From Photographer to Photojournalist


Verdict: It put the journalism back in photojournalism.

By Lindsay Moore

Photo Manager


For me, the College Media Advisers convention was a success. Being new to the multifaceted world of journalism, there is a lot for me to learn. Up until now, I have considered myself a photographer, not a photojournalist. Key word: journalist. I had no idea what it takes to be a photojournalist and how important the journalist part of the word is. From the sessions I attended, I learned what it means to be a photojournalist as well as some helpful tips on professional life.


Yes, I admit it. Not every session I went to was the greatest. There were some that I had a hard time keeping my eyes open in, and a couple I waited unsuccessfully for something useful to write down. But all and all there were a few sessions that made a lasting impression on me.


“Why does this photo have six columns?” focused on image appropriateness and what it means to be a news photograph vs. a photo illustration. Steve Snyder from Houston Baptist University was informative and funny. He kept me interested as I tried to jot down as much information as possible. Looking back at my notes, I have realized how different contemporary photography is from photojournalism. When photography was first created, people used photographs to document the world around them. A photograph was seen as fact with no distortion to reality. Since post modernism, this ideal has changed. Especially with the digital format, photographers are now editing, cropping, cutting, pasting, layering and saturating everything. This manipulation is fine - for a photo illustration. But photojournalism - more specifically, news photography – has maintained the value of “tell it like it is.” Snyder explained that a news photographer’s “goal is to make the photograph look as it really is.”


One of the most important things that Snyder pointed out is that as photographers we cannot depend on the digital format. Photoshop can be our biggest crutch and our worst enemy. We could have the best photograph, with the most interesting subject and composition, but if we rely on Photoshop to fix our technical mistakes, we are asking for a death sentence. Having a background in film and art photography has made an easier transition for me from photographer to photojournalist. Although occasionally I am guilty of saying to myself “oh, I will just Photoshop that later,” I still hold on to those early 20th century technical and aesthetic values. Only now I am not only a photographer, I’m also a journalist.