Concluding Chapter

Photos By: Haley Pollo

These are the photographs that I had taken at my uncle’s wedding, and I wanted to share them. My family and I had traveled down to be a part of this beautiful day, and I was so honored to be able to capture these memories. This is one of the many weddings that I have photographed, but of course, this one has so much meaning because it is my family. I have photographed numerous special occasions for family, friends, and even strangers. From birthday parties, baby showers, proms, graduations -  weddings are always my favorite events to photograph. I very much enjoy all of the love involved in weddings when two families come together, and being able to continuously share those memories through photographs is extremely important to me. I often think that people don’t realize how special taking pictures truly is, and just how easy it is to take those pictures. We all have cameras on our smartphones; it takes seconds to pull out the camera and capture beautiful moments

such as these! It takes only seconds to share your story. ♥

After creating the many blog posts throughout the semester, I would say that I definitely have a revised definition of photojournalism. At the start of the semester, I thought that photojournalism was just simply photographs taken from important events in history and those photos served as documents. While this still remains true, there is so much more to photojournalism. Throughout the semester, I completed many assignments related to photojournalism and they taught me so much more about the profession and its importance. Photographs are meant to tell a story during a certain period of time, and they are then shared with the world. The photojournalist must act as both the photographer and the journalist. Many people may think that they are simply photographers that happened to be in the right place at the right time, however, I learned that they are photojournalists assigned to take photographs of certain events purposefully, for example, to spread awareness about an issue.

The history of photojournalism is important to learn and understand. It gives insight into how technology has evolved over time and people can appreciate just how far photographic technology has actually come. Photojournalists faced many challenges photographing events in the earlier times, especially women. Not only did they have to face challenges with technology, they had to work to be noticed in a profession dominated by men. As I mentioned earlier, some people do not realize how easy it is to take photographs today. It is so easy to take photographs of special events and share them with the world. Even just to have the memories to share with your close friends and family means everything. Studying the previous struggles with photographic technology definitely makes me appreciate how far we have come.

The first time that I had experienced an "Ah-ha" moment during this course was when I completed the research on what motivates photojournalists. It was interesting to develop a map of my own motivations and compare them to those of photojournalists. I found that a lot of the photojournalists that I studied happened to share the same motivations as me. Most of the photojournalists did not wake up every morning to take photographs just for the money and the fame, which is a common misconception. In fact, they often take the photographs to raise awareness to certain issues that touch their hearts and bring about social change. They give voices to those who lack the ability to share their stories. I think that each one of my motivations would be the same for photojournalists. Most of them want to help others and have a passion for what they are doing. Passion is important because if a person does not truly love what they are doing, the quality of their work will not be great. I have definitely learned this lesson in the real world as well, while working several different jobs.

Photo By: James Nachtwey
Image Source: https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2018/inside-times-decision-to-dedicate-an-entire-issue-to-the-opioid-epidemic/

Another “Ah-ha” moment occurred during the research on ethics in photojournalism. It really made me think about the impact that images have on the world. However, I want to focus on the negative impact that photographs can have as well. I had researched some powerful photographs that are definitely ethically questionable. For example, one of the photographs I came across was taken by Kevin Carter, showing a starving little girl being stalked by a vulture behind her, as she was crawling to get food. Although the photograph was very successful and even won the Pulitzer Prize, it was revealed that Carter did not immediately photograph the little girl. In fact, he waited roughly 20 minutes before capturing the moment, which made people question him about why he didn’t bother helping her, and instead just watched her suffer and become threatened as a target for an animal, as if she were an animal herself. It became obvious to the public that this photograph was only taken for Carter’s job as a professional photojournalist and not to help with the issue. He truly did not pay any mind to this little girl’s well-being, and just stuck around to capture that “perfect” moment. Kevin Carter’s situation with his unethical photograph completely violates my own personal ethics. I strongly believe in being compassionate and caring towards others, especially when they are suffering. This definitely changed my opinion about ethics in photojournalism. I believe that all photojournalists should follow some sort of code of ethics when photographing events such as this. 

Photo By: Kevin Carter
Image Source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/kevin-carter

Do I believe that photographs can change the world? My opinion is that while photographs do not bring about immediate change, they definitely raise awareness about social issues. There are many images that have a strong impact on society. At the beginning of the semester, I thought for sure that photographs can change the world. However, after doing so much research related to photojournalism, I realized that it depends on the viewer of the photograph. What emotions does the photograph bring to the viewer? Does the viewer want to act on the feelings the image brings to them? Social change can only occur if the person actually does something about an issue. I believe that some photographs can leave a large enough impact on someone to make great change, but they have generally just raised awareness to the public.

Photo By: Eddie Adams
Image Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42864421

Photo By: Marc Riboud
Image Source: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-marc-riboud-photographer-of-one-of-history-s-most-iconic-anti-war-images-dead-at-93

Photo By: Malcolm Browne
Image Source: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/the-burning-monk-1963/

As a "historian" studying the History of Photojournalism, I have come to realize that photojournalism is more than just a picture that has been taken during an important time period to tell a story. Photojournalism requires dedication, motivation, passion, and strength. It takes more than just a camera, film, and an event to represent what photojournalism is. I believe that the history of photojournalism is important to study because many photojournalists are under-appreciated for everything that they do, since many people do not understand their profession and what they are faced with. I have much respect for every individual photojournalist.