Working in the Digital Age

The advent of drones has helped the photojournalism industry in a huge way. Drones themselves are a major technological advancement in that they can easily get to places where normal helicopters, or people, cannot, while also being a lot cheaper than normal helicopters. However, what really helped drones stake their claim in the 21st century came in the form of attaching a camera to the underside of a drone with the capability of being able to control the camera individually, along with the drone itself. What this essentially created was a camera with wings.

Before the introduction of drones, it was possible to suspend a camera over a movie set, or over a political rally, or whatever the scenario may be that a producer or photojournalist wanted to be able to cover from a different angle that presented more of a bird's eye view. Most people that are familiar with digital photography technology these days know that most high-end movie sets or newspaper agencies will have cranes that are specifically designed to lift cameras high over everyone's head in order to give a different angle to a president's speech or high-speed car chase in an action movie.

As Jason Boche states in his video Drone Photojournalism Interview Extended Cut NAB 2014, how drones will replace cranes in terms of photographing or recording from the air: "If you're a broadcaster you know the logistics involved in some big wide shot. It usually involves a crane, it invovles a much larger crew, and it limits how quickly and how readily you can deploy to some remote area. It's definitely going to make journalist's lives easier. It's very difficult for a crane to be deployed purely for a camera." 

Photo by: Zachary Bednarczyk

Above is a photograph my friend, Zachary Bednarczyk, took with his drone above the American International College main campus quad. He captioned the photo eye in the sky, which is a perfect caption for what this picture represents.

The process of using a drone to photograph or videotape various scenarios is quite simple, especially these days. My friend Zachary simply went out and bought a $500 drone known as a Phantom, it is one of the lowest end models available to the public. Attached to the bottom of his Phantom is a 10.4 megapixel camera that came with the purchase of the Phantom, which he can operate through is phone by way of an app. The app allows him to view what the camera is seeing, as well as to obviously take pictures and even record videos. The app will also tell him the altitude the drone is flying at, what direction on a compass it is facing, and it even allows him to give a command to the drone which will cause it to automatically fly back to him. To do this the drone simply hovers directly overheard at whatever altitude it is at, then slowly lowers itself until it touches the ground next to the operator which it locate using GPS.

One great advantage that the digital age photography and drones uses is the ability to upload the captured images to the internet, which can either be as the photographs or recording are taking place, or it can be done later after editing and other sorts of creative measures have been applied.

In this video, Working in the Digital Age Part 2, Professor John Nordell talks about the advantage of being able to transmit digital photography to the internet and how it helped move the industry forward entirely: "You'd be at a hockey game, with your digital camera and the wireless transmitter, sitting right next to you you could have this little portable WiFi hot-spot with your cell phone plugged into it. And so you take a picture and the transmitter would take the digital image and send it to the cell phone, which was connected to the WiFi hot-spot and it would send the image back to the newspaper."

Comparing this photographic digital technology to the technology used during the Civil War period, when Mathew Brady was taking his now-famous pictures of the Civil War, which was the wet plate collodion process. The wet plate collodion process, to put it short, was a very long-winded process in which the exposure time was ten times as long as it is today when taking digital photography, it involved harsh chemicals in order to produce the proper result, it involved a plate glass which had to be just about 100 per cent free of defects and ridges otherwise the photograph could be compromised, and this all had to be done in a dark room because the light could also ruin the result. Furthermore, the wet plate process could only take pictures in black and white and not color. While black and white pictures have a pleasing aesthetic of their own, color is often times more desirable with today's standards. 

One of the biggest issues with the wet plate collodion process is the need for the dark room, which is required otherwise light will ruin the exposed film. In this video, The Wet Plate Collodion Process, Quinn Jacobson describe how he bought a van specifically to be able to use it as a dark room: "Last year, I bought a 1990 Dodge Caravan, and put a dark room in the back of it. This has allowed to me take wet plate on the road and do portraits outside of the studio. While this is exciting, it presents a whole new set of challenges for me, and makes me appreciate the photographers of the nineteenth century even more. The biggest challenge I have is the technical aspects of the process, I have no running water and it's much more difficult to control the light outside of my studio."

Photo by: Will Dunniway

Image Source: http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/photographers/will-dunniway-a-man-with-a-mission

To further highlight the amount of difficulty that was uplifted off the shoulders of photographers when the technology came along that allowed for images to be exposed and processed all within the camera itself, Professor John Nordell shows in his video, Before There Were Pixels - Part 2, the change by way of photograph and camera: "...imagine making the shift from out there with your van, your big wagon, to using a camera like this... they use very small rolls of 35mm film, so with one roll of film you could take 24 or perhaps 36 pictures."

