Week 11 - Photojournalism

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism

In class we were able to draw distinguishing lines between two different photographers, Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine. 

Jacob Riis, who is considered a conquer in photojournalism, liked showing his subjects in squaller, he liked to catch them at their worse and as the rest of the world believed they were, with no hope. 

Lewis Hine on the other hand was an artist before money maker. He took care with what he was shooting and gave the subjects a chance at dignity. He was one of the driving forces behind having Child Labour Laws introduced in the work place and created some beautiful work because of it. 

He also documented the rise of many great buildings, some such as the Rockefeller Center and The Empire State Building.

http://vnovember.com/rockefeller-center-construction-site-lewis-hine/

http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/hine.htm

James Nachtwey

I can't imagine how he fights the demons that haunt his memories. There is only so much a human can detach themselves from and James Nachtwey is constantly testing the limits of that.
How many photos can one take of children with missing limbs? Of people whose brain matter is splattered across a room? Of women crying for their dead sons and husbands? Of the hopeless look in their eyes?


His work is eerily beautiful but there is no way I could look at it more once, it's a tragic album of the world.