History of Photojournalism
About Me My name is Claire Long and I am a Photographic Journalism student at Leeds Metropolitan University. I have just recently turned nineteen years old - I am in my last teen year! I am staying at home whilst studying and currently work for Next as a Sales Consultant. I enjoy the art of photography and love my camera. I enjoy documenting the places I visit and the journey’s I experience. I spend a lot of my time reading online blogs. I enjoy reading review based blogs and reading other peoples opinions on products. I have just recently found a love for YouTube. I have been thinking about starting my own blog for quite a few months now and hopefully soon I am going to begin making that happen. I love using my camera to capture special moments as they will provide memories is years to come. I enjoy looking back through my old photographs in my spare time and re-living the moments and experiences.
Contents 4.
What is a Myth?
16.
Journey
5.
Medusa
17.
Journey
6.
Timeline of Image Acquisition - Pre 1900’s
18.
Storytelling
7.
Timeline of Image Acquisition - To Present
19.
Bradford Impressions Gallery
8.
Dada and Surrealism
20.
References and Reflection
9.
Surrealism
10.
Freezing a Moment in Time
11.
Freezing a Moment in History
12.
Propaganda
13.
Propaganda
14.
Social Commentary
15.
Social Commentary
What is a Myth? Myths are typically known as traditional tales and stories of the past. The most common type of myths are the ones of Greek origin. Traditional myths were set and created in primordial times. The basis of many myths surround the questions of cosmogony, cosmology and ontology; these myths were created as an answer to their questions surrounding the world and their existence. In these primordial times they had no scientific studies and evidence to answer their questions which is why they created these stories as beliefs. Some myths provided moral guidance for the people, teaching them about social actions and values. Myths often acted as warnings. Many of the characters in these mythical stories were non-human, often being: gods, godesses or supernatural beings. The events said to have taken place in each myth often vary as they are stories that have been passed down from many years ago.
In the present day myths continue to interest and intrigue people due to their symbolic, metaphorical and narrative nature. Myththical creatures are currently still talked about in the present day. Examples of mythical creatures include: mermaids, unicorns, dragons, vampires, pixies, zombies, mummys, ghosts and werewolves.
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Medusa The myth of Medusa originates from Greek Mythology. The sea titans Porcys and Ceto had three daughters named Medusa, Sthenno and Euryale. Medusa was the youngest and most beautiful of the three and had gorgeous long hair. Medusa was the only mortal sibling. She always bragged about her beauty and constantly claimed that she was more beautiful than Athena. Her beauty attracted many suitors. The sea god Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena’s temple of worship. With anger and revenge, Athena transformed Medusa and her sisters into monsters. She created them into monsters with scaly skin and a head covered in snakes. Athena transformed Medusa into the ugly gorgon we know her for being. Medusa’s gorgeous hair had become a nest of snakes. Medusa could never again look into another man’s eyes - any man that looked into her eyes in the future woould turn to stone.
Perseus was challenge to remove Medusa’s head. He was given a curved sword and a reflection shield to remove it. This was a dangerous challenge to take on as a gorgons blood was said to be lethal poison. After Medusa died, Perseus took her head to Athena. She attached her head to her shield that she used to protect herself in battles.
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Timeline of Image Acquisition - Pre 1900’s 1827
Joseph Nicephore Niepce created the first photographic image using the “camera obscura” device.
1829
Niepce teamed up with Louise Daguerre to improve the photographic process.
1839
Daguerre eventually developed a more effective method of photography that he named the “daguerreotype”.
1841
Henry Fox Talbot perfected the paper-negative photographic process that he named the “calotype”.
1856
Hamilton Smith patented a photographic process named “tintypes” which uses a thin sheet of iron.
1851
Frederick Scoff Archer invented the “wet plate negative”.
1888
George Eastman invented the first Kodak camera which was a wooden light-tight box with a lens and a film. Known to the public as ‘the Kodak number 1’
1889
George Eastman invented a film that could be rolled.
1905
The worlds first camera was created by Oskar Barnack and he named it the “Ur-Leica”. 6
Timeline of Image Acquisition - To Present 1930
The first flash bulb was patented by Johannes Ostermeier and now commercially available to buy.
1940
Colour films were now available to purchase.
1947
The first instant photo process was invented by Dr Edwin Land. Originally named “Polaroid Land”, it is now known as just “Polaroid”.
1948
First Polaroid camera sold.
1978
Konica introduces the first point-and-shoot camera with autofocus.
1984
Canon demonstrated the first digital electronic still camera.
1985
Minolta introduced the “Minolta 7000” - an autofocus 35mm SLR camera.
