A Modern Day Appreciation On The History Of Photojournalism

[caption id="attachment_3823" align="alignright" width="243" caption="Tim Hetherington recently killed in Libya 4/20/11 (AP Photo/Outpost Films)"][/caption] Photographer: noun. [fuh-tog-ruh-fer] a person who takes photographs, either as a hobby or a profession. That’s the technical definition of the word, however if you asked someone today about photographers most people would respond with paparazzi who stalk celebrities 24/7. Sadly most of these people tend to forget that there is a certain group of photographers who specialize in their craft who have greater things to fear than celebrities pushing them out of the way, let us take a moment to appreciate the Photojournalist. In a world now dominated by real-time results we often overlook the fact material came from someone somewhere who was not just holding up a cell phone camera but from a Photojournalist who braved all kinds of dangers and integrated knowledge of photography and essential journalism. When I say material, I mean images not shot on the green square that are more important than the bride throwing the bouquet, and by danger I mean they could be killed. Photojournalism is a powerful, if not THE most powerful form of journalism. Recently Photojournalist Tim Hetherington was killed (along with photographer Chris Hondros and wounding photographer Guy Martin) while traveling with rebel fighters documenting the current turmoil in Libya. Death of photojournalists (and journalists) in the field is sadly not uncommon, however Hetherington’s untimely death is getting more attention as he was an Academy Award nominee for his documentary Restrepo.[caption id="attachment_3835" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sniper photographed by Joao Silva"][/caption]

Photojournalists have impacted the world with the images they capture. There are many like Hetherington who have faced unspeakable dangers and made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the truth be told and not lost to the sands of time. You can look up almost any historical event and find that it is being re-examined, new evidence has been found, new theories etc. History is a often subject to opinion and inquiry because it is largely based on possible biased material. We have to keep in mind that although not as new as a smart phone and nowhere near as old as the wheel, photography is still relatively new to mankind. The vast majority of historical events and figures are left for us to interpret today based on paintings, stories, and accounts from “eye witnesses.” Tim Hetherington’s death was breaking news moments after it happened, video footage of the area and clips from similar assaults in the area dominating the mainstream media. Of course the photographic technology was never there for effective photojournalism in the past, what more could you do then send someone with a pencil and paper or a canvas and some paint to watch a battle back in the day. Let’s quickly (ok, so it’s not exactly quickly but it IS informative) evaluate the rise of photojournalism through world history shall we? [caption id="attachment_3824" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Roger Fenton's Valley Of The Shadow Of Death from the Crimean War"][/caption]

The first written accounts of a photographic process actually date back to the 13th century, however it was not until 1839 when Louis Daguerre had a practical proven method (no disrespect to Joseph Niépce who is credited with the oldest image capture but that was an 8 hour exposure) which ushered in a new age of documentation as well as journalism, and the leaders of the world were ready to utilize it’s power. Roger Fenton is credited as being the first official war photographer as he was sent by the Prince Albert of Britain to document the Crimean War to help sway the public opinion in what was an unpopular war. With technology that was still in it’s infancy, Fenton took long posed exposures of living soldiers, weaponry, and the landscape where the battle was. This was the only type of material captured as Fenton refused to document dead or injured soldiers as he felt it was not suitable for public eyes. With time the technology of photography and the opinions of what and how it was shot would also change. [caption id="attachment_3830" align="alignleft" width="186" caption="Portrait of Abe Lincoln by Mathew Brady 1860"][/caption]

