"M10 - The Ethics of Photojournalism"

"M10 - The Ethics of Photojournalism"

A.    The ethics/photojournalism controversy that I decided to choose was the i

mage in the New York Post called “Doomed” And this picture was of a man who was pushed on the subway track and the photographer snapped a picture seconds before this man’s death. The man in the image was 58-year old Queens resident Ki Suk Han. He was reportedly pushed onto the tracks at 12:30pm by a panhandler who had been harassing passersby. Han had approached the man in an attempt to calm him down. The controversy that this photo caused wasn't of any photojournalism ethics but just normal human consideration. And that is if you see someone facing death and it could be prevented you would more than likely help, instead of catching the last of their life on camera.

Photo By: R. Umar Abassi

Image Source: http://nypost.com/2012/12/04/suspect-confesses-in-pushing-death-of-queens-dad-in-times-square-subway-station/

B.     For certain situations this varies, because in the image it may seem like you can help but truly you cannot. For example, war images with little kids. There’s only so much that we know through the image, the “innocent” kid could have a bomb strapped that the camera doesn't show. But as far as this “doomed” image, I could be wrong but it seemed like someone could have helped. Like said in an article, “Sickening rubber-necking front page from the New York Post. Imagine how this man’s family feels.” Thinking of it in that way really makes you think, imagine seeing a close one of yours being on that front cover.

Photo by: R. Umar Abassi

Image Source: http://nypost.com/2012/12/05/a-picture-of-controversy/

C.     With some of my views being a volunteer, optimistic and level headed , looking at this controversy, it’s challenging. It’s one thing to talk about it and another to be in that situation. Being in that circumstance that would just be a natural reaction for me to help, the last thing to be honest would be for me to take a picture. Just thinking of taking a picture like this is calling for controversy in my opinion. It’s also saddening because you know that you could have changed the result.

D.    And simply comparing this controversy with my personal ethics, this guy did not make any attempt to help. Instead he took the picture, although this was his job but with him doing that he ultimately witnessed a death. With my personal ethics I would have went to help even if that meant I wouldn't capture a picture at all that day but I know that I saved a life. That’s satisfying enough and truly I feel that people would be happier with me coming away with that rather than a front cover photo. Honestly there isn't anything that I could compare my ethics within the controversy that this photographer took part in. 

Women Photojournalists - Trials and Triumphs

The woman photojournalist that i chose is named Homai Vyarawalla, who was India’s first woman photojournalist. Vyarawalla was born December 9^th, 1913 and passed away January 15^th, 2012. Her place of birth was Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Some of her noticeable works was covering the visits to the country of Queen Elizabeth and the former United States president, Dwight Eisenhower. Her career of shooting photos ended unnoticed though. She was in the profession for nearly four decades before retiring soon after her husband’s death and settled down in Vadodara since 1973.

Doing research on non-photo-journalistic jobs/professions where women have faced discrimination in workplace, it was hard to find a specific profession. But there were findings reporting how women felt they weren't being criticized equally to where they couldn't improve. “Researchers found that women in the workforce received more narrative praise than their male counterparts but lower numerical ratings related to job performance. Experts said this meant that bosses were too nice to openly criticize the women and, as a result, those employees didn't get the feedback they needed to improve or advance in their careers.” With that being said it isn't fair for women to not get the same treatment because they won’t be able to develop the way men will with getting truthful constructive criticism.

As far as a personal experience I wouldn't say I've witnessed gender discrimination. But just throwing a thought out, I work at Home Depot and I work in the Lumber department and I must say that there aren't any females who have worked in that department since I've been there. Not sure if they believe it’s a guys job but I don’t see why a women couldn't work over there just like men.

Looking at the course material in module 5, I watched the video of Lynsey Addario and she made a great point about her being a female photojournalist. And she stated she has access to the woman in Afghanistan that her male colleagues don’t have. Men that are not blood relatives or married into a family cannot enter a home in that part of the world but she can. This is powerful because without her profession, information such as that wouldn't be known to us. She also went to admit that at times she is more vulnerable than her male colleagues but ultimately face the same risks. Also looking at another source, people are noticing that with the two genders in this profession, they bring two different but positive prospective. “Until the 1970s, [photojournalism] was a man’s world,” says Elbert. We’re starting to get more-and different-interpretations of subject matter as more women come into the profession. There is a different approach because of gender.” This just shows that there shouldn’t be discrimination in any workplace because what each gender brings is different and this allows for a wider variety.

 

Image Source: http://www.genengnews.com/media/images/AnalysisAndInsight/Oct3_2012_37303934_MenWomenDivide_GenderBias7310236189.jpg

Photo by: Genengnews

Principle 1: Rule of Thirds, in this image the figures are not in the middle of the picture. Purposely to make the point it has the figures on opposite sides of the third of the image that makes the picture.

Principle 2: Use of lines, with the use of the middle crack and line in this picture it makes you look left and right to see the separation of the two genders. Without this line I don’t feel like this image would have the same meaning. The line also adds depth to this photo because you follow it throughout the whole picture.

Principle 3: Use of colors, with the colors separate the two. If they were all the same color you would not be able to separate the two and this image would not have any meaning. And using simple colors like red, white and blue is comfortable for the eye instead of using any exotic colors.

The reason I chose this image is because it’s very simple and gets right to the point. You clearly see the female is isolated from all the men and this just is a good way to depict gender discrimination. This is a different approach because I’m sure it wasn't a photographer who took this but at the end of the day the creator of this had the same mentality as a photographer would to create their meaning.

Image Source: http://www.iriq.com.au/imagecache/C256B2AC62CEAA88C1131B1E10620FB5.jpg

Photo by:Unknown

Principle 1: Abstraction, with abstraction in this image it isn't clear what is being used to highlight the word discrimination. Its almost as If it’s a magnify lens or just a piece of glass, it’s not clear but it impacts the image greatly.

Principle 2: Depth of field, this image has a shallow depth of field. The front of the image is in focus and you can see that the bottom of it is slightly out of focus. With doing this it attracts the viewer eyes right to the main focus.

Principle 3: Keep it simple, this image is very simple because it just wants you to understand what discrimination is. If it was any other way I feel as though people would be distracted with looking at other words.

The reason I chose this image is because it just shows people what discrimination is about. Although there are many words on the picture, the main focus of the definition is enlarged. And that is discrimination is treating on in an unfair way.

Image Source: http://media2.intoday.in/indiatoday/images/Photo_gallery/homai-vyarawalla_121112040654.jpg

Photo by: Unknown

Principle 1: Texture, the texture in her face is what makes the picture. You can clearly see the age in her face and then you instantly feel the history of her. Because if someone was to edit this picture and smooth-en her face you wouldn't be able to see the aging that occurred to her.

Principle 2: What feeling did this image create? When I first looked at this image it caught my eye. With her holding the camera, it went perfect for what I was looking for. If she was holding anything else it wouldn't be meaningful to this extent. This just shows what she was truly remembered for.

Principle 3: Quality of light, the quality of light in this picture isn't too overwhelming but its not completely dull. I feel that with it being at the level it’s at it gives off a feeling a comfort. There aren't colors that take away from her either, so just the use of all colors and the use of light go well together.

The reason I chose this image is because it shows her year of birth and death at the bottom. Also with this image you truly see her age right there in her face and to have her holding a camera that doesn't look like from this time era only

Technology Timeline

Wet-Collodion process 1851: Wet plate collodion photography was one of the first photographic processes. According to the video on the wet plate collodion process, “it was invented in 1851 by the Englishman Frederick Scott Archer, who was looking for a process that could produce fine detail and negatives”. The wet plate collodion process was complicated and took a lot of time compared to digital photography today. As far as how this process affected journalists was that this process was very time consuming. Due to all that this required it was nearly impossible to get motion photos in that time era, so most if not all images were still pictures.

 Image by: J.M Cameron
Source: http://www.freestylephoto.biz/the-lure-of-collodion

Rotogravure Printing 1890: Rotogravure is a printing process in which letters and pictures are transferred from copper cylinder to a web of paper. But clearly the difference between the two is that online newspapers are web based, while rotogravure is more for hard copy. Like Professor Nordell said, in the 1890s how rotogravure came along so it was easy to publish photographs in newspapers. As for the importance, the growth of the internet simply helped. “With the explosion of the internet and the ability to take digital photos and transmit them digitally was huge.” Interesting enough rotogravure was the most looked at page in the newspaper. There would be a special edition in the Sunday with photographs; it was the most looked at page in the newspaper. As far as the benefits, Professor Nordell went to say “for companies’ that advertised in the newspapers in those pages where there were photographs, those ads sold much more; so there was a huge impact on photojournalism."

