Photojournalists

[still_learning]

Hello!

Getting to the point, I thought that photojournalists are photographers who take photos for newspapers, etc and to be a successful one, you need to be able to create a creative and interesting image quickly. However, do photojournalists tend to ever write their own articles for magazines or anything? I'm studying photography and arranged to photograph a woman today in her studio, where she paints ceramic plates. She said a photographer emailed her not long ago, asking if she could photograph her and her work and wanted to find out more about the ceramic artist. She said ''oh i can't remember what she said she was - a photo writer or something?'' i thought she meant photojournalist but she said that the woman writes her own articles to go along with her photos and tries to get them published in magazines (not the high end ones, more local type magazines)

So does that still count as a photojournalist? If not, what's the title these people give themselves?
Thanks in advance. I'm a bit confused.

 

[still_learning]

Seems like people are as confused as me... ?

 

[CA_]

Generally, no. They do not. I was a journalism major in college for a while, I ran our college paper, and even in the professional level, photo journalists do not write their own material. Journalism is an art within writing that may be a niche, but has limitless room for mastery. It can be straight to the point, or it can be done with with strokes of verbose and dazzling story-telling. Photo journalism is equally as complex, because aside from the aspects of capturing an engaging story, some of the lengths these photo journalists must go to capture these images regularly put them in harm and danger (not all, but it can).

So to answer your question, no, they generally do not. And, this is only because each requires such specialized skills for that task, that editors tend to let people stick to what they're good at (and qualified to do). But hey, rules are meant to be broken and things change. There's always room for firsts!

 

[imagemaker46]

Basically it's shooting pictures to tell a story, same as a writer uses words to tell a story.

 

[texkam]

the woman writes her own articles to go along with her photos and tries to get them published in magazines (not the high end ones, more local type magazines)

Title is different than talent. People will call themselves anything to make a buck. She was probably an average writer and even worse photographer looking to get something published. You don't have to do much to have something of moderate interest picked up by these local magazines. The Dallas Morning News for instance, publishes both in print and online, a section called NeighborsGo where regular folks can submit stories along with pics.

 

[rexbobcat]

Depends on who you work for and what kind of work you do. If a story requires a lot of inquiry, sources, and investigative journalism then typically, from my experience, photographers don't write the stories.

However, if it is an editorial piece it can be much easier for a PJ to write a story to go along with the photos.

It all depends on the story and who you work for.

I'm also a part of the mentality that photos should tell a story, but cut lines are essential to give a photo informational context.

 

[imagemaker46]

I've done both shoot and write the text for some magazine stories, but typically the text isn't very long, basically just filling in and some background on the photographs

 

[rexbobcat]

I've done both shoot and write the text for some magazine stories, but typically the text isn't very long, basically just filling in and some background on the photographs

That's what I mean. It's still helpful though, otherwise a photo of so and so doing such and such could be just anyone depending on the story.

Sometimes it's not as helpful, but better safe than sorry lol

 

[o hey tyler]

I'm also a part of the mentality that photos should tell a story, but cut lines are essential to give a photo informational context.

This. I worked for a newspaper for a few years, both as the graphic designer and photographer. We always tried to have cut lines to go with a story if possible.

 

[still_learning]

Thanks for the replies everyone! It's interesting to hear everyone's opinions on this...
There is an arts festival on in the town (well, in august) i was at today and the woman i was talking about said she would introduce me to some artists and i could take photos, interview them and try and get magazines interested so i just wanted an idea of how likely this may be. It'll be good experience, anyway.

Thanks again

 

[imagemaker46]

If you look back at the great photo magazines, Life magazine as an example, they had photo stories that required very little text, the photos themselves told the story.

 

[amethyst201190]

Generally, no. They do not. I was a journalism major in college for a while, I ran our college paper, and even in the professional level, photo journalists do not write their own material. Journalism is an art within writing that may be a niche, but has limitless room for mastery. It can be straight to the point, or it can be done with with strokes of verbose and dazzling story-telling. Photo journalism is equally as complex, because aside from the aspects of capturing an engaging story, some of the lengths these photo journalists must go to capture these images regularly put them in harm and danger (not all, but it can).

So to answer your question, no, they generally do not. And, this is only because each requires such specialized skills for that task, that editors tend to let people stick to what they're good at (and qualified to do). But hey, rules are meant to be broken and things change. There's always room for firsts!

Just a follow up question on this post, if the answer is no or they are different from each other, then what are the same things that the photojournalist and photo writer does? Also, what are the things that differ from their fields? I just wanted to clarify this things up.. Thanks a lot!

 

[curtyoungblood]

In the classic sense, the writer is going to use words to tell a story, while the photojournalist is going to use photographs to tell the same story. They are usually working together (I use this term very loosely, as in they somehow work together without any communication beyond a brief sentence in a photo assignment), to tell the same story. The combined output makes the most interesting story for a reader.

The paradigm for photojournalists and for journalists of all kinds is radically changing. There are very few photog jobs left at newspapers, although the ones that are left aren't really asked to write. They are expected to do video. This is a double edged sword, because a lot of time it means you can get deeper into a story for the video without relying on the writer for words. However, video is a unique skill that is difficult to do well.

The holy grail for most news outlets right now is a writer who can take pictures, although I never see people interested in photogs who can write. So, if you're interested in pursuing this as a career, or a side-job for some extra cash, LEARN TO WRITE. If you can send someone a decent article with decent photos, you're WAY ahead of the game, especially for smaller pubs.

 

[Patrice]

The local small town newspapers in my area, both french and english, equip their reporters with a basic DSLR with video, a kit lens, a pad and pencil, maybe a small voice recorder and send them on their merry way.

 

[Patrice]

LEARN TO WRITE.

I wholeheartedly agree, regardless of the field of interest.