My first attempts at photojournalism

[darin3200]

I put an explanation, 10 pics, and captions in a PDF. Mostly because it is much easier and quicker to put together. The PDF is about 1.5 MB. I know isn't great so please don't be too harsh but feedback is appreciated.

PDF

A question I am having is 'why'? Should I need a purpose and a reason to take pictures or can I just go around taking pictures? I know that is a little broad but anything will be helpful.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

A question I am having is 'why'? Should I need a purpose and a reason to take pictures or can I just go around taking pictures? I know that is a little broad but anything will be helpful.

Photography is a means of communication. In order to be effective it is necessary to know what it is that you are trying to communicate and your reasons for doing it.
If you do not know what it is that you are trying to say then at best what you say is muddled and confused. At worst you say essentialy nothing.
You can use your photography as a means of self-exploration but if you don't wish to follow that route but you want them to still have meaning then I suggest you give yourself a brief or project. Or get someone else to set you one.
By deciding what it is that you are trying to say, you not only give yourself a direction in which to explore, but you give yourself a bench mark that you can use to gauge your success.


By the way, we always have a reason for taking the pictures that we do. It is just that most people haven't conciously figured out what that reason is.

 

[Artemis]

I find a reason always helps.

Nice pics btw, unfortunatly my school is horrible, every other school seems beautiful in comparison...

 

[LizM]

Why have a purpose? Well, photojournalism is telling a story without words for the most part. Taking a photo without purpose would be like trying to write a book without a plot. Now, that being said, it doesn't have to be some grand "I have to change the world" type purpose. Just a "this is reality" purpose fits for the most part. But always remember what you are trying to "tell". For example, the photo about the football players signing each other. WHY? From your perspective, all we see is (presumably) a guy holding up his shirt for another guy. We have only your words to tell us what was going on. Try a different angle. Show us what is being written. If we can see that then a short caption or no caption is all that is needed. Without seeing what is going on then the photo becomes irrelevant and the text is the only story.

Best of luck and keep it up!!!

 

[craig]

Personally high school life is one of the harder subjects to photograph. It is an uncomfortable period. You did a good job on the timeline. The photos in the pdf took on a voyeur feel. I did not feel that I was there. Kind of like someone looking in. Major no no in journalism. The viewer needs to be interested and fast. May be more faces and tighter shots. The possibilities are limitless so explore them all.

Any one can take pictures. When you make a conscious decision to capture a moment in time that is when it becomes a photograph. Those two sentences are cute and all, but it makes you realize the depth of journalism and art in general. The challenge lies in conveying what you are feeling on film. I do not think you can do that by just "going around and taking pictures."

 

[terri]

A question I am having is 'why'? Should I need a purpose and a reason to take pictures or can I just go around taking pictures? I know that is a little broad but anything will be helpful.

I can't say much that hasn't been said up there so well.

I can add, though, that you are still very young, so it's okay if you don't yet have an idea of what you want your images to say. In that regard, I think it's fine to "just go around and take pictures". Do it alot, with several cameras, formats, film, digital.

Then review all your work every few months. Try to think if it says anything to you at that point, or if, indeed, you can tell you were just going around taking pictures. It's always valuable to do this, with as objective an eye towards your stuff as you can muster.

We all have to discover our own voice, our own intent. Give yourself a break and allow yourself time to find out what yours might be.

 

[JC1220]

A question I am having is 'why'? Should I need a purpose and a reason to take pictures or can I just go around taking pictures? I know that is a little broad but anything will be helpful.

It seems what you are asking here is more geared towards photography as art or fine art, which is completely different then photography for journalism purposes. The "purpose and reason" are more internal and particular to you and your experience around those photographs. "can I just go around taking pictures?" Well, yes, it is a free country... However, it is important to be aware of what you are photographing and I don't mean in a subject specific manor, you must be aware of space and relationships, something which is extremely relavent but I would go on for paragraphs...

Photography, and we are talking about photography or a photograph as art here as your question asks, can't be explained in words; one should never try to "explain" a photograph. Photography is a visual medium.

BUT, you SHOULD be able to talk about your work in general terms such as what concerns and thoughts you have that go into making your photograpahs. There is no need for this to be lengthy or filled with artsy jargon. For example "My love and desire of the outdoors inspires my photographs," is just fine and simple. Photography is about feeling, say what you feel and forget the notion that art should be about ideas. It ,art, should be backed by intelligence, certainly, but not be about ideas.

"The visual arts are involved with feeling. If one has ideas to express the proper medium is language." - the great art historian, Sir Herbert Read

 

[chocolate soup]

would you say that it is easy to be a ohtographer when you first start off.

 

[eydryan]

what i admire is that you actually managed to make such a project. but keep the captions short and maybe include technical details: it gives a more professional look to your work and also helps the onlooker to understand effects in it better.

what i do not understand is what the school could really do to you if you started to take pics around the campus.read the school rules and regulations and see because if the school only calls your parents it's riskfree. watch out for bullies though, get a mate or two to back you up in case the situation arises.

and about the purpouse it is not necessary, and it can in some cases hinder your creativity. however, it can also get you out of a rut... depends on the way you work...

 

[darin3200]

Hertz- Thanks for the clarificaition. Maybe I'm just trying to get too indepth of a region and should just to stick to something simple, like documenting what happens in a school

Artemis- I feel the same way with my school when I go to really nice schools for competitions

LizM- Yeah, I really don't need some great purpose, maybe just keep it simple for for

Craig- Thanks for the advice and critiques on the photos. I've sort of changed up the style of my project now and I'm taking my photos in a different way.

terri- I hope to continue this project and post updates every couple weeks, I'm also using digital so I can shoot a lot for cheap

JC1220- Yeah, I guess i was just thinking to hard about intent and purpose

eyedran- thanks. I don't think our school would have a problem with that but most of my cameras are bulky and it works better to go digital inside the school

 

[eydryan]

why do people always make this mistake? the nick is eydryan not eyedran, and it's pronounced adrian

 

[darin3200]

sorry about that eydryan

 

['Daniel']

The story in photojournalism is always neccesary before the photo. Photojournalism documents or tells a story. It's like writig a novel and having not tohugh of the plot. Obviously your story can mutate and even change totally but it will be linked to yuor original concept, you need a starting point.

As to you work. I don't really get the whole keeping your camera hidden. I suppose you needed it like that to keep people looking natural? I think that the shots are photographs of a school. They show what the school looks like with pupils in. I think that the only picture that really was successful was teh one with the girl at lunch. Technically it could have been improved with a different camera but thats by the by. it gave an insight ino how a certain person acts n the school and told a little bit of her story. The others didn't really give the feel of telling us anythnig about individual pupils or the groups as a whole. I'd say that the football one had potential but there is somwthing wrong. If i figure it out I'll say.

 

[eydryan]

eh, don't worry about it darin

what i believe is that you can either make people look natural by them not seeing you (and that can happen if they're in their own little world when you take it) or by actually making them feel at ease with you.

 

[thebeginning]

what, no pictures of high school chics?? dude, come on. i say redo it, and put alot more babes in it this time. chop chop.





great job dude, going through with this. I've started doing a little photojournalism on the side (basically nothing) for fun. it's very interesting. that pic of the girl alone listening to music and working is great (of course, it's a girl ).