History of Photojournalism

 As Professor Nordell explains in his YouTube video What is Photojournalism? “Photojournalism is broken down into two words, photographs created to be published in journals.” Photojournalist must know when something is going to occur. They begin with research so they can cover their topic thoroughly and be at the right place at the right time. Typically, photojournalist work for magazines or news companies. In addition, photojournalist may not always have cheerful images to share. They work in extreme dangerous situations such as war zones, and extreme weather conditions.

Some people say history of photojournalism began with Matthew Brady. “He is often referred to as the father of photojournalism and is most well-known for his documentation of the Civil War.” Brady’s photographs continue to impact the world today. He inspired many people to become photojournalist including his nephew. Therefore, photojournalism is continuing to shape the way we continue to visualize the world. Its been continuing to evolve from engraving, photography, and videos to newspaper articles, television and now the internet.

It’s important to have knowledge of history because it allows us to understand the past. In the video History is...“Understanding the past is key to understanding the present.” Furthermore, if we can study our history it will help guide people from making the same mistakes. For an example the Civil Rights Movement was a struggle for decades for people to have equal rights. People fought, protested and died for the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment. There was a lot of history to be captured during the period of the 1950s and 1960s. If we didn’t have photojournalist capturing these horrific times in America. How would we have insight? We needed and still need photojournalist to capture photographs to show the world what is happening, to persuade, educate, and motivate people to make differences all around the world.

Furthermore, from a photojournalist perspective, there are many demands, challenges and skills to have to be successful. Jason Henske a photojournalist for a small market company states in his video Jason Henske- Photojournalist, “it can be difficult to have a life outside of your job in a town you know because people can’t separate when I have my camera on my shoulder or when I don’t.” For an example, he photographed a student graduating high school and then years later, he’s photographing his coffin coming home from Iraq. Its can be challenging for photojournalist like Jason because they go from capturing celebration to death. Photojournalist spend a lot time in different countries or in small towns building relationships with people which can make it very personal when a crisis occurs.

               Image by: Matthew Brady

Image by: Brigette Freed