Chapter 9

What Motivates Me?

Below I have created a way of showing you what motivated me within my life. To view the descriptions of the photos in photo stacks be sure to click on the black box in the upper left hand corner. All photos were taken by me (Shannon Hastings), or of me with the help of my fiance Tyler.

What Motivates Photojournalist?

John Moore

Photo of John Moore provided by World Press

          John Moore is an American based photojournalist known for winning the World Press Photo of the Year as YouTube video World Press Photo Content 2019: John Moore on his winning World Press Photo of the Year. Moore talks about how he began photojournalism by taking a photojournalism class just as we are now. He said "he thought the class would be easy and fun" and it turned into a passion, and then a career. He believes in bringing the messages of the world to light all the while he tries "to be careful as possible to not further traumatize people and still be an effective storyteller" he explains in an interview with  Brian Bethune. He finds motivation in letting his photographer spark activism as he states "sometimes, as with the recent image of the child crying, the picture itself can lead to a certain level of activism. Yet that didn't come from the caption, but a picture an take on a life of its own.". Many of Moore's work are of international issues that he uses to create activism around the world exposing the raw truth. He has exposed the issues regarding immigration in both Mexico and Central America. Moore makes sure to emphasize that as a photojournalist "you cant always control the life cycle of photographs" but as a photojournalist you can "be honest with the picture and context used to put the picture into perspective".

Photo by John Moore

Peter Essick

Photo of Peter Essick provided by Lumiere Gallery

            Peter Essick is described by National Geographic as a freelance photojournalist who mainly produces stories about the environment. He began working for National Geographic as a summer intern while he studied photojournalism, he has since found a passion in photographing the environment around the world as he has been fortunate to travel all seven continents searching for compelling images to share with the rest of the world. Some of his most rewarding work as been on "Inner japan, the American wilderness, the carbon cycle, global warming, nuclear waste, and global freshwater". Peter has also released a book called "Our Beautiful, Fragile World" which is his perspective as a photographer over the last 25 years who has been extensively  involved in documenting the resilience of the nature world, as the increasing impact of human activity and expansion. Peter further talks about the motivation behind hes interest in environmental photography and activism as "his father was a science teacher and lover of outdoors", they together would spend a lot of their time outdoors and while outdoors his father took photos of their experiences. His father had then taught these skills to him but it wasn't until high school he fell in love with it. He also goes on to say his motivation comes from timeless images and work that is understated from other photographers. The image below is one that shows Essick's motivation to reveal the human impact of development as well as the enduring power of the land as he states in his about me on his website.

By Peter Essick

Hansel Mieth

Photo by Otto Hagel (Hansel's Husband)

      

            In Hansel's biography from The Library of Congress tells of the German born photojournalist that fell in love with photography and Otto Hagel and chased her dreams all the way to America. Mieth's photography was motivated by idea of fairness that she kept her eyes constantly looking to find the situations people often didn't want to address or believe and bring this injustices to the public's eye. She struggled throughout her career especially with her images and LIFE magazine who she often found was censoring her photos, or opting to pick photos that were less offensive, and even altered photo meanings with captions.  Hansel herself had not all seen the injustice and wasn't afraid to photograph the raw truth she also lived through it herself. When she first came to America she lost her two-year old child to a drunk driver in the migrant labor camp, and wasn't allowed to photograph the conditions of the farm they worked on. Even though when she was hired at the magazine they convinced her they wanted a photographer with different points of view "she battled to publish her stories of social injustice" throughout her career there.

Photo by Hansel Meith

Migrant Children Haul Water. 1932

        When looking at these three photojournalist they all have different styles, are from different eras, and most importantly are motivated by different things in their lives. For instance Hansel is motivated by migrant workers and exposing the terrible conditions. Peter looks at the photographing and bringing to surface the harsh truth of our existence effect on our environment. As for John he looks at photographing border issues in America as well as other countries and provides a transparent look into trials it takes for people to try and live a better life. All these photojournalist expose the harsh realities of the world and believe and bringing forward images that are raw, and show the truth, they all are motivated by the similar idea to let the photo's they take created the activism to make changes versus try to alter captions or images to create that feeling. All three photojournalist share similar motivations in life, I too am motivated by my family and friends, as Hansel was motivated by her husbands mutual love for photographer. I identify strongly as well with Peter who photographs nature and the effects of humans on the earth. I also identify with Xyza Crux Bacani from the article World Focus on domestic helper Xyza Cruz Bacani's photographs, and how her motivations have changed throughout her life. This to me is a key concept because this will happen we find deeper meaning different things as we go through life,  I love being out doors and find it motivating as it helps me clear my mind and ground me as well as take in its beauty to put into perspective that our planet needs us to be its advocate. 