In conclusion, the advent of the digital age, and pixels, helped photojournalists and the photojournalism industry as a whole be able to document, whether by picture or by video, instantly and be able upload the content instantly as well.

The Art of Photojournalism

 

Photo by: Mathew Brady

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/4153089339/in/album-72157624163230215/

Year Created: Circa 1863

Use of Lines:

Mathew Brady uses lines in order to direct the viewers attention from one part, or third, of the image to another. The first line starts with the bridge going across the river, the second line is the column of cavalry leading from the bridge toward the road, being the third line, which leads to the man with his foot on the post at the bottom-right of the photograph. The two lines, one being the road and the other being the bridge, lead the viewers attention to the cavalry, which is the main subject matter for the photograph.

Keep it Simple:

Although there are a lot of people and horses cluttered in the photograph, Mathew Brady still kept the picture simple. The line of cavalry in the image are in a tight formation, so despite the large mass of people and horses, it does not have a cluttered feel to it. Also, the vast expanse of space within the entire photo helps to keep the attention of the viewers in various locations which helps take away from any possible cluttering in the photograph.

Depth of Field:

The main subject, that being the cavalry, is perfectly in focus, while the rest of the land is a bit blurred. Which is the desired effect Mathew Brady was looking to achieve. It helps show the journey that this cavalry unit was making and the scale of the operation taking place in the image. The photograph uses great depth of field, with the group in front, but the big hills in the background helping to direct attention to not only the cavalry but the great background as well.

Why did I choose this image?

I chose image because as soon as I saw it I was quickly taken aback by the sheer volume of people and horses being moved across a great distance, and the logistics that had to go into making this operation a reality. And the beautiful view in the background also helped add to already great view created by the large group of people and beast of burden that were making their way through not the easiest of terrain.

Photo by: Robert Capa

Image Source: http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2K7O3R14Y2E4&IT=ThumbImage01_VForm&CT=Album

Year Created: 1943

Rule of Thirds:

For this picture the subject is on the left side of the picture, which was the intention of the photographer, Robert Capa.The American corps. member is on the right side. The rule of thirds helps guide the viewer through the photograph, starting with the gruesome injury on the prisoner's face, and moving to the right to the medic treating him.

Use of Shadows:

Robert Capa used shadows in this picture to make sure that the viewer's attention was directed towards the prisoner of war first. The medic's face is hidden by shadows cast by his helmet and the sun being behind him.The prisoner of war's face was directly lit up by the sun in order to help reveal his injuries.

Black and White:


When this photo was taken, in July, 1943, black and white imagery was the only thing available at the time. The black and white helps hide the face of the American medic, which directs attention to the wounded prisoner of war. The lack of color means that there are no distractions to take away from the impact of the gruesome injury sustained by the prisoner.


Why did I choose this image?


I chose this image because of the immediate impact that the gruesome injury displayed has as it jumps out instantly at viewers. Often times when we think about our enemies in war we forget that they too are still people, despite the cause that is driving their war machine. The photograph is like a perfect analogy, when we hate another individual or group of people so much we forget that they too bleed just like the rest of us. This image helps bring back into perspective the atrocities of war and the fact that neither side escapes unscathed.

Photo by: Steve McCurry

Image Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/23/world/steve-mccurry-afghan-girl-photo/

Year Created: 1984



Subject's Expression:


The subject has a very serious expression, which they were posing specifically for the camera. The subject made sure to really expose her eyes, as they are the main subject. The subject was also posing for the people around the Steve McCurry, as there was a crowd surrounding the subject and McCurry and due to the strict male-female interaction rules in the Middle East.


In or Out of Focus:


The focus of the image is set on the subject, which is soft. The background behind the subject is out of focus and rough. The differences in focus between the subject and what's behind her is to help guide the viewers attention to the subject. Also, the green background helps match her eyes.


Abstraction:


The photo is representational of the fact that the environment the girl is living in are not the cleanest, as she has dust on her face. The subject matter is discernible due to the religious clothing that the subject is wearing, and the thin layer of dust caked onto her face. The feelings created by this image are that of wanting to aid the girl due to her people having been  caught up in a war and poverty.


Why did I choose this image?


I chose this image because it is one of the most iconic images of the 21st century. The girl's bright penetrating green eyes really help to dive deep into the soul of the people who view this image. The photograph helped bring volunteer aid to Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan were very proud, due to the girl being poor yet showing great pride, enthusiasm, and self-belief.