During the middle of the 19th century photography was something that was for the elite and the elite only. Portraits were for politicians, aristocrats, documentation mostly for science or legal purposes. Even newspapers up until this time would often receive imagery and then make engravings for publication based on them (images would not run in publications until 1880). However to see photographic images on display in galleries was exclusive and not a common event for most people. Although images have been captured from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), the aforementioned Crimean War (1854-1856) and the Indian Rebellion (1857) the entire world got it’s first taste of the power of photojournalism with the American Civil War (1861-1865). The American Civil War is where many say photojournalism was truly born and its power felt. Technology had advanced since Daguerreotypes, (granted by standards today you can’t help but smirk at the thought of a photographer filling up several wagons to make a darkroom on wheels) the photographic process was more refined and easier to accomplish. This war was sparked by issues varying from slavery to states rights which were often verbally debated but never seen, but now photographers were ready to open the eyes of the world. Never before had the world seen actual images of war, and when they did the battlefields were no longer left to the imagination. Soldiers who had died were no longer just names but faces on the lying lifeless on the ground. One of the more prominent photographers from this period was Mathew Brady, who was at the time one of the more successful commercial photographers in America. At his own expense Brady and his photographers began traveling along with the Union army documenting the battle and sending images back home. [caption id="attachment_3839" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A Harvest of Death. Gettysburg, July 1863. Timothy O'Sullivan. "][/caption]

Whereas Roger Fenton would not take images of the wounded or deceased, Brady and his colleagues would and even at times pose dead bodies for the purpose of photographs. Although the journalistic integrity may be in question, the effectiveness of the images certainly are not. On both sides of the war the images would often show the horror and destruction causing sway of the popular opinion. The American Civil War ended like all wars before it, one side was victorious and another vanquished. Stories or bravery and loss, destruction and resurrection, however unlike any way before it the world now had photographs showing that it really happened. The power images played in journalism changed how the news would be reported from then on. No longer would the world rely on cartoon drawings or artists interpretations for events, the Photojournalist was here to stay. Before the American Civil War photography was seen as a scientific achievement and for portraits, after it was an essential part of culture to document the rapidly changing world. Photography had evolved and naturally photojournalists along with it. Publications would often send photographers out on assignments across the globe, for years a working photojournalist provided a predictable polished image to the press, but the world was once again about to change. [caption id="attachment_3836" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Normandy invasion by Robert Capa"][/caption]

Photojournalism really came into what some call its “Golden Age” during the 1930’s - 1950’s and it was as result of being at the right place at the right time. Nearly 80 years after the start of the war that spawned photojournalism the world was faced with another war that would change photojournalism again. Unlike today not everyone carried cameras around with them, the reward to a photojournalist was to be in the right place at the right time no matter what the cost. Such imagery could make or break your career, and WWII provided many opportunities for aspiring photojournalists where both the risks and the rewards had never been higher. In many cases the images were as powerful as the artillery that was fired. [caption id="attachment_3831" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Joe Rosenthal's image depicts five U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman raising the flag during the Battle Of Iwo Jima in World War II"][/caption]

Throughout WWII images captured the horrors and triumphs of war. Everything ranging from Robert Capa’s landings at Normandy, Joe Rosenthal’s image of soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima, to Alfred Eisenstaedt’s V-J Day in Times Square Square the story of the war could be told without any words. Photojournalism was in high gear and after WWII many photographers wanted that kind of opportunity to take award winning images, some even made sure they would always have that opportunity. Photojournalist Robert Capa had photographed the Spanish Civil War, Chinese Resistance, and the recent World War II. Swearing he would never photograph another war Capa co-founded Magnum Photos which was a groundbreaking photographic cooperative that still exists to this day. Many felt Capa he had nothing left to prove after his timeless images from D-Day in 1944, but Capa was a photojournalist who believed in what he did and went back onto the battlefield in Indochina in 1954. After stepping on a land mine Capa was rushed to a field hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival with his camera still in his hands. [caption id="attachment_3833" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Image from Joe Galloway while in the middle of the Battle of La Drang Valley"][/caption]

