> > I think digital photography helps keep photojournalism alive--no film > processing and quality of cameras has greatly improved. Today, we > have some amazing news images on the net and in the newspapers. > > True, but it's also one of the reasons serious photojournalism is in > jeopardy: Everybody has a camera, at least a phone camera. Images > direct from the scene of events abound. And they're free. >
The omnipresence of cameras and the growth of 'citizen journalism' means that more events are covered than previously, not that free coverage will replace professional coverage. For example, when the tube and bus bombs exploded in London in July 2005 footage was available from the ordinary people who were caught up in it. There appear to have been no professionals on hand. Conversely, when the aeroplanes flew into the WTC, New York was full of professionals able to cover it - Magnum, for instance, had many of their top people in town for a conference and their coverage was very extensive and widely published, at the expense of the many citizen journalists who were also there. I don't think that in a straight fight for quality coverage by the recognised media, free will ever out-do professional. After all, there are also plenty of non-professionals around who can write, but still the editors choose professional writers, as well as talking to eye witnesses. To me the issue, if there is one, about old-style photojournalism is that there were fewer media in which to be published when the magazines either ceased publication or went all lifestyle. However, now that everyone can publish on a worldwide basis the game changes. The question now is how to draw attention to, and for the viewer how to find, the most trustworthy and informative photojournalism. There is probably more high quality photojournalism out there than there ever has been, and it doesn't depend on the fortuitous liberalism of a small number of press barons. It's just not on the newsstands, and you have to make more effort to find it. Start here: <http://www.foto8.com/new/>. > > It's unfortunate that younger generations didn't have the opportunity > to grow up with magazines like Life et al. The library at school has > the complete set of Life magazine, and I've been recently sneaking in > time to go through all the issues. The 1st issue was 11/23/1936. I've > gotten as far as the 12/14/1936 issue. Fascinating. I hope to write > some short reflections of my experience on my blog. > > That would be cool. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
