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Samantha Luscher

Professor Brian Graves

LANG 120

19 October 2018

Photojournalism’s Societal Effects

Photojournalism is a medium unlike any other. It constructs images that bring up

questions in a much different way that normal writing does. While cultural influences are crucial

for the development of society, the issue at hand that I will be discussing lies in how strong these

photojournalists grasp the most varied audience they possibly can in order to inform the greatest

amount of people. I found myself reading over multiple articles and struggling with answering

the “Who is the audience?” question. This is because the audience of bigger photojournalism

magazines is a more generalized public. There isn’t one group in society that doesn’t deserve to

know the information that photojournalists cover. Restricting their work to a certain group isn’t

helpful for achieving their purpose of informing their broadest audiences. Writers who depict in

generalities write with interest and passion for each subject, explain little bias, and include

storytelling methods in a mix with basic information to inform those who aren’t familiar with the

subject. This method draws in the most people. For this project I decided to study three different

articles and how each photojournalist contributes to capturing the audience’s attention in their

writing. I found that the majority of photojournalism includes rhetoric in the photojournalist’s

shown passion and physical article structure.

Photojournalism and its effects have been around for nearly a hundred years. Modern

photojournalism began in German in 1925 with the invention of the first 35mm camera. Life
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magazine started its publications in November of 1936 and still exists today. Photojournalists Commented [1]: good background information

have been seen to influence the public’s opinions on the information covered in magazines, with

the heavily criticized content of war photographers like Mathew Brady during the Civil War, and

Eugene Smith in World War II. Today, Life magazine, National Geographic, and many others

are responsible for informing the public about cultural, social, and a countless variety of other

issues using their effective medium of photography.

Modern photojournalism has become a melting pot of cultural explorations being brought

across the globe to our fingertips through photos and documented impressions of places that the

audience is unfamiliar with. It has changed from simple landscapes and candids to exploratory

panoramics and even videography. Many people misconceive photojournalism for journalism.

Photojournalism is a magnified step built off of journalism. Journalism is print alone. This brings

me to the next point. Good photography requires no explanation (Passolas); as a whole, your

writing should reflect your photography, not explain it. If you’re doing your job right as a

photojournalist, you aren’t making your writing the core. Your photography should be the core.

Good photography will grab the most attention, and writing can either help or hurt this.

In order to generalize their audience, photojournalists need to figure out what kind of

magazine or medium they want to write for. They must generalize themselves in order to reach

the maximum audience outreach. You can see a photojournalist’s identified interests in what he

or she choose to write about, and how he or she writes about it. In an interview with Professor

Don Diefenbach in the Mass Communications program at UNCA, I was given the advice to find

what I’m passionate about writing and make it my own. You must generalize yourself as a writer

and find out what things you can write about best and are most passionate about.
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You can see the passion that journalist Eugenie Clark has for his subject in the article

“Whale Sharks: Gentle Monsters of the Deep.” He writes eager descriptions of the whale shark,

giving a brief history throughout his written experiences of this large fish. Clark does a suitable

job to present research on whale sharks by diving with and photographing them. He also

incorporates longer paragraphs similar to that of a narrative, split apart by going over research

and by presenting his experiences with the whale sharks. This type of photojournalism is

effective in leaving his writing in a fiction-like means, so that it is open to interpretation and

engages the audience. After all, who doesn’t love a story over lecture-like presentations of facts?

Another important factor in this outreach is the structure of which the information is

provided in the article. In “THE BACKSTORY,” photojournalist Nina Strochlic uses a prose that

includes “backbone” information so that the reader can develop their own opinion off of the

material provided (Strochlic). It’s more unbiased than biased; she gives the facts and leaves the

open opportunity to create your own interpretation of it. Similar to this, Cristiàn Saucedo writes

in “Path of the Puma” about his time with a former puma hunter whose experiences with the

animal changed his opinion about his profession, as well as a wildlife biologist who had written a

book on the subject. Saucedo shares in his article the opinions of two wildlife researchers on the

ethics of national parks and their cumulative changes. He begins with background information on

both men, then transitions into their opinions. He gives enough facts about the issue at hand

while remaining neutral about the subject at hand.

Upon deciding my career interest, I looked into my love for photography. I love capturing

moments on my camera, but not in the ways most photographers do. Don’t get me wrong; I

enjoy taking portraits-- and getting money for taking portraits-- but I am much more into

exploring the candid photo and using the spontaneity of life to capture life and what is beautiful
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about it. This is where photojournalism catches my eye; National Geographic is undoubtedly one

of the most well-known magazines for photojournalism. A beautiful magazine filled with

pictures that have been criticized for capturing beauty, emotion, and controversialism, Nat Geo

has a heavy influence that mere writing could not. Photojournalism informs the public by using

natural beauty and revealing images.

It has the power to influence. More than text itself, photography can explain much more

than writing alone. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words. Photojournalism calls important

issues to attention using the power of the photograph that can evoke emotions no other medium

is able to provide for its audience. Commented [2]: I really enjoyed this. As I have said
before I am not the best writer or reader so I def think
you should get someone more experienced to read this
but I really enjoyed it and thought it flowed well.

Works Cited
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Diefenbach, Don. Personal interview. 24 Sept. 2018.

Clark, Eugenie. "Whale Sharks, Gentle Monsters of the Deep." National Geographic Dec. 1992:

Issue 6 Vol. 182, pp. 120-139. ProQuest. Web. 12 Oct. 2018.

Collins, Ross. “A Brief History of Photography and Photojournalism.” NDSU Resources, North

Dakota State University,

www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~rcollins/242photojournalism/historyofphotography.html.

Passolas, Felipe. “How to Tell a Story in a Single Image – Tips from a Photojournalist.” Digital

Photography School, DPS,

https://digital-photography-school.com/telling-story-single-image-tips-photojournalist/.

Saucedo, Cristiàn. “Path of the Puma.” Patagonia, Patagonia Inc., 18 Oct. 2018,

www.patagonia.com/blog/2018/10/path-of-the-puma/.

Strochlic, Nina. “THE BACKSTORY.” National Geographic May 2018: 14. ProQuest. Web. 4

Oct. 2018.