Photography Changes What We Do - Fred Ritchin

Much of the photojournalism of the last several years has been done by amateurs and has become critical in understanding what is going on (especially in understanding the political situation in Iran where professional journalists have been banned).    People are beginning to prefer diverse sources of news.  We should expect to see hundred of images from amateurs posted online rather than just a few images by professionals.  This change gives the public the task of sorting through these hundreds of unedited photographs to try and make sense of what it is really saying.  We will be less likely to be presented with iconic photographs, but rather images that are made by amateurs who are just capturing information, not creating symbolic images.  The result of all of this is that news and photo editors who have to sort through these hundreds of images to find just one that sums it all up is simplifying and distorting the news on what is going on.  As viewers, we will benefit from having the access to such extensive photographs that have explored the past and can give us context for understanding the present.  There is a need for professional photo-essayists with deep understandings of specific cultures.  Their work will help contextualize the amateur photographs. 

I chose this particular essay because I thought it could help with my final paper, which will be looking at photojournalism of the 60’s and 70’s.  This essay really gave me a deeper understanding of how photojournalism has shifted form then to now.  I really had never considered any of the points that the author was making.  I am a strong believer in that the public should be given all information of all types, unedited.  I think that this allows us to interpret things for ourselves and not just believe what the government or media source is telling us.  However one point that the essay brought up that made me question my belief is that we are now at a time where we will be less likely to encounter iconic photographs of important events and instead have tons of amateur photos that are meant for just capturing information and with no intent for creating symbolic images.  Although my original thought was that we need these masses of photographs, it is hard to accept that the amazing iconic photographs taken from professional photojournalists in the past decades may not be something we will see much more of.  I think it just never crossed my mind that the iconic photographs from photojournalists were made with an artistic intent and not focused just on content.  I hope that professional photojournalists find a way to still create these images for our society even if they are not the images that we rely on for our information source.