The Public Voice

Why is journalism, and in particular photojournalism, integral to modern day society?  Conley and Lamble say this:

“Journalism is an honourable profession as old as democracy and as new as the most recent news story posted online.  Its academic pedigree or methodology is shared with history, law and literature.  Journalists are historians, recording a community’s best and worst moments.  They give a town, city, state, nation-sometimes humanity-a sense of self.  Journalism is society’s rendezvous with expression, marshalling community debate and creating its forum.  It asks analyses, explains and ponders.  Sometimes it is provocative.  Often it is irrelevant-prodding and poking the soft underbellies of the pompous and self-important.  Collectively, the media represents a metaphoric package of alarm bells.  It is a forum for ideas and opinions.  It is a mirror reflecting society back to itself.”- David Conley and Stephen Lamble (2009).

Photojournalism is important because it tells a story that words may not necessarily be able to.  “A still photograph, unlike a moving image, freezes the action and the captured momentary image can sum up the complete flow of events (Darr, 2007).  Photojournalists can capture the most amazing, traumatising, heart-wrenching and uplifting moments in time that will be documented and become part of history.  There are many examples of these types of images, from famine to terror to documenting natural disasters.  There are many examples, my favourite can be seen here by Pultizer Prize winner Kevin Carter inSudan. 

Kenneth Irby explains in his blog post that “the content of a picture, not just its artistic quality, conveys powerful meaning and emotion to readers.”

The Personal Voice

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a photojournalist.  I don’t know whether it was because there was a stigma around the profession that it was “cool” or that I have always had a creative mind and photography was a medium that I took a fancy to.  When I was fifteen I started my first job working at the local supermarket and put my first digital SLR camera on lay-by, this took me nearly a year to pay off.  I have always been the girl with the camera (my friends use to get annoyed with me, carrying around my camera wherever I went, but as years went on they have appreciated the memories I have captured).  I have not so much always been focused on capturing beautiful images, but capturing the beauty of moments.

All throughout school I had the dream of being a photojournalist, I had a very romantic view of the profession, that I would be standing in the front row of sold-out concerts and travelling the world with my camera.  When I left high school I went on a different path and decided I wanted to be a nurse.  After a year of studying nursing I realised that the science and maths that was involved with the degree was not enjoyable and I craved freedom, expression and creativity.  I then went to study journalism and have never looked back, I now work in the industry and although the romanticism of the profession has well been lost, the passion and desire to capture moments and report them to the community has not. 

Representing the Self

I have chosen this image to represent myself on my blog because I feel that is an accurate representation of who I am as a person.  I look as if I am thinking deeply or lost in thought, which is what I am constantly doing.  I like the way that I have used “instagram” to give the image an effect that looks older and classic.  I wouldn’t say that it represents my profession or interests but what I strive to be internally as a person.  It was taken on my iPhone by myself on a sunny Saturday morning.  The copyright belongs to myself, so I can use it in any way I please.    

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