This week one of the most poignant photography-oriented stories to cross my screen comes from the Australian Sydney Morning Herald. Reporter Linda Morris states in the November 12, 2010 edition:
“Neil Burgess stepped forward two months ago to call the death of photojournalism at ’11.12 GMT 1st August 2010. Amen.’ The former head of Network Photographers and Magnum Photos and twice chairman of World Press Photos lamented that ‘we owe it to our children to tell them that the profession of photojournalist no longer exists’.”
Like the proverbial old soldier, the old model of magazine and newspaper photojournalism assignments hasn’t really died; it’s just fading away. Meanwhile dynamic new models for creation and delivery of social and multimedia environments are coming to the fore.
As the story, Tweets, shoots and leaves a golden age, points out, already an app for the IPad only Latitude Magazine, has been developed by a collective of over fifty top-notch photographers, including TCI faculty member Lisa Wiltse The article also highlights the stunning Reportage Festival, a multimedia exhibition of photo essays by some of the world’s leading photographers.
Indeed it seems that the world of the web is a natural fit for this form of storytelling and with the addition of sound and movement can bring life to stories in ways never imagined in the “good old days.” TCI is positioned to offer several courses to develop skills and approaches to visual storytelling. At the core is a solid course to provide a strong foundation: Photojournalism – Telling the Story with a Camera with David Bathgate.
David has produced a powerful multimedia photo essay of his time in Afghanistan. which can be seen here and from a slightly different context as Sides of the Wire/Afghanistan hosted on Photojournale, TCI’s partner in The Emerging Photographer Program
“Since 2002 I have traveled Afghanistan covering its unfolding saga of war and civilian struggle – as a photojournalist and as I see it – for the international press. This is a “brief” of my feelings, impressions and experiences there.” David Bathgate
Let us know what you think. Is photojournalism dead?
