Friday, June 24, 2016

Final Part 2- Concluding Chapter

My views towards the role of photojournalist’s and how they contribute to the media has greatly changed. When I began my very first search about what these people do for a career; it seemed pretty commonsense. But after gaining so much information these past six weeks, this course taught me that it was so much more than that. Photojournalist’s are like heroes. They are brave, they always know what the latest news story is and they witness so many incredible parts of history. Without them, we wouldn’t know what the world looks like. Without them, we would have no knowledge of what occurs in the world around us.

It is important to have a basic understanding about the history of photojournalism. Pictures that were taken many decades ago by these honorable photographers and photojournalist’s, still holds value to the teaching of history today. Knowing what those pictures mean, and who the photographers were, makes looking at the images different. The images now hold more value to us who view them because we have an understanding of how it all began.

During this course, I had the chance to really explore the past and learn how they were able to capture some of the best work in photojournalism. Learning about the technology from the 1800’s and how the wet-plate process worked, was so interesting to read, it truly opened my eyes and made me reflect on how much technology has changed. Also learning about women in photojournalism, I learned so much of their triumphs to get to where they are today. That was one of these best chapter in the course. I really had the opportunity to learn.

Photographs absolutely change the world. Without images, people wouldn’t learn, provide evidence or share stories. Images impacted the human world greatly. Throughout this course, I was exposed to so many different pictures that were taken in different parts of the world. One of my favorites was posted by another student, Patrick Agit. The image was taken by Steve McCurry of an afghan girl. The young girls expression and eyes are so pure, it instills in me this emotion that I cannot explain. Also, another image that made me look at life differently is an image by Lynsey Addario. Her photography is touching and insightful. Because of photojournalist like Steven McCurry and Lynsey Addario, we have the ability to look at images like the ones they’ve taken, and they change our world.

Photo by: Steve McCurry
 

 
During my creative experiential exercise, I walked the streets of Boston with some friends who live in the area. We got to explore the streets and venture through the city. When we reach Fenway Park, there were crowds of people flooding the streets trying to make their way to the stadium. This was the perfect spot for me to snap photos of all the different people around me. Some were eating, some were laughing, or talking. Everyone was engaged in something, living life and enjoying the beginning of summer. This photo to me represents Boston and the American people. It’s patriotic, family oriented, and shows American’s past time…baseball. I felt like I was really capturing the purpose of this assignment. I felt like I was telling a story with my photo. I was able to incorporate everything I learned and it was rewarding. I decided to take this image in black and white because one photojournalist in specific, Henri Cartier-Bresson mentioned once that these images look the best, they make the images look real. This stuck with me, and have found an eye for the beauty in black and white photography.
Image by: Alejandra Ocasio 2016

Being able to sit down, and look through the work of my classmates is fascinating. In such a short amount of time, we each learned the same thing, but differently. We each interpreted each concept in our way, and expressed our thoughts. One of my classmates, Kaitlyn Cruz states her idea about how photos change the world. She stated: “A photograph will not cure world hunger. A photograph will not stop a war. A photograph will not stop pollution. But a photograph might affect someone’s attitude on an issue; it could inspire concern for a situation; or it can reveal a part of the world that was once unknown to someone”. She made a very good point. Photojournalist go to these poverty stricken places, but the only thing that photo could do is spread awareness. I really enjoyed reading Kaitlyn’s response to this interesting question.
Image by: Horst Faas

Kelsy Pratts, another student in the course spoke about how photojournalism has changed over time, she states: “Photojournalism has not only come a long way over the years, but the way a photograph is taken has also evolved”. The types of images that can be taken, different setting, and bright colors. After learning about how technology effected photojournalism, it couldn’t be more true. Cameras have developed into such great tools that allow people to document and share stories. Without these new advances, photojournalism probably would not be what it is today.
Image by: Steve McCurry
Image source: https://oharadesigngroup.com/2013/09/27/steve-mccurry/
 
There are many styles of photography and different techniques can be used to make images appear the best they can. Black and white photography has been around for decades, and many photojournalist incorporate this style into their work. Aaliyah Wright from this course mentions in one of her blog post; “when looking at a photo there should be one thing that you should be drawn to and color could make you look at everything else around it”. This statement made me realize that sometimes the vibrancy of colors or the appearance of color can take away from the real purpose of the photo. Many photojournalist have adopted the idea of colored images while others still use their older black and white method.
Photo by: Lynn Johnson
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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