 

Pre-Digital Photographic Technology

Wet plate collodion photography is a very old form of taking photographs that originates around the time of the 1850's when Frederick Scott Archer first published details about the wet plate collodion process. The wet plate collodion process essentially had a stranglehold on the photography industry for the next thirty years until the introduction of the dry plate photography method in the 1880's. The method used before wet plate collodion, which was known as the Daguerreotype process, was that with wet plate the image taken could be viewed correctly and not laterally reversed as it appeared with the Daguerreotype process. Furthermore, another huge advantage this process had over the Daguerreotype was that the process was much quicker, resulting in the customer being able to obtain their finished photograph within minutes. However, this new process was dangerous and took practice to master due to all the chemicals involved.

The wet plate collodion process was quite lengthy and dangerous, it involved having a piece of either clear or black glass, which the black glass was usually used for positives and the clear glass was usually used for negatives. Then the next step is deburring the glass, which was a required step to make it less likely that the photographer would be cut especially with the presence of all the chemicals being used. Then the glass needs to be cleaned, in order to stop the collodion from peeling off the glass. Following the cleaning is the process where the collodion is poured onto the glass plate, it is known as "flowing the plate", which is one of the harder steps due to the technique requiring practice to master; this helps reveal any defects, imperfections, or ridges on the plate glass. The next step is to sensitize the plate, in which the plate glass is submerged in silver nitrate for three to four minutes. Exposing the plate is the next step, which can take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes; the exposure process can vary in time depending on the amount of light, and what the photographer is hoping to achieve. Next, the plate is developed, a fifteen to twenty second process, but the photographer has to be experienced because otherwise the plate can be either under developed or under developed. Finally, the plate glass must be fixed. In this process the plate is fixed usually by potassium cyanide in which the image goes from being a bluish negative to a warm positive ambrotype. The danger of this process comes from the sharp edges that glass can yield, as well as the various chemicals used to process the image in order to obtain the final result.    

As Quinn Jacobson puts it in his video The Wet Plate Collodion Process: "Collodion photography is both difficult and somewhat dangerous to do." 

There were two types of processes being tinkered with at the time of the wet plate collodion process, one being called ambrotype which was the first one, and the other being called Ferrotype, or Tinytype as it was known by in slang terms at the time, being the second process to be discovered. An ambrotype is simply put, an under exposed negative that is held against a dark background appears as a positive image. The transition from ambrotype to Ferrotype came in the 1850's when a photographer instead of using a black backed glass plate as a support for a positive image, used a thin shiny black lacquered iron sheet. This allowed for a much cheaper and more robust product to be produced, thus leading to the Ferrotype process. Even though the Ferrotype process produces laterally reversed images, which the ambrotype does not, it still won out in the end due to the cheapness of the process and product, and the fact that Ferrotypes could be fitted into albums and shipped in envelopes a lot easier than the ambrotypes could be.

Photo by: Frank Albert Rinehart

Image Source: http://anthonylukephotography.blogspot.com/2012/02/fascinating-18th-century-portraits-of.html

Despite the major differences in the processes between wet plate collodion and the type of technology that is used today in terms of photography, that technology being known as digital photography, the essence has always been the same. Photography, and photojournalism, have always been about taking pictures and basically telling a story with that picture, which is where the word photojournalism gets its name from. Although the methodology between the past and present has changed dramatically in terms of how those story-telling images, pictures, and photographs are taken, the idea and principle behind it all has remained the same.

Looking at the word photograph and breaking it down shows the origination of photojournalism as Professor John Nordell explains the root of the word in his video Before There Were Pixels - Part 1: "From photos, light, and graphos, writing delineation, or painting."

One of the biggest changes for the technology behind taking pictures was the discovery of digital cameras, which could take multiple pictures, process, and save them all without having to go through the whole wet plate process so that way photographers did not have to rely on just getting one good picture but could capture a whole number of images. With digital photography, came another invention for cameras called a motor drive. This allowed for fast-paced events to be captured frame by frame, which was never before possible due to the slow picture-taking process of cameras that preceded the motor drive attachment.  

As Professor John Nordell describes the function of a motor drive in his video Before There Were Pixels - Part 2: "One thing that was rather important, you can see on the bottom of this camera there's this extra area, and this was called a motor drive. And with that, instead of just taking a single picture, you could, when I hold the shutter button down, it takes a series of pictures rapidly up to maybe ten frames per second, or ten images per second."