1986
The first disposable camera was introduced by Fuji.
1990
Adobe released Photoshop 1.0 for Apple Mac computers. A computer digital image manipulation program.
1998
The first consumer digital megapixel cameras were introduced to the market.
2000
Canon introduced the first consumer DSLR camera - the EOS D30.
2000
Sharp and J-Phone introduced the first camera phone to the market. 7
Dada and Surrealism Dadaism is one of the biggest surrrealist art and literature movements in history. The dadaism movement began after the first world war, at a time when the people were confused and uncomfortable with the world in which they lived in. The artists of the time rebelled and expressed their discomfort through the dadaism surrealist art movement. In the dadaism movement the format of their art were paintings. Surrealism imagery can also be created with photographs. By using photography as the format for surrealism art, you could either set up the surrealist scene and take a photograph of it. The other option is to take multiple photographs and create the artwork using Photoshop. Surrealist paintings and photographs contain oridinary objects within them. To create a surrealism feel in the images the objects are taken out of context, distorted or manipulated to make them look odd and unreal. Vladimir Kush has explored metaphorical surrealism to create beautiful computer generated illustrations. In his illustrations Kush juxtaposes objects that shouldn’t be together. In his illustrations his combination choices do not look odd, he chooses objects that fit together stunningly. The objects that he uses in his images are always illustrated realistically, the only surrealist aspect of his images is the way he combines objects that woul’d not usually be together. The way he creates his surrealist illustrations makes aesthetically appealing images that are non offensive or disturbing to look at. In this image Kush has combined the bottom of a hot air balloon (including the basket and the ropes) and a collection of clouds. The clouds in the illustration act as the balloon or the top for the hot air balloon. The fact that both these objects are usually in the sky anyway does not create an odd atmosphere to the image. These objects blend well together and make for an interesting buy visually appealing surrealist scene. The colours used in the scene are not harsh.
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Surrealism Here is another surrealist illustration created by Vladmir Kush. The two objects he has combined in this piece are windmills and butterflies. The buildings of the windmills are in the image but the sails have been replaced with butterflies. The irony of this image is that butterflies would be delicate to wind and would not withstand the amount of wind that the original sails would. Also, butterflies are tiny creatures and the windmills are huge buildings. It is surreal to see a butterfly being attached to a windmill to replace the sails. There is a tiny man in the image holding a flag. The butterflies are huge compared to the tiny man and are like giants when placed in the same scene.
This is another surrealist illustration created by Vladimir Kush. In this image he combines a tree with an axe. What would normally be the wooden handle of the axe has been replaced with the tree trunk. The tree trunk has been illustrated to look like it has just been axed and only a tiny piece at one side is still attached - the trunk is about to fall over. The irony of this image is that axes can be used for cutting down trees. The majority of the other trees that surround the main one in the image have been axed down too - there are only a few in the background that are still in tact.
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Freezing a Moment in Time Photographs can be used to help tell stories. Photographs can accompany verbal or written story to create a better visual image in the mind. Photographs can help people understand stories because it helps them see the visuals of the events in their mind. The opposite to this though is to use a photograph and develop the story from the image. As a photograph only displays one part of the event, you could leave it up the mind to interpret the photograph and create a story of their own. People can interpret phtographs in different ways to tell different stories. The technological advances with image capturing allow the photographer to use a variety of techniques and methods to take photographs. The main camera settings that make the most difference to the outcome of an image are the shutter speed and the aperture (as they control the exposure). Changing the shutter speed setting allows you to alter the amount of time that the shutter stays open for - this determines the amount of time that the camera takes in light. To literally capture a ‘moment in time’ you would need to set your camera’s shutter at a very high speed. This allows you to capture stills of a range of motions and actions that you would not be able to see with the human eye such as water droplets and jumping. In this image the girl appears to be defying physics as she appears to be flying in the air. There appears to be no visible explanation as to why and how she is in the air, the viewer can take their own views and opinions of what is happening in the photograph and interpret it into their own story. The most likely realistic explanation of this image is that the girl is jumping in the air and the photographer has used a fast shutter speed to capture the moment. Anyone could take this image and create many stories from it. This image has a lot of mystery about it which makes it such a successful photograph. The fact that photographs capture real events makes this image confusing because this photograph cannot be real.
