A photojournalist goes about getting images in a way most shooters would hate to do. But that's what sets them apart from other professional photographers.
Alton Strupps has a good write up here that lists what those differences are.
Read it and then post what you think about some of those differences. Which one was most surprising or you had no idea about? Is this job something you would love to do after reading this link or has it changed your mind?
Alton Strupps' Reasons to Love PJ Shooters
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ReplyDeleteCool article. I especially love the last one, number 10. To me it speaks from the heart of a photojournalist. I think I experienced a very small piece of this last semester shooting at Ground Force Manufacturing with a very limited and tight schedule where I started feeling like I was not going to get enough good shots to get the job done. As it turned out, I needed to edit better and should have used less photos but I felt like I needed more to tell the story. I need to tell the story with fewer, great photos rather than more, weaker photos.
ReplyDeletePrior to reading the article...Is this a job I would like to do?
ReplyDeleteNO, I took this class because I wanted to hone my photographic skill and my people skills. Being an undiagnosed "control freak" I find this class and its demands quite intimidating. My thoughts prior to this class or article were that PJ requires the ability to manage chaos. After reading this article I realized that this field is far richer than my initial thoughts. It requires: 1. an in-depth self awareness, 2. the ability to surrender and adapt oneself to different demands, 3. to be incredibly flexible in perspective and in approach, 4. to be aware of one's hot buttons and to be able to quiet them or manage them, 5. and be content with the work produced even if it is not perfect.
One has to aim for excellence, but be aware of the limitations.
In essence, a photojournalist is a walking rubber band capable of balancing many roles and many contradictions while being able to self-validate and self-assess.
After this article would I like to do this Job? No! While I have the desire and the moxie to learn all the necessary skills to become a PJ, I know that this job requires and interminable passion and the ability to tolerate perpetual disapproval from many sides. After a while, If ones passion is not all consuming the perpetual disapproval can start to affect ones performance.
I can tell you from first-hand experience Andreas that it took me a while to realize I wouldn't be completely satisfied with the pictures I produced. I can always pick apart even my best portfolio images. But because of that, it pushes me to work harder. I think once you realize that perfection, or even a decent level of satisfaction, is extremely difficult to obtain.
ReplyDeleteAnd Marily, this profession isn't for everybody. It's only for those crazy, or stupid, enough to take it on. Late nights, crazy schedules, difficult assignments, crazy people, dangerous situations, and never seeming to have enough time to fully commit to one assignment is enough to make a "control freak's" head explode.
But I can tell you that by taking this class, you will get a better understanding of how to work storytelling elements into you images and will become more comfortable with approaching strangers and finding a way to make themselves and yourself comfortable in shooting situations.
Reading that honestly made me more excited about photojournalism. Perhaps the fact that I've been involved in journalism for a couple years or so through The Sentinel has already conditioned me for this line of work; but still, I can't see myself working under any other environment/conditions than this. I live to work under pressure and deadlines. There really is no other field of work that compares to journalism; it's my passion, and I love it. I look forward to this class as a means to help me tell a story through my viewfinder rather than solely relying on written words.
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