Photojournalism and The History of Photojournalism

Jannah Esa 

Introduction to History of Photojournalism

Life changing events are turned into stories that are shared from generation to generation. These stories have a powerful impact on everyone listening. They can change masses and even form societies.  These stories are our history. Photojournalism is a unique way to document our history. In the video What is Photojournalism, Professor John Nordell says that photojournalist are “just worried about capturing the moment”. The moment that is captured is a story that will be told among generations, in other words, a moment of history. 

The documentation of our history can be written. However, photos capture the emotion behind the history, which is extremely important to understand and connect to the story being told/written. However, photojournalism is not easy. Capturing our history is extremely dangerous. For example, in the video In Harm's Way the narrators points out that “These two make their living by putting their lives on the line for images that tells the stories of conflicts.” The narrator speaks of two photojournalist named Zoriah and Alissa who put themselves in danger to tell stories that may change the world. 

On the other hand, how can one capture history without knowing previous history? Ultimately, to understand how to be a photojournalist it is important to understand the history of photojournalism all together. To understand photojournalism, one has to know how photos of important events have changed the way we receive news. For example, in the article The History of Photojournalism, author Jessica Stewart says that “using images to communicate the news, photojournalism has shaped the way we view the world since the mid-19th century. What began as war photography has slowly spread to other newsworthy events, including sports, and even long-form storytelling through photo essays.” Knowing how photos captured of important events have impacted the world, photojournalist and even people viewing the photo’s understand how much these photos mean to the current generation and the generations to come.

In the video What is Photojournalism Professor John Nordell states “Mathew Grady’s photographs of the civil war, considered by many to be the beginning of photojournalism” Imagine a world without images like these below. How would we have been able to connect to the war? How would people all around connect and empathize with the soldiers and the victims of war? War photography, the start of photojournalism, was the spark people needed all over the world, which bleed into capturing other events and growing with technology.

Photo By: Mathew Brady
Image Source: /https://mymodernmet.com/photojournalism-history/

Photo By: Margaret Bourke-White
Image Source: https://mymodernmet.com/photojournalism-history/