Chapter 8

Photojournalism and Bias

By: Ed Clark

        In the image above by Ed Clark called Going Home I was at first drawn into the man playing the accordion you can tell he is upset but must keep playing through the emotions he is experiencing. After taking in the deep sorrow you feel coming from the man and the details on his accordion my eyes panned out to see the group of people behind him on all sides. All the people around are sad and don't look thrilled with whatever is going on.To me this image shows a deep mourning and loss for many people of all background and races as well as it shows them coming together to share this sad time together. After reading the article and understanding the context of the image it is a very emotional time for the whole nation not just the people depicted in the image and before even knowing that you can feel the sadness through this image. As stated in the article by Ben Cosgrove Mourning FDR: In a Classic Photo, the Face of the Nation's Loss, "It’s tricky, of course — even dangerous — to presume that one person’s emotions can be seen as emblematic of the feelings and thoughts of millions of other people" he is right to say this yet this image has become an image of mourning and sadness for such a difficult time in the U.S history where a president who fought for equality for African American's was killed before he could continue improving our nation.

Principle #1:  Subjects Expression- In the image above although they are not the only individual depicted they are the most upfront and direct within the photo. You can quickly start to feel and see how saddened he is by the glistening of tears that are rolling down his cheeks. His eyes seem just open enough to allowing the constant flow of tears out as he almost looks like he doesn't want to see what is going on.

Principle #2:  Quality of Light- With black and white images it can be difficult to clearly depict all aspects of the photo depending on the lighting. In this image everyone and everything is so beautifully contrasted and no light is to bright taking over an area of the photo or too dark for you to be able to make out the details. The quality of light allows contrast for instance with the man crying who is standing in front of the pillar the lighting allows for us to see every detail of the man in contrast with the very bright pillar behind him.

Principle #3: In and out of focus- The man is so in focus and although the people behind and to the side of him aren't completely blurry or unidentifiable they are not as in focus as he. This for me draws me first into him and to capture his emotions more deeply and as you begin to search the rest of the image you can tell that everyone else also is saddened by the event but he by far is the most effected in this image. 

Photo by: David Rose

Principle #1:  Background compliments- Not typically do I feel myself drawn into a photo with a dark background like such. But the way the grey almost blackish sky in some areas help bring emotion to how dark and terrifying it is to revolt. The way the background helps illuminate the malatov cocktail brings further emotion to the passion and fire that burns within these people to fight for change.

Principle #2:  Texture- Something that immediately drew me into this photo was all the different textures of the clothing and apparatuses that have be make-shifted into war gear. Although hey aren't all distinguished from each other by varying colors, you can see the different types of fabrics, plastics and woods being used to protect the civilians as they fight.

Principle #3:  Rule of Thirds- The photographer David Rose used the angle of the image to create a very distinct layering, from the top to the middle of the image its mostly grayish-black sky with the exception of the flaming malatov cocktail. From the middle down to the bottom is almost a perfect lines across the image of men similarly bunched in size and shape all fighting together. It creates for a separation of each part of the image and to appreciate each part in there own way and how they work together to express the emotions within the image.

Why did I choose the image?: The image above my David Rose shows the raw reality, and bravery it takes to revolt in order to cause change within society. This image was taken by Ross in Ukraine as citizens revolt to create change within their country. I know this as a truth that revolt is common, that it is everyone on every end of the world from the richest countries to the poorest. It serves to remind us that we must fight for what we believe in and when we don't think it's attainable, think again. In the article What are the four ways of knowing by Oliver Kim, they talk about just how we decide and or know what information we read, are told, or see is the truth or false. For me this image is so raw in the aspect of you can tell they are civilians by there clothes and make shift supplies to keep them safe. Within the article The Rules of Photojournalism Are Keeping Us From the Truth by Donald Weber he states that "the most in-demand news photo is that of happenstance — typically dodged, burned, cropped, dramatized and with “extraneous” details within the frame excised" I do agree within a range that yes these images are in demand that they are powerful and that's why they want these shots but sometimes without altering the story I believe you can alter an image, cut things out that aren't necessary to get the same message across and draw people in.  In the article You don't see anyone's face full on but by the way they are bunched and so close protecting each other you know by the emotion it gives you they are fighting passionately for what they believe to be true as Kim states "the sense perception, gives you the ability to perceive tings for yourself". With that also being said not all revolts or acts like these are for good change or cause, we like to think most the time they are but there are instances where people do acts like this out of violence and radicalism then for good change for a majority of the society. This image reminded me of the topic of Yellow Journalism because it is known for "its bold use of headlines, illustrations and bold design elements, and they were more inclined to campaign against powerful interest on behalf of "the people" as stated in the article Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies by W. Joseph Campbell. Although it doesn't contain a bold title or exaggerated as the typical idea of Yellow Journalism to me it shows how media has changed and is more bold today and able to report and take photos of the daunting aspects of the world like the war against governments/ legal leaders and the civilians of these places. 

Chapter 7

The Ethics of Photojournalism

 Throughout the photojournalism society there is a code of ethics that is typically followed with acquiring  images in order to keep the emotions and story's they are sharing with the world as true, unbiased, as possible in order for people to create there own opinions and create knowledge of the events happening around the world. This code of ethics can be found on The National Press Photographers Associations page which goes into detail about the general and more specific rules that should be followed when taken photo-journalistic photographs. Although many of these rules seem straightforward they often more complicated than they seem when you are put in certain circumstances as a photojournalist as seen in many instances throughout time. 
   One in particular that stands out to me since the beginning of this course and in my lifetime is the photos that are taken and depicted of starving children across the globe. For many of us who have a TV in your house you have probably seen at some point the commercials of the skin and bone children flashed across your screen with a number to donate money to help feed them for a few cents of days. These images were captured by photojournalist, now if they aren't allowed by the Code of Ethics standards to give money to people they photograph to keep the integrity and rawness of the images unaltered by monetary earning how does that make you feel? For me it makes it seem almost wrong, that we have these photojournalist going into these areas capturing these poor children, so famished you can see every bone, and we aren't immediately helping them with a few dollars that would likely feed them for a few days. Instead they must take these images, develop them, sell them to publishers in order for organizations to use them to get the story out about these situations in order to receive money to help them. In reality they are still helping but it seems like such a long time especially maybe in times when images weren't taken and uploaded, transferred, or developed in lightning speeds they are in today.

By Kevin Carter

   Above is just one of the many photos that depicts the severity and sadness that comes with poverty stricken third world countries. Keven Carter a late photojournalist took this picture in Sudan as he wanted to show the world the harsh reality of the famine that was going on. This image brought a lot of controversy to the table as it was questioned how ethically is it to take a photo of a child in such deplorable conditions, being eye by a vulture as its prey. In the article The Ethics of Photojournalism by Sebastian they cover the many ethical issues within photojournalism especially this piece of Kevin Carter. Within the article Sebastian gives us a take on how he views the ethics around images such as this one as well as others that create similar uproars within the community. He expands on the dilemma in these images on one hand we cannot expect one photojournalist to bring aid and help all the suffering children in Sudan in this instance but on the other hand we should be reminded that these images serve as the proof and push for political change so that this doesn't continue to happen. Sebastian brings up a valid point is also saying if we censored images like these, didn't take them, or acted like they didn't exist then there would never be change, "censoring every image of human suffering wouldn't suddenly mean the world is a better place", and this is the truth. There are many terrible and great things happening around the world all the time, we may not always be in that area to hear about it in real time, or converse with people who experienced a certain situation but we rely on photojournalist to be our eyes and sometimes ears in these situations. They must capturing the heartbreaking, heartwarming, and emotionally aspects of events in order for the world to understanding what's going on.

     We may not always see and hear the results of the images that are taken and shared by photojournalist but within Sebastian article he also identifies a photojournalist Steve Curry who has taken some of the best photojournalist images as well as been criticized for his unethical use of Photoshop to some of his images. The image below was taken and used to start an organization for Afghan Children and has raised more than 1 Million dollars in order to help aid this population. The image can be justified in that it not only brought the story of these children to the world it also sparked change, that has no benefited these children to this day. This at the end of the day is what it is all about, reaching out to the world, inspiring, teaching, and helping one another make the world a better place.

By Steve Curry

    I have created a simple graphic of what ethics means to me. I used the word ethics as my base and began to use it to think of what ethics I follow on a daily basis. As a profession who works in the medical field ethics is huge, every specimen I receive, every result I report out or doctor I talked to must be with the the values I have listed below. Aside from my profession use of my code of ethics I truly live these within my personal and daily life. They may seem typically values a person would claim to follow but they are the very basis of what I believe it is to be compassionate, understanding, and productive member in society. Although many of our values are easily said they are not easily done, we are not perfect but we must strive to be better each day, for us, for our family, friends, and for the future of our society.

Photo by Shannon Hastings