What Is Photojournalism to Me?

Photo by Anzor Salidjanov

 

     When I think of the word "photojournalism", it evokes an amalgamation of memories from my childhood of looking through the issues of Highlights magazine as they were sent to our house. Specifically the news articles they contained, because they were often accompanied by photos about the subject matter like the one above.

    Unfortunately I don't remember enough to point out any specific examples of exceptional photojournalism from those magazines, but I believe that it was important it cemented an association of photos and storytelling in my mind, which I would postulate is the core of photojournalism. Though, given the "journalism" half of the word "photojournalism", I imagine reporting news stories is the type of storytelling photojournalism focuses on in particular as opposed to a staged narrative.

    I chose the photo above as representative of photojournalism to me because I think it is a very eye-catching photo with the contrast of the gas masks and the rifle in a school setting. While a news story can be gleaned from the photo by itself, it is enhanced to know the background information behind the photo, such as that it was taken in Uzbekistan which was formerly part of the Soviet Union.





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