In the following years Photojournalists became more common on the battlefields, Joe Galloway was one of them. In 1965 the first major battle between the USA and Northern Vietnam, Galloway found himself isolated without protection in the Battle of La Drang. Over the next four days Galloway found himself taking pictures one moment and then defending himself against enemy soldiers the next. Later Galloway, a civilian, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for valor for his actions during the battle as he repeatedly disregarded his own safety to rescue wounded soldiers under fire that he was photographing. In 1968 on a street in Saigon, a photographer named Eddie Adams was covering the Vietnam War for the Associated Press when he took an image that earned him the Pulitzer Prize and changed the world. Like many Photojournalists, Adams described taking the picture as a “reflex picture.” He admitted he was not sure of what exactly the image would look like until the film was developed. Although it is certainly one of the most recognized images in the world and the image Adams is most known for, he wishes it was not. [caption id="attachment_3827" align="aligncenter" width="370" caption="South Vietnamese National Police Chief executes a Viet Cong prisoner with a single pistol shot in the head in Saigon 1968. The photograph, by Eddie Adams, won a Pulitzer prize."][/caption]

“The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them; but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths. What the photograph didn't say was, 'What would you do if you were the general at that time and place on that hot day, and you caught the so-called bad guy after he blew away one, two or three American people?”

-Eddie Adams.

[caption id="attachment_3832" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by Kevin Carter"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3837" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Pulitzer Prize image from Greg Marinovich in 1991"][/caption]

The remorse Adams felt for the General is not uncommon for Photojournalists. Images are often seen and interpreted without the prior information like Adams said. Kevin Carter was a Photojournalist who in 1993 made a trip to Sudan, a high pitch whimper brought to his attention a emaciated little girl who was crawling to the nearby feeding center and a vulture had just landed behind her. Warned by officials not to directly interact with the local population out of fear of spreading disease, Carter kept his distance and took the picture and after 20 minutes scared away the vulture. The image earned Carter the Pulitzer prize, but along with it came the criticism of people asking how he could just take the picture and leave the child. The remorse over not helping the child on top of the other things Carter had seen led him into a deep depression and one year later in 1994 he took his own life. What Photojournalists see, endure, risk, and capture should be regarded as one of the most dangerous occupations in the world. The upcoming film “The Bang Bang Club” (of which Kevin Carter was a member) portrays an accurate representation of what life was like for four South African stationed Photojournalists prior to the election of Nelson Mandela. The “Bang Bang Club” was comprised mainly of Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, and Joao Silva along with several other journalists, and in the film you see how dangerous the profession could be. In Thokoza, Silva watched has his friends Marinovich (another Pultizer Prize Winner as well, … picking up the theme on Photojournalism and why photographers rush to the danger?) and Oosterbroek got shot. Mortally wounded, Silva photographer his dying friend Oosterbroek amongst the chaos. Like Carter there was criticism for Silva’s actions of which he later said,

"If you have the guts to photograph people you don't know, corpses in the street, then if it happens to your own friends, journalists, you have to have the courage to photograph them too." - Joao Silva

[caption id="attachment_3826" align="alignleft" width="346" caption="Greg Marinovich shot while in the background Ken Oosterbroeck is mortally wounded and being photographed by Joao Silva"][/caption]

True to his own word, in October of 2010 while covering the war in Afghanistan Silva stepped on land mine mangling his legs, he photographed a few images of the medics rushing to him before the pain made him drop his camera. "I was a casualty of war. I was trying to capture a bit of my own history as a casualty of war,” Silva later added. Silva has lost both of his legs below the knee as result of the land mine, still recovering in the hospital and having undergone several surgeries, Silva insists he will return to the battlefield as a photojournalist. Photojournalism is an occupation that I do not feel gets nearly enough recognition. For all the stereotypes of photographers being paparazzi you have to remember that there are photographers out there like Tim Hetherington who risk their lives to capture what they see. They are devoted to their craft and in many cases the cause in which they are covering. Next time you are going through the news on TV, the internet, or an editorial in a publication take a moment to appreciate those who were willing to sacrifice everything to bring the world the truth.

[caption id="attachment_3928" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Military Photojournalists circa WWII."][/caption]