Ethics of photography
Ethics of editorial/photojournalism photography
The main topic of this article is explaining the ethics and cultural references in photography and how the new generation of photographers have trouble understanding these things whilst being involved in editorial photography especially photojournalism.
Most photojournalists say you mustn't change a picture, cropping or editing something out of a picture is taking away from the absolute truth, and in a sense telling a lie to it's oblivious viewer.
An example of this is shown in the article that i have linked in above.
In 2010 there was a photographer called Stepan Rudik, who was young and presumably early on in his photography career. He entered a piece of work into a competition called the world press photo competition. He was disqualified from this competition due to the fact he had photo shopped out an 'offending foot' from the frame. He also cropped the image and converted it into black and white. which is against the rules of this competition as it takes away from the truth in the image.
The article explains that the new goal of a photojournalist is to win prizes and to win titles not to report the truth to the world. Photojournalism has changed a lot over the years and it seems now more than ever the real reporting in this line of work has diminished.
Unfortunately a new generation on young uneducated photographers make a decision to instead of studying and learning, use there time after college etc as what i can describe as a gap year, and during this time they use it as a platform to brake into photojournalism, traveling, capturing images and getting jobs in fields that they do not yet fully understand, but they might have if they studied and or looked up to a mentor in that field who could educate them on the ethics of photojournalism, but instead we are left with a growing generation of ignorant photographers who are not properly educated in the sensitivity and understanding that is needed for photojournalism, especially when in situations of war and death.
It's become a contest to be the best, to take the best photographs, to win competitions opposed to just reporting the world as the world actually is.
However i cannot speak for all young and aspiring photojournalists, many could treat every photojournalism job with the up most respect but a large amount of them do not.
If i am ever as successful as i would like to be in the editorial aspect of photography specifically photojournalism i am going to definitely try to change how new photographers approach the jobs in hand, because I in no way agree with treating peoples real misfortunes as a means of winning a competition.
I have written a little bit of what i took away from this article, researching things like this really give me a better understanding of the field of work i am interested in pursuing and it also gives me tips and advice on how to get there and how not to get there.
Most photojournalists say you mustn't change a picture, cropping or editing something out of a picture is taking away from the absolute truth, and in a sense telling a lie to it's oblivious viewer.
An example of this is shown in the article that i have linked in above.
In 2010 there was a photographer called Stepan Rudik, who was young and presumably early on in his photography career. He entered a piece of work into a competition called the world press photo competition. He was disqualified from this competition due to the fact he had photo shopped out an 'offending foot' from the frame. He also cropped the image and converted it into black and white. which is against the rules of this competition as it takes away from the truth in the image.
The article explains that the new goal of a photojournalist is to win prizes and to win titles not to report the truth to the world. Photojournalism has changed a lot over the years and it seems now more than ever the real reporting in this line of work has diminished.
Unfortunately a new generation on young uneducated photographers make a decision to instead of studying and learning, use there time after college etc as what i can describe as a gap year, and during this time they use it as a platform to brake into photojournalism, traveling, capturing images and getting jobs in fields that they do not yet fully understand, but they might have if they studied and or looked up to a mentor in that field who could educate them on the ethics of photojournalism, but instead we are left with a growing generation of ignorant photographers who are not properly educated in the sensitivity and understanding that is needed for photojournalism, especially when in situations of war and death.
It's become a contest to be the best, to take the best photographs, to win competitions opposed to just reporting the world as the world actually is.
However i cannot speak for all young and aspiring photojournalists, many could treat every photojournalism job with the up most respect but a large amount of them do not.
If i am ever as successful as i would like to be in the editorial aspect of photography specifically photojournalism i am going to definitely try to change how new photographers approach the jobs in hand, because I in no way agree with treating peoples real misfortunes as a means of winning a competition.
I have written a little bit of what i took away from this article, researching things like this really give me a better understanding of the field of work i am interested in pursuing and it also gives me tips and advice on how to get there and how not to get there.
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