By the time World War Two rolled around, the motor drive had not been invented yet, and neither had reliable ways of taking and saving images that had been captured been developed. Robert Capa, a Hungarian-born photojournalist renowned for his wartime photographs that he took, especially those he took on June 6, 1944, AKA D-Day. Robert Capa once stated a line that became famous and synonymous for photographers and photojournalists alike:"If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." So Robert Capa, on D-Day sharing a landing craft, landed with the troops on Omaha Beach with his camera in order to take pictures of the action. Capa's first issue was obviously surviving the onslaught that met him and the troops on the beach, then his second issue was capturing the images and being able to correctly process them so that way they could actually be viewed. Today digital photography is certainly taken for granted, the ease of which photographs are able to be taken and saved was something that could only be desired back in Capa's day.

Of the 106 frames and three rolls that Robert Capa exposed on June 6, 1944, only ten were useful: "A darkroom technician was almost as anxious to see the invasion images as Capa himself. In his haste, the technician dried the film too quickly. The excess heat melted the emulsion on all but 10 of the frames. Those that remained were blurred, surreal shots, which succinctly conveyed the chaos and confusion of the day."

Photo by: Patrick Agit

This is a photograph that I took with the camera on my phone, it is of a lounge area at my internship. The vastness in difference in technology between wet plate collodion and digital photography means that in order to capture this image all I had to do was point my phone's camera in the direction of the desired setting and click the electronic shutter button on my phone's screen. Had I been using the wet plate collodion process I would have to stand there for anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes waiting for the image to be processed. Then I would have to take the exposed frame and go through the whole wet plate collodion process simply for one photograph. Also, digital photography allows for instant viewing of the captured image, allowing the photographer to decide if they are satisfied with the result or take more pictures in order to achieve the desired outcome. On a further note, the digital camera used to capture this image also has the capability of capturing a video and taking photographic images as the video is being recorded at the same time, something which the photographers and photojournalists of the nineteenth century would never have though possible simply because the technology during that time was no where near what is possible today. 





Do Photographs Change the World?

Can photography change the world? I believe that yes it can. The past century has been full of photographs that have helped spark movements, ignite revolutions to overthrow oppressive governments, and helped direct aid towards the relief for millions of people who have been stricken by famine, disease, and natural disasters. There are so many pictures that have helped change the world for the better that everyone has a different picture that comes their mind when they are asked the question can photography change the world. If I had to choose a picture that had a profound effect on my life it would have to be the picture of Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk who lit himself on fire in the middle of a Saigon intersection to show protest against the South Vietnamese Ngô Đình Diệm administration, which was persecuting Buddhists all across the country.

Photo by: Malcolm Browne

Image Source: http://www.naked-web.co.uk/2010/10/top-10-photographs-that-changed-the-world/

I can't remember the first time I saw this photo, but it shocked me deeply. It is one of the few pictures that made me instantly look up the photograph in order to learn more about where it came from and what was the story behind it. I could scarcely imagine the kind of oppression that the Buddhists were facing that caused them to go so far as to light themselves on fire and sit there until they perished. This photograph, for me, really put into perspective the power of oppression and how far people will go in order to show resistance against it.

For human beings planet Earth has always been our home, and very people can say that they have completely left Earth and gone into outer space, let alone can say that they have been on the Moon. William Anders picture taken  from the moon during the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon on December 24th, 1968. Once the image came back to Earth and it was broadcasted and printed in news papers all around the world, people were mesmerized by the beauty of it and what the planet we all call home looked like from a never-before seen perspective. As a kid, like everyone else, I've always been astounded by the idea of space and the possibility of traveling through it. Despite the vastness of space, simply traveling to the Moon for the first time, which compared to the rest of space the distance from the Earth to the Moon pales in comparison, captivated the imagination of everyone involved in the project and everyone around the globe.

 Photo by: William Anders

Image Source: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1249.html

The argument over whether words or photographs change history more than the other is a deep and highly thought-provoking debate. The issue, when it comes to the side of words changing history, is that words can only describe so much, there is not infinite space in which enough words can be put in order to describe the situation. As the saying goes, a picture's worth a thousand words. It's not physically possible to put a thousand words in the space that a photograph takes, so the words are not able to put into detail as much as the photograph can. Life Magazine created a book to tackle the very question do photographs change the world. For this book they created a list of 100 photographs that contained emotion-driven imagery. For the second picture in line-up they used a picture of three dead American soldiers on a beach in Papua New Guinea. Their explanation for the addition of this photo is as follows:

"“Why print this picture, anyway, of three American boys dead upon an alien shore?” Among the reasons: “words are never enough . . . words do not exist to make us see, or know, or feel what it is like, what actually happens.”"

Furthermore, pictures often bring a sense of humanity to a topic. It is much easier to feel a sense of compassion towards an issue when we are able to vividly the harmful effects of that situation.

Jonathan Klein of Getty Images said during his Ted Talk: "Images often push us to question our core beliefs and our responsibilities to each other."