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Freezing a Moment in History The technology of photography allows us to capture real moments in still images. It allows us to freeze moments in time that will in the future become a part of history. In the future these frozen moments will be frozen moments in history. An example of a frozen moment in history is a photograph taken by Thomas Hoepker. At the time of the 9/11 twin tower attackes he was just across the water watching this awful event unfold in front of him. As you can see he is clearly too far away from the towers to be able to help anyone. As any photographer may do, he took a photograph of the scene in front of him. In this scene you can see the New York skyscrapers including the two twin towers that had just been hit and all the smoke that was coming from them. In the foreground though, you can see five people. These people appear to be casually chatting away and admiring the view like there is nothing unusual happening. They do not appear to be shocked or scared by what they can see before them. You could argue that just like the photographer, they are too far away to do anything about it. In the defense of the photographer, you could say that many photographers feel that it is their duty to capture life changing and historical moments. Without this image we may not have got the picture of what happened that day. The five people in the photograph seem too casual and laid back. It almost appears as a surreal image. This image was banned from publication due to its controversial nature. It was only in 2006 when it was published in a book. This is one of the most iconic images from the 9/11 attack. This photograph juxtaposes the awful and devastating attack in the distance with the calm group of people witnessing the attack.
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Propaganda Propaganda is the distribution of biased information and opinions designed to influence the beliefs, attitudes and actions of the people. Propaganda is usually used by governments but can also be used by organisations and businesses. Propaganda is most commonly associaciated with war. Propaganda was used in America during the second world war. Many propaganda posters were released that encouraged the housewives of the time to go out and work whilst their men were out fighting in the war. There are two famous propaganda posters from the time that feature a character we now know as “Rosie the Riveter”.
As the propaganda encouraged women to work throughout the second world war, it also encouraged some women to carry on working after the war had ended. The working womens propaganda changed the future for women forever. The women had then realised that they didn’t have to stay at home and be housewives. They realised that they have as much skill as the men. This was was a huge turning point in womens independence. They gained the independece to be able to go out and work and not have to cook, clean and take care of the whole household. The number of women that worked after the war never dropped below the figure of women that worked before the war. Marilyn Monroe was captured as a “Rosie the Riveter” in 1945. Army photographer David Conover visited the Radioplane plant where Monroe worked. He went there to photograph women working in the war. He photographed Marilyn and she caught his eye. At this time she used her real name Norma Jean Dougherty and was only 19 years old. Conover’s discovery of her led to her development of a modelling and acting career.
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Propaganda The first of the “Rosie the Riveter” posters was by J. Howard Miller and released in February 1942. At the time this poster was not associated with the character of Rosie. The lady in the poster was based on a real woman of the time called Geraldine Doyle. In this image Rosie still holds most of her femininity. The tensing of her arm to show her muscle encourages other women that they can still be women and have their beauty whilst they take up the male physical working roles. This first poster is the one that is most commonly associated with the character Rosie and is the most iconic working womens propaganda poster from the second world war in America. The second of these posters was featured on the May 29th 1943 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. This poster was created by Norman Rockwell and featured a similar looking woman in the image. This was the first propaganda image that included and used the name Rosie. Rockwell distorted normal womens proportions and made her appear slightly more masculine. This image portrays women as powerful and strong. There was a song released in the 1940s by various artists called “Rosie the Riveter”. The song was written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. The song describes the real life Rosie’s and the working women of the time. It appears that Rockwell must have known about this song as he associated his image with Rosie by including her name within his work. The release of Rockwell’s front cover for The Saturday Evening Post encouraged the media to discover stories of real life “Rosie’s”. These were the stories of real life working women in America during the second world war. Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” poster became the least popular due to copyright restrictions. Miller’s poster was easier to reproduce and was therefore seen by more people. In 2000 Rockwell’s original was sold for $2 million.
Lyrics from the song Rosie the Riveter All the day long whether rain or shine She’s a part of the assembly line She’s making history, working for victory Rosie the Riveter Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage Sitting up there on the fuselage That little frail can do more than a male will do Rosie the Riveter
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Social Commentary Social commentary has evolved into an artistic expression. Social commentary can be communicated through writing and images. Using images to make social comments creates bold statements and can sometimes have more impact than writing. Artists create pieces that respond - and sometimes rebel - to the current issues in society. 2Twenty is a street artist from Los Angeles and he produces unique works around the city. His “Facebook Social Cigarettes” artwork went viral in 2011 and he gained a lot of recognition in American press. He published this artwork on printed posters stuck around the urban areas of LA. Facebook logo as the cigarette packet branding suggests that Facebook has become an unhealthy addiction. So much so that it has a negative impact on peoples lives. Many students spend their time on the computer checking social networking sites, particularly Facebook, instead of completing the work they went on the computer to do in the first place. They fall behind with their studies just because they couldn’t close down Facebook. Therefore end up either rushing the work last minute or not completing it at all. Social networking, particularly Facebook, is becoming a more common reason for the ends to friendships and relationships. So many people post their whole lives on Facebook for the world to see. Suspicious partners can so easily see what their partner has been doing and can “spy” on them. Sometimes conversations between other people can be publicly seen and they could have said something to embarrass or upset somebody else. So much information and “gossip” is easily spread. I have also seen that people indirectly “bitch” through status’ - they don’t mention the person’s name but they talk about the situation or event and “moan” about it. People say things over the internet that they wouldn’t usually say in person. People become addicted to Facebook because they can so easily witness these “dramas” and it has become a form of entertainment.
