Post on photojournalism.

If I was ever asked to define why I do photojournalism in the simplest format I could, my response would be this photo:



Put simply, that is why I do this job.

My philosophy on photojournalism is abstract, and in some places incomplete. But what I do believe is that photojournalism is about taking The Picture. Capital letters, yes. In every moment, at every event, during every single rally, race, game, protest, disaster, birthday, there is an image. It's waiting to be discovered, and it defines everything that the event is. There is a photo, that when the shutter closes, you know is The Picture. And other shots are simply additive.

I also believe that photojournalists create moments for those that are not there. This may seem like a simple idea, perhaps even an obvious one. Those who were there may enjoy the novelty of seeing pictures of an event they were a part of, but the true audience is those people who were not a part of it. The task of a photojournalist is to immerse the viewer in the event, and to prove to the viewer that it was important. In order to do this a photographer must sometimes figuratively, and sometiles literally take a step back from the subject. This is not to say that The Picture isn't a close up of a discarded rose at a vigil, nor is it to say that a wide angle photo of the masses of people holding candles is The Photo. But simply that the photographer cannot know one way or the other unless a step is taken to see the event from the outside.

As a photojournalist I see it as my charge to find The Picture for every event I encounter. And, indeed, to define the world for those who are not here: those not at the event, and on a broader scale those who are yet to come.