Photojournalism

Application, Context and Techniques

 

Application

Photojournalism has been around for many years and is still popular today. The whole revolution of photojournalism changed when the Leica camera was released in 1925. One important person who influenced this type of photography was Henri Cartier-Bresson. His most famous photograph was an image of a man jumping over a puddle, taken in 1933. This photograph has been regarded as the best photograph of the 20th century. The particular style of taking photographs has been named as the 'decisive moment'.

Context

 The photographs used in photojournalism are displayed in a variety of ways. The most common place to find such photographs would be newspapers. Generally, newspapers will display pictures that are linked with stories, such as a celebrity story featuring a picture of the very same celebrity mentioned. Many photographs taken by photojournalists are found in magazines. These can be found in many different magazines ranging from gossip to music. One such example was Robert Capa's work, which was used in 'Life' magazine, as they had employed him to be their photojournalist.

Techniques

 Many different techniques have been used throughout the years to create these kind of images. One of the most famous techniques used was the 'decisive moment' coined by Henri Cartier-Bresson. This technique could easily be seen as been in the right place at the right time, where one second could make all the difference and ruin the intended image. Many of the photographs taken by this technique were not planned, they were just a spur of the moment. Bresson took a majority of his images by using a Leica camera, relatively new at the time when he brought it. As a surrealist, Bresson was considered a stalker, as he took pictures on the streets to achieve theatrical possibilities.

Robert Capa and Tony Vaccaro were two photojournalists which took photographs during World War II. Working for 'Life' magazine, Capa literally risked his life for photographs, as he wanted to get as close to the action as possible. Capa was known for capturing reality in his photographs. It was a daily basis for Tony Vaccaro to take photographs as he was a GI photojournalist. He used an Argos C3 camera for his photos. It was more of a case of photography, not survival for him. Vaccaro developed his own photographs on the battlefront by mixing chemicals in soldiers helmets. His images were banned due to graphic images of dead soldiers. Capa went to Omaha Beach during World War II and managed to take photographs, unfortunately, only 11 survived.