Photojournalism refers broadly to the use of photography for news coverage–or in other words, for documentary and/or informational purposes. The invention of photography in the early 1800s coincided with the growing popularity of newspapers as a medium to transmit information. In 1880 the New York Daily Graphic became the first newspaper to publish a photograph on its front page.
Modern photojournalism became more viable after the development of the small-format camera. Due to the increased mobility and inconspicuous nature of small-format cameras, photographers were allotted much more flexibility in order to capture images from every day life that were more realistic and less static.
One Historical Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995)
Alfred Eisenstaedt–often referred to as the father of photojournalism–was one of the most prolific and important photojournalists of all time. Throughout his career he demonstrated that the camera could do much more than simply record a single moment in time, but could also capture an entire subject as a whole. He was a major contributor to the American illustrated newsmagazine Life, which is often credited for contributing to the development of the photo-essay.
Browsing through collections of his work, it becomes clear that Eisenstaedt dealt with an apparently unlimited number of different themes throughout his career including, but not limited to, WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, colonialism, and portraits of important politicians and hollywood stars.
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At the Grand Hotel waiters' school in St. Moritz, a waiter
practices bringing aperitifs to the ice rink. |
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| Hitler and Mussolini greet each other for the first time |
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The most iconic of Eisenstaedt's works: V-J Day; Smack
in the middle of Times Square in New York City, a happy
sailor and a passing girl show how the whole world felt
about the end of the war. |
One Contemporary Photographer: Josef Koudelka (1938-present)
As television increasingly became the go-to medium people turned to for news coverage, photojournalists had to adopt new approaches to their craft. Josef Koudelka, among others, adopted an approach that was much more subjective and aestheticized than traditional approaches (such as that employed by Eisenstaedt).
While Eisenstaedt focused much of his attention on photographing more mainstream,
newsworthy subjects such as important celebrities and politicians, Koudelka took an alternative approach by immersing himself in the less attractive realities of the world. Some of his most renowned work is a product of time spent photographing gypsies living in cultural exile in the Slovakian and Romanian countrysides.
Sources:
Eisenstaedt, Alfred.
Witness to our Time. New York: The Viking Press, 1966.
Koudelka, Josef.
Exiles. New York: Aperture Foundation, 1988.
Koudelka, Josef.
Gypsies. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011.
Mora, Gilles.
Photo Speak: A Guide to the Ideas, Movements, and Techniques of Photography 1839 to the Present. New York: Abbeville Press, 1998.
