A Reading on Digital Still Photography

In a class like Digital Communications, it is important to learn about all aspects of media, including where they came from and how they can effectively tell a story. While we have recently studied journalism in the form of writing, until now we have yet to get to the true importance of images in media, or photojournalism. I personally love taking pictures of the things that happen in my life. What is more special than being able to capture a distinct moment in time, right? I found this reading to be very valuable and am now hungry for more information on images. Most of all, I can't wait to take food photographs for this blog, Uncovering the Upstate.

Like many things in life, you have to know where something comes from to understand why it is important and useful. By painting a picture of the early days of photography, ones that included whole camera wagons and hundreds of glass plates, the article allowed the reader to see how far we have come. It is important to know that technology often limits and defines what we can do as far as presenting stories in the media. Of course with all the equipment once required to take a simple photograph, it wasn't easy to take motion shots such as those for sports. As cameras developed and being more portable, images such as sports photographs and action shots became more popular. Much in the same way, DV (digital video) photojournalism, or platypus journalism, is seeping into media outlets because digital video imaging is the technology that is hot now. This can easily be compared to the ways in which internet is shaping the way we communicate, with blogging becoming increasingly popular.

One of the main points I got from the article is that no matter what form the images are being captured in, they are crucial to the ways in which we as humans tell stories. Often times, an image can express so much more than words can on their own, the reason why newspapers and magazines, both print and online, accompany their articles with photographs or videos. I especially enjoyed the quote from the article that "photojournalism tells stories about life". I found this to be strongly supported by the example of photographer Lewis Hines using images of children, such as the image below, to fight child labor abuse. Without an image, a face, a look to associate with the stories of child labor abuse, the story could be easily overlooked due to emotional detachment. In what ways do you think images support traditional writing? Are you more apt to find emotional connection to an image or an article?