In my Creative Experimental Exercise I wanted to take photos of something that I was interested in. I decided to take photos of my dog because I'm not really good at taking any other photos. These are photos taken in my house, outside, and on the driveway. They were at different points in the day so the lighting may not be very good. When I was trying to capture that perfect image, I realized how hard it would be to be a photojournalist. I love taking photos of my dog but most of the time, they don't come out the way I want them to. The photos are from my iPhone so the quality isn't great but it's the only thing I had at the time. I used the app Clashot to upload the images of my dog. I did not know about the possibilities of uploading images as an individual and having the opportunity to sell them.
Photojournalism has turned out to be more than I thought. Before I took the class I just thought it was taking a photo and writing about it. Now I know that there are so many stories behind the photos. The photojournalists put so much time, effort, and emotion into their photos. Photojournalism is profession that requires specific skills that makes it hard for anyone to do. Photojournalists take many risks, many of them losing their lives from taking risks to get an image that will change people's perspectives. I think it is very important to know where photojournalism came from and how it has evolved so much since the profession began. The equipment that photojournalists had to use made it so much harder for them to take the photos that we take today. I think it is important for us to know where all off the famous photos came from and the history of those. The prestigious photojournalists helped to inspire and influence photojournalists today.
As Lyndsey said many women photojournalists look to Lange for inspiration because of the amazing story her photos told. They also look to her because she overcame so much in her life. Devonte Dillon's photojournalist profile really made me appreciate the photojournalist Dith Pran and all of his photos. He says
"As far as Dith Pran’s motivations, he simply sought to get the message across of the massacre that was taken place." It made me appreciate the photos he took when I realized what he went through to take them