole photographs purpose. The way the photojournalist incorporated those people in the background, gave the image a deeper meaning.

Image A : Truth

Photo by : Carol Guzy

Image Source : https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/pulitzer-prize-winning-photographer-carol-guzy/16/

Feelings
In this photograph, one of the first things that stands out is the feelings that this image brings out. The joy and happiness on the kids faces, is what makes this photograph so great and eye appealing. There are many different types of photographs that express different feelings, and sometimes it may seem like the most powerful images are those that are heartbreaking and sad, so it's nice to see an photo that brings happiness to the person looking at it.

Rule of Thirds
The photojournalist used the composition, rule of thirds to space out the photograph nicely, while providing just enough detail. There are the beautiful mountains on one third of the image and the children in the other two thirds. The small exposure of the background gives the final image a much different view then if it was taken with just the children in it. It gives it some sort of space, and the composition of the photo looks a lot better as a whole.

Colors
The different array of colors puts the image in a different light than compared to if it was in black and white. The nice and contrasted colors annunciate the emotions of the image. When colors are expressed, it gives a much more positive effect on the photograph.

While looking for a photojournalistic image that I found to express truth, I came across the image by Carol Guzy. This image stood out to me because of the emotion that I felt after looking at it. I knew that this photo expressed the truth by seeing the face expressions and emotions of the children and just knowing that that's real joy and real happiness. Out of the four ways of knowing, I definitely knew from the emotion/intuition concept. In the video, photojournalism and biases part one, professor Nordell talks about his view on images that don't express the truth and one of the ways he describes them are “depicted events that hadn't actually occurred.” But this image is not like that; this image shows the true joy that these kids are feeling. Maybe their whole life isn't this joyful but in that moment and in that time that the photo was captured, those feelings were real, and that's what a true photojournalist image is. For their global audiences we are opening minds, challenging perceptions and providing new sources of inspiration and insight. These are the images that put all around the world to spread these positive messages and get people thinking. The best images are the ones that make the viewer feel by just looking at the photograph.

Image B : Not truth

Photo by : John Partipilo

Image source : https://johnpartipilo.com/nashville-trump-rally-and-protest/

Main subject

With this photograph the main focus is the young man in the center of the image. The way that he is expressed in the middle, its clear that he is the one that the photojournalist wanted the people to see. His expression and emotion make the whole image seems like that emotion because he is the main topic or the main subject of the photograph.

Symmetry

While this image is not perfectly symmetrical, it does have some symmetrical compositions to it. The way that the man in the middle is placed and how all the people around him are placed in a similar manner. With this effect, the man in the middle stands out much more than compared to if the background didn't look so similar on both sides. The symmetry makes the main subject more clear.

Quality of light

With this photograph, the quality of light and choice of colors bring a more negative form to the image. I think that is what the photojournalist wanted because its not a very happy or positive picture and the quality of lights suits the image. The man in the middle, once again, has more white colors on him while the background displaces more darker colors. 

To find an image that I considered not true, was kind of difficult. The image I chose by John Partipilo, I saw as not the truth and I knew by the language/authority concept. I learned from professor Nordell and others that sometimes images cut out certain people or situations and only leave another certain part in the photograph to express that idea more clearly. The main reason that I found this photograph not true, was because the photograph displayed just a certain portion of the protest. Protests usually have people for or against and in this image I only see people clearly angry, and against a particular topic. To me, I considered this as a bias that the photojournalist may have had. Maybe he was also whatever this young man was fighting for. I think that the whole story isn't told in this one image but just a part of the story. Commodified imagery threatens photographers primary role as storytellers. I believe the whole story is not told in this one image.


The yellow journalism has been a popular journal for quite some time now. And it's known for its journals and publications on a variety of topics that may or may not be true. A lot of photographs are displayed that are contradicted for being true or not true. Yellow journalism could be imaginative yet frivolous, aggressive yet self-indulgent. A lot of the images are great examples of photojournalistic images that are not true. Images that are positioned a certain way and journals that are written a certain way just to get more publicity.

The Ethics of Photojournalism

The ethics of photojournalism has always had its controversies. Everyone has their own take on what ethics or morals are most important and in the photojournalism industry, it gets a little complicated. In the article Behind Closed Doors, the photojournalist Donna Ferrato takes pictures of a man beating his wife. Donna was a close friend of the couple and she was also into taking photographs. She would photograph the couple, the parties they had, and their lifestyle. One night things took a turn and Donna heard yelling and screaming. Once she got into the room she saw the husband beating the wife. She said “I took a picture, thinking he would stop but he kept going, he didn't care.” After that, things just got worse but Donna kept photographing everything that was going on. She photographed the beating, yelling, and the crying wife.

This is when the controversies come into play. Was Donna taking the pictures of the beating selfish and inconsiderate towards the wife? Or did Donna's photographs spread the word of domestic violence in private homes where the public eye is hidden? Photojournalists have this difficult decision to make, when taking photographs are okay to take or when they are simply inappropriate to take. Some people simply just wouldn't have the will power to stand there watching another person getting beaten while others see it from a different perspective. In an interview, Donna was asked about that night and she stated, “This is a cautionary to photographers who try to interfere with people's lives, you don't know what people are going to do.” While she was surprised and frightened, she continued taking the photographs. She later tried to get them published but no one wanted to publish them until she wrote a book about that night and got the photographs published. She tried to spread the word of violence and how people don't know what goes on behind closed doors. In a way, such a horrible night actually turned out to help others. 

Photo by : Donna Ferrato

Image source : http://100photos.time.com/photos/donna-ferrato-behind-closed-doors

Photo by : Donna Ferrato

Image source : https://time.com/5153687/domestic-abuse-photographs/

With my personal view on ethics, I wouldn't be able to stand their and take photographs of this situation. Some of the most important ethics to me are love, responsibility, respect, and trust. I believe that in this situation a lot of my most important ethics would not be displayed if I stood there taking photographs. I would feel like it's my duty to step in and try to stop the fighting to the best that I could, and if not, then I would reach out for help. Me trying to stop the fight would show love and trust towards the wife, especially if she was my friend. Also from one human to another, I feel like it is my responsibility to stand up for someone that is in a vulnerable state and can't do anything about a situation.

People have many different takes on when photographs are appropriate to take versus when they are not. Some photojournalistic images that have been taken at “inappropriate times” have had a lot of impact on a much bigger problem. So it's hard for photojournalists to make the right choices on when photographs can or can't be taken. Most photojournalists do have a code of ethics but sometimes they do break them for that perfect shot. Not to make that person uncomfortable or feel disrespected but for the bigger picture and for that bigger impact.