Press versus Art Photography

Press photography (photojournalism) and art photography are similar in the sense that they are both ways for a photographer to convey a message or tell a story to their intended audience. It is easy to see how photojournalism tells a story since the photos are generally news - current events, politics, sports, weather - and are usually accompanied by a story. Andre Ketersz did not really consider himself to be a photojournalist, but he was told by Life magazine once that "You are talking too much with your pictures. We only need documents. We have editors to write the text to go with it" (1).

Both photojournalism and art photography have the ability to make people think. Some of the most moving press photos are the ones that depict hardships people face such as natural disasters, war and discrimination. (Most) people will naturally feel saddened or angered by these types of photos and once that happens, the photographer has achieved his or her goal. Art photography has virtually no restrictions and therefore art photographers have more freedom to shoot whatever type of photos they want, even editing them to reach a broader audience.

Art photography and photojournalism could both be considered forms of art in my opinion, however press photographers must adhere to ethical guidelines which include making sure the subject or content of the picture is taken from an impartial standpoint. They are simply used to tell the story in a factual and unbiased way. This does not stop many press photographs from becoming iconic works of art. One example is the photo of American soldiers raising the flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. (Unfortunately I could not find said photo within public domain.) The following pictures were taken by me and were my choices for my "art photographs." I was free to edit them, however I chose to leave them as they were. It looks like I changed the colour of the lake photo, however it was the window of the train that did it.

Lake Ontario in November - taken from inside a train

My salmon gateau

Although I said both art and press photography can tell a story, art photography can tell any sort of story the photographer wishes; even a fictional one, while photojournalism is based on news stories and real life events or people. Keeping this in mind, I think it is perfectly fine for any sort of editing or alterations to a photograph that is intended as art. Editing can help the photographer to share their photos the way they intended them to be seen while allowing the audience to interpret them in their own way. Photojournalism, on the other hand, is meant to convey a truthful, accurate and unbiased message to its audience and therefore I believe it would be unethical to alter press photographs. People are upset when they find out someone has lied to them, regardless of how big or small the lie. In my opinion, editing a photo that is meant to be news is a form of lying and is therefore unacceptable. If photojournalists could just edit photos however they wanted there would be no trust between the media and the public (although many don't trust the mainstream media as it is).

The two photos I chose as press photographs are below. The first was taken by Sgt. Hewitt of the Army Film and Photographic unit on June 3rd 1945. It depicts the Reichstag building after the allied bombing of Berlin. The second photo shows a Mark II tank providing cover for advancing Canadian soldiers at the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The Reichstag building after the Allied bombing of Berlin

 

Canadian tank and soldiers at the Battle of Vimy Ridge

 

Sources: 

(1) https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzaG9vdGluZ3RoZXRydXRofGd4OjRmNDAzZGZlNjZmMDhkYmE

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_building#/media/File:Reichstag_after_the_allied_bombing_of_Berlin.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge#/media/File:Canadian_tank_and_soldiers_Vimy_1917.jpg

Photo Manipulation

 For my photo manipulation assignment I decided to use two pictures that I took myself. The one above was taken in my backyard this past spring as you can see from the blooming apple tree. I played around with many different effects, colours and overlays but I felt they were taking away from the picture too much so I settled on a few subtle brightness/contrast changes and an effect so it almost seems a little like a drawing. I don't think anyone would be confused or misguided by these changes because the detail in the picture is pretty high especially the ground and the leaves on the trees. The detail is just far too high to really be a drawing or painting. You do miss out on a few things when viewing the edited picture such as the vibrancy of the colours.

For my second photo I used this picture that I took at the end of the summer. I had a rare day off and went to Toronto to catch up with some friends who I met in culinary school last year. They brought me to a place called Knife that sells - you guessed it -knives. I bought this Masakage as a reward to myself for working so hard in first year and over the summer. The changes I made to the photo include the usual adjustments to brightness and contrast, an effect to darken the top of the blade while making the edge appear much shinier, and a sort of scattered light effect as if it was reflecting off the blade. That was the intention but I feel that most people who saw it without the original would know right away it was edited. I suppose it could confuse some people though. The darkness and effects of the picture makes it more difficult to see the true colour of the knife. It is also more difficult to see the dimples in the blade.

Photography Blog Intro

Hello and welcome to my photography blog. My name is Richard and I'm currently in the second year of the culinary management program. It is great to be back and I'm happy I have an elective that I find interesting.



Had the beach to myself in PEI - summer 2014

We live at a point in time where most people are walking around with some kind of camera on their person at all times. Smartphones are getting increasingly powerful cameras which can produce great photos, however they still can't compete with a top of the line camera decked out in different lenses, flashes or other accessories.



Not quite all to myself

That being said, I'm quite happy with the convenience and picture quality I get from my Galaxy S4's 13 megapixel camera and when I upgrade to an S6 it will increase to 16 MP. As with most pictures, these would look more detailed at their original size but they were obnoxiously large on the screen so I downsized them a bit.



Winter is coming :(