Photojournalism

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, and in some cases to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such as documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by the qualities of:

Related Topics:
Journalism - Photography - Documentary photography - Street photography - Celebrity photography

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• Timeliness — the images have meaning in the context of a published chronological record of events.
• Objectivity — the situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the events they depict.
• Narrative — the images combine with other news elements, to inform and give insight to the viewer or reader.

Photojournalists must make decisions instantly and carry photographic equipment under the same circumstances as those involved in the subject (fire, war, rioting)—often while being exposed to the same risks.

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Photojournalism as a descriptive term often implies the use of a certain bluntness of style or approach to image-making. A wedding photographer would not typically be described as a 'photojournalist', even though they cover a timely event and their images may be published in the press.

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A similar and related term is reportage.

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Photojournalism: History ►