Image by: Unknown
Source: http://www.sam-na.com/page.php?page_id=96

Speed Graphic cameras 1912: The topic of technology that I chose to research was Speed Graphic cameras. Speed graphic was manufactured by Graflex, who was a camera producer in Rochester, New York. Surprisingly what was found was that although this camera may have been one of the best cameras to ever be produced, they no longer make them. The Speed Graphic has not been manufactured since 1973; the Speed Graphic was America’s first and last great camera. But what made the Speed Graphic camera so high-class? With its two shutters and many different lenses with wide frames it stood out from all other technologies in that time era. This camera affected photojournalism because this was the camera of choice for most photojournalist during the World War II. It was simple to use and got the job done. The first original Speed Graphic was in 1912. When it came to the quality of pictures and the cameras abilities it was what photojournalists wanted. With being able to capture many photos within seconds it made this camera useful for war photojournalism.
Image by: Unknown
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/konabish/9565115260/

Leica 35mm cameras 1925: As far as the Leica 35mm cameras, these cameras were made in Germany and came out in 1925. With just one roll of the 35mm you could take 34-36 pictures per roll. And the creator of this camera was Oskar Barmack. It’s evident what the positives of this camera were with its capabilities. For photojournalists it allowed them to be able to take many pictures in an efficient amount of time. Also the size of the camera worked out in their favor, simply just off the size made it easier to carry and maneuver. What I found interesting was that this camera wasn’t cheap in price. “A Leica was $88 retail price in the US in 1928 (equivalent to 1129 in 2014).”
Image by: Unknown
Source:  https://www.cameraquest.com/leicaa.htm

Black And White Roll Film 1961: With looking at black and white film there is a sense of history behind it immediately. I found through researching that the first black and white film was introduced in 1961. And through many photographers and photographs there was one person who kept coming up. And that was Robert Capa, he was a photographer who targeted all war instances. “Capa’s D-Day photos have become classics.” As far as the effect that black and white roll film had on photojournalists and many others was that it was a new style and wasn’t nearly as expensive as color photos. “According to the NYIP staff even in the past fifty years, there have been lots of reasons to use black-and-white film. Early color film, processing and printing was expensive.”
Image by: GreenEye Photography
Source: https://www.etsy.com/market/bw_photography

Satellite Phones 1979:  According to the before there were pixels video posted, “satellite they have become more popular to use because of how easy it is to use satellite devices.” This was convenient for photojournalists because they could get access from wherever they were, even if traveling. With being able to communicate in multiple places at once really changed how things worked. This created mass communication. according to the same class video. Simply this was just a more effective way for photojournalists to communicate and publish their work. As time went on throughout these new technology advances, it was becoming more convenient for workers like photojournalists. With doing further research on Satellite phones, the first one was founded in 1979. “The only existing satellite constellation 30 years ago was the Inmarsat constellation of satellites. Inmarsat is considered as the oldest satellite phone company in the world and was founded in 1979.”

Image by: Unknown
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_phone

Online Newspapers 1980: What are online newspapers? They are electronic newspapers that are self-contained, reusable, and refreshable version of a traditional newspaper that acquires and holds information electronically. Multimedia is also around the same definition. With multimedia meaning that many different media’s are being used such as audio, video, graphics, drawings or any other media. This digital photographic technology affected photojournalism and photojournalist in some significant ways. With that being that it gave photojournalists another way to get their works out for people to see. Giving that more people would access it through online rather than hard copy because it was free. Also another effect that was major was that with multimedia this allowed for videos to be shown as a part of the photojournalist’s stories. With hard copy newspapers that option was not available. The first newspaper to go online was the Columbus ‘Dispatch on July 1, 1980.
Image by: Unknown
Source: http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-global-online-newspapers-image15269222

Blogs 1994: The Oxford Dictionaries of blog is “a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group that is written in an informal or conversational style”.  Blogs are a great tool for people to post photos and posts about things that they like and are interested in.  Tim Hetherington talks about how digital photography helped mass communication. As far as the affect on journalists, blogs really helped mass communication. Anyone can create a blog and post photos and news so people all over can see it. Digital photographs enabled blogs to be able to show images to large groups of people quickly. Looking deeper into blogs, interesting enough I found that the first blog invented was “Links.net” by Justin Hall in 1994.

Image by: Unknown
Source: http://photographypla.net/inspirational-photography-blogs/