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Social Commentary Though you would not initially think that Facebook is any way similar to smoking, when you look deeper into them both you begin to see the the similarities. Just as Facebook ruins lives, by affecting education, careers, friendships and relationships, smoking can ruin your life too. Smoking is an unhealthy addiction that will affect the rest of your life. It affects the length of time you will live for, it costs a lot of money and leaves you with less money to spend on other things. Since the ban on smoking in public buildings it will now also affect some peoples friendships and relationships. Before pubs and restaurants used to be divided in to smoking and non smoking areas. This meant that if you had a smoking friend, you were able to sit in the smoking area and would all be able to spend the whole night together. Now if you are a smoker you have to leave your group of friends inside and go outside to smoke your cigarettes. Not only is this unpleasant because you leave your friends behind and miss out on some of the fun; you also have to smoke your cigarette in the miserable cold rainy British weather outside. This can affect your friendships because you may miss out on some of the best moments. You spend less time with your friends because you have to stay outside. Just as Facebook is the “in thing” to do these days, so was smoking in the 50’s. The advert from 1958 on the right suggests that every man smokes and if you don’t, you should. Smoking used to be - and for some still is - a form of entertainment. Smoking relieves the everday stresses in your life. Facebook provides a form os escapism - you can usually see what is going good or bad in other peoples lives and it gives you the chance to forget about your own. Facebook has addictive games that you can play with others. For some people, Facebook seems to stop them carrying out the taks they need to be doing. With smartphones allowing us instant access to the internet almost anywhere we are, you will find that people are constantly checking Facebook. Facebook can provide us with short burts of relief an entertainment, just like smoking a cigarette. 15
Journey This is the journey of the nine celebrities that climed Mount Kilimanjaro. In February 2009 they all went to Tanzania and set off on their journey. The nine celebrities were Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles, Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Cole, Ronan Keating, Denise Van Outen, Alesha Dixon, Fearne Cotton and Ben Shephard. This event was organised by Sport Relief and funded by BT to raise money for Comic Relief projects in the UK and Africa. The celebrities faced a five day challenge to climb the tallest mountain in Africa. They trained intensely for weeks but nothing could prepare them for the challenge they were about to start. The distance they walked uphill was the same distance as running a marathon. During the journey two of the celebrities - Fearne and Cheryl - became exhausted and collapsed. The complications faced with climbing mountains this high include: exhaustion, strong winds, sub zero temperatures and altitude sickness. Despite these complications, they all managed to carry on and continue climbing the mountain. Cheryl was the first celebrity to reach the top. She was closely followed by Fearne, Ben and Denise. The rest of the celebrities got to the top a short while after them. Later in the year six of the celebrities visited Uganda to witness themselves how the ÂŁ1.4 million they raised has been changing lives so far. You can see the happiness in their faces to know they have got through such a difficult challenge and that their efforts will change the lives of deprived and deserving people in the UK and Africa.
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Journey The birth of a child is both the end and beginning of different journeys. It is the end of the nine month pregnancy. It is the start of a new life. The mother has just experienced one of the strangest natural things in life. She has gone through months of being uncomfortable. Her body has been changing and developing her little baby. Her hormones have changed dramatically. She has been preparing herself for the painful but most amazing experience of her life - giving birth. Giving birth can be a scary experience for first time mums. Your body is out of your control and you don’t quite know what to expect. You wonder whether it is as painful as other mums say. You think you are ready and prepared for the pain. You find yourself spending hours feeling extremely uncomfortable and painful, even worse than you felt during your pregnancy. You look forward to the end when you get to hold your little baby girl or baby boy. You are thankful and relieved when the ordeal is over. You are excited to hold your little bundle of joy. This photograph shows the powerful connection a mother has with her baby. The mother is looking into her baby’s eyes and admiring her baby’s beauty. She is wondering who she/he is going to look most like when they grow older. She is looking forward to sharing the rest of her life with her child. Motherly instincts come natural when you give birth. You can see in this photograph that the mother is devoted to her new child. You can see already that the baby depends on her, as the baby looks into it’s mother’s eyes and screams for her attention. The journey between the mother and child is like no other. She has just experienced the pregnancy and now she gets to share the second part of the journey with her little baby. You can feel the love she has for her baby and the unconditional love she is going to share with her child.
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Storytelling Even since the caveman times images have been used to communicate and tell stories. Sometimes there are feelings and emotions tht words cannot express. They can capture facial expressions, whether it be happy, sad or angry, and even the extremeties of these. Photographs can capture complicated situations that speech and writing may not be able to explain. Photographs capture real moments. This photograph was taken by photographer Nick Ut. It was taken in Vietnam during the war. This scene shows the affects that an accidental bomb drop had on the Vietnamise villagers. This scene shows a number of children running down the road, scared to death, frightened and terrified of what has just happened. The girl just to the left of the centre of the image is a girl called Phan Thi Kim Phuc. Whilst she and all the other children were running for safety, she ripped off her burning clothes and ran away from the dangerous scene. Her younger brother Phan Thanh Tam lost an eye in the attack. Her even younger brother Phan Thanh Phouc and two of her cousins are also in the scene. This photograph shows the damage that careless and unthoughtful accidents can have on a whole family. This event changed the lives of all the family members including people that are not within the image. Without this photograph, the American’s and the rest of the world wouldn’t have understood how devastating and damaging the Vietnam war was. This photograph tells us part of the story to help us understand the tragedy the war caused. Nick Ut was there at just the right time to take this photograph. This image was published in America the day after it was taken. After being on the front page of the New York Times it was put forward to win a Pulitzer Price. The photograph even recieved the title of World Press Photo of the Year 1972. After Nick Ut had taken this photograph he took the time and care to help these children. He transported them to a Hospital in Saigon. He got to see the after math of this photographic story but he shared this story with us.
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Bradford Impressions Gallery At the Impressions Gallery in Bradford they are currently holding an exhibition called “Roads to Wigan Pier�. This exhibition was originally held in October 1984. It was re-shown this year to celebrate the gallery’s 40th anniversary. There were six photographers work that was featured in the exhibition: Russel Boyce, Huw Davies, Julian Germain, Graham Hall, John Kemp and Tim Smith. I was personally most drawn to the work by Julian Germain. Her photographs included people of the time. The images showed their living conditions and how they lived their lives. I was drawn to this image of the three girls in a bed. I like the contrast that has been created between the background and the subjects in the image. The (presumably) bedroom walls are pale and the small bed that the three girls are sharing is very dark. The three girls pale faces stand out from the dark bedding. The important subjects are placed in the centre of the image to draw the viewers attention to them. The closeness of the girls in this image suggests to me that they are sisters. The diagonal graduation in height between them suggests that there may be a couple years age difference between them. To capture this photograph Germain must have been very close to the girls and leaning over the bed. It is unlikely that at this angle she would zoom in. The closeness to the girls faces and the position between the girls in the photograph creates an intimate photograph and emphaisises the strong relationship these girls must have with each other. You cannot see the rest of the room they are in or the standard of their living conditons. All we can assume from this photograph is that they cannot afford a house big enough for the three girls to have seperate beds or seperate bedrooms. They could be sharing this house with another family or their extended family. This image to the right was another photograph taken by Germain. I believe that the girl in this image is one of the three girls. In this photograph there is an adult male in the background, possibly her father. This photograph shows us another room in their house. It looks to be cramped and quite small, suggesting further that they do not have the best living conditions.
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References and Reflection All images used on the blog are either my own work or linked on my blog. For references of pages and information I have read and the images I have used in this booklet please see my blog: http://gonebeforelong.wordpress.com Click on the History of Photojournalism link at the top of my blog. Throughout the production of this booklet I have learnt how different types of images tell different stories. I have learnt how images can affect peoples lives and how some images change the outlook we have on our lives and the lives of others. My favourite topic to research on was propaganda. I enjoyed reading about the propaganda used to entice the women of the time into the working environment. I found it fascinating looking at all the different imagery and propaganda posters that were used at the time in America. This part of the war affected the future of women’s lives forever. It gave women some independance and allowed them to work and spend some time away from the family home. It allowed women to use their brains and have some importance within society. When researching for surrealism I found some lovely work by Vladmir Kush. I love the way that his surrealism artwork isn’t aggressive or offensive. His artwork is not unpleasant to look at. I found that his artwork was very pleasing on the eye. I enjoyed looking through all his surrealism images. In this project I have realised the importance of images in today’s world and the affects they have on us. 20