Thoughts on photojournalism
After going to sleep after the very looooong day I had yesterday, I realized that anyone who still reads this blog may not recognize the importance photojournalism holds in my view.
My only real training in photojournalism came via a class taught by Bill Kuykendall, a wonderful photojournalist who also happens to be a great guy in general. In the class Bill always told us never be shy, always speak up, ask people if they’d be willing to have a photograph taken. I could never get myself to do it, and I’ve been scared to designate myself as a photojournalist because of that.
Last night at the Festival made me realize a couple of things. I have great respect for anyone who can do photojournalism for a living. I’m not typically the fanboy type, but I really do respect the work of Gabor, Kevin, Bridget, and John Clarke Russ (another BDN photojournalist swerving through the crowds of people last night). They have a tough job… a fun job, but a tough one. Last night I put my camera down for a few minutes here and there to just watch how they worked. It’s really interesting to watch how another person serious about photography does what they do.
At the same time, though, there’s a new breed of photographers out there. I’ve grown up with the explosion of sites like Flickr and Facebook; the independent photographer is now alive and well. They’re taken seriously. They do great work. At the end of the day, I think it results in a richer account of history from a visual standpoint. There’s been a lot of discussion on whether bloggers are journalists, and I think the same discussion should be carried out with photojournalists. Journalism in any form takes training, ethics, and guidelines. While I think I’ll leave the true photojournalism to the pros I saw last night, I’ll do my part to document this wonderful event from my perspective.
The photo to the right is an environmental portrait of me that is, for once, not taken at arm’s length. I swiped it from Jeff Kirlin, another Person with Big Expensive Camera I met last night documenting the AFF for his site. It’s great to know there are more like me.
