| News photographs often shape the reader's perception of an event. The photographer is adding a message and saying this is how I saw it. Whilst pictures may not have the nuances of the written word, they have more of an immediacy. The reader is there, the scene or part of the scene is presented without being filtered through the vocabulary of various writers and editors.
With a news event the message is usually obvious. The photographer must show the scene and as much of the action as possible. Selection and editing comes later. But there are many occasions when the photojournalist needs to look a little closer, examine the situation, the personal attitudes and social conditions of the event. What has gone before and what is likely to come after may be important and need to be taken into account when deciding how to photograph a situation. The photojournalist is usually a more thoughtful person than the popular image implies. Quietly selecting a position, waiting, observing, looking for emotions, body language, relationship to background, effect of lighting, or lack of it - then pressing the shutter and moving on to the next opportunity. Photojournalism must say something, inform and enhance the reader's perception of something they have not seen themselves.
|