Despite the First Amendment granting freedom of the press or media, there is still a lack of free movement within the world of journalism. One specific example of this is the aforementioned ban on the video or photographical documentation of the caskets of soldiers returning home who were killed in combat which was uplifted in 2009 by President Barrack Obama. Due to the restrictions placed on professional and career photojournalists, citizen journalists are becoming more and more common these days, especially since the technology in cell phone cameras these days is becoming more advanced. A great example of how citizen journalists who use their cell phones and then social media as their outlets to spread their photographs and videos is all the chaos that happened in Ferguson, Missouri. Almost all of the popular footage that came out of the Michael Brown slaying and the riots that ensued was due to video footage and photographs taken by citizens using their cell phones.

A quote from The Guardian on the topic of the Ferguson situation perfectly describes the relationship social media and cell phones are forming with the field of photojournalism: "In Ferguson, Missouri this week, the public has turned the notion of “see something, say something” back on the state, via a digital tool of enormous power: online pictures and video."

Finally, the media shown on TV, what is read in the news papers, and what is published online are controlled by just six companies. The six companies in question are GE, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS. These six companies control 90% of the news outlets today in America. 

A statistic given by Business Insider:  "232 media executives control the information diet of 277 million Americans - That's 1 media exec to 850,000 subscribers"

Unfortunately, media consolidation is a huge issue, in 1983 media was regulated by fifty companies, and now in 2011 it's down to just six. The revenue for these six corporations in 2010 was $275.9 billion dollars. Media consolidation is a big reason why citizen journalism is really starting to take off, because people are able to take back control of what goes across the news feed of people across the United States.

Introduction to the History of Photojournalism

What is photojournalism? A photojournalist is essentially a story-teller, which they use photographs to tell stories. However, the stories they are telling are not made up, but are based on real events happening around the world and are using pictures and photographs to report on such events. For example, all of the footage that has been shown on the various news agencies on TV covering all the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade is all news that was recorded by photojournalists.

Here is a definition of what a photojournalist is as described by Professor John Nordell in his video “What is Photojournalism”: “So with photojournalists it's combining these two aspects of being an excellent and artistic photographer along with the journalistic skills and journalistic know-how of being in the right place at the right time.”

A photojournalist’s most used tool of the trade is their camera; it is how they earn their name. But their job is not done once they have clicked the button on their camera to take a picture. Photojournalists have to also be able to edit the pictures they have taken and be able to post them online, and send them across the world to news agencies that are willing to pay for their work. Furthermore, a photojournalist is also a historian in a sense, because they are actively recording history as it is happening in front of their eyes and lenses.

Photojournalists above all else have to be fearless, persistent, and be in the line of fire to make sure that they are capturing the real sense of what is going on in order to captivate the audience. If the photojournalist is two miles away from the event using a high-powered lens in order to capture the action, the sense of danger that the people that are being effected by the fighting would not be realized by the viewers and readers. Photojournalists must also have an ability to be close to the action and people physically, they must also remain distant emotionally, and that is not always easy when you are documenting people through your lens that may be suffering emotionally and/or physically but you have to continue photographing the situation and remain professional.


Photo by: John Moore
Image Source: https://www.thinktankphoto.com/collections/photojournalism

A quote by Jason Henske describes the difficulty faced by photojournalists in his video “Jason Henske – Photojournalist”: You’re not distant, and frequently it’s difficult to separate your feelings as a friend, and your feelings as a photographer.”

The history of photojournalism dates back to the Civil War when Mathew Brady, who lived from 1823 to 1896, documented the Civil War through the use of photography. In fact, much of the pictures and imagery depicting the Civil War found in text books and historical articles used today are based upon the work of Mathew Brady. So why study the history of photojournalism? Well the answer to that question is essentially the same answer to the question why study history? Studying history is crucial because as the saying goes, we study history so that we do not repeat the same mistakes again. Although history predates photojournalism by thousands of years, photojournalism has quickly staked out a foothold in history and has helped to continue the documentation of history. The study of history has remained the same throughout the entirety of its existence, but the introduction of photojournalism has allowed people to now have an added sense of being able understand history in that they can now visualize it.


Photo by: Unknown
Image Source: http://www.historyguy.com/civilwar/brady_mathew.html

In closing, a great quote by James Nachtwey from a video excerpt of his movie War Photographer, is a perfect analogy for why photography, and photojournalism as a result is a great and powerful endeavor: “For me the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke a sense of humanity. “If war is an attempt to negate humanity, then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war. And if it’s used well, it can be powerful ingredient in the antidote to war.”