>Edwin wrote:
>Artistic value is not at the top of the list for photojournalism.
>Pal's REPLY:
>. However, my issue was
>that
> when artistic factors supposedly are indeed put at the forefront for
>judging
> images lasting values beyond their immediate context, then one should
>expect artistic values to be present in the imges.
Artistic factors are almost never put at the forefront for judging images
in photojournalistic contests. The judging criteria almost always put
"news value" and "human impact" up at the top and "artistic value" down
at the bottom. Immediate context (i.e. newsworthyness) is usually
very important in judging.
Years later, however, when the context is forgotten or dimmed in the
memory, the photo-J shots which still hold up are the ones which either
have great universal human connection ("migrant mother" or "the critic")
or are high in artistic value. Once their news value "expires" they
only communicate in universals. Since they are usually shot for the
moment and not for the ages, many of them do indeed come off poorly
down the road. Magazine photography is in my experience often stronger
here because it tends to go a bit more in depth and capture more insights
on the human condition than newspaper photography which often captures
only the news. Good photographers can manage both.
>My issue is the pretentiosness of much of this type of photography,
>not to bash the whole field and their masters.
The field gets very little respect, which may have something to do with
it. Certainly there are very few photojournalists who realistically are
producing work that can be evaluated meaningfully in the same context as
many other forms of art. I'd suggest Sebastio Salgado, but I'd also
suggest that he is very arty for a journalist, and most of us couldn't get
away with shooting like that on the job!
>The difference between this and a picture of a butterfly or a sunset
> is that they don't pretend to be something else.
A fair argument. It might also explain why "serious" photographers so
often brush off photos which are simply beautiful, such as butterflies
and sunsets.
Personally, I shoot truth for a living and beauty for fun.
DJE
