- Photojournalism is the process of illustrating a news story through photography. This usually only pertains to still photos, since video is in a class of journalism of its own called video journalism. Photojournalism's purpose is to add another dimension to a news story so that the viewer or reader will get a better understanding of the information that is being presented to them.
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Photojournalism started in the 1850s when men started adding photos to newspaper stories. These photos were added through a process called engraving. Engravings were not actual photos, but interpretations of photos created by an engraver. He would engrave a plate to look somewhat like the photo. This plate was loaded with ink and used to print the likeness on paper.
Carol Szathmari was the very first photojournalist. During the Crimean War in 1853 to 1856, he took photos which were sent to the royal houses in Europe.
In 1880, The Daily Graphic became the first publication to include a picture that was not an engraving. This was the first halftone reproduction of a photograph used for news purposes. -
The 1930s ushered in the Golden Age of photojournalism. Many magazines became popular for their use of photos. Life magazine is a good example of a publication that took photojournalism to a whole new level.
This golden age is one factor that propelled our modern society into the image saturated era we enjoy, today. - Types of photojournalism can be found in newspapers, magazines, websites and on TV news. Photographs used for websites and TV must be converted to a digital format before they can be used. Many magazines and newspapers now scan photos to be used in prints or use digital versions.
- Photojournalism images have become some of the most memorable new clips in history. Images such as the baby being carried by a fireman from the Oklahoma City Bombing, the World Trade Center being hit by airplanes and Migrant Mother by photographer Dorothea Lange are some of the most telling and memorable pieces of journalism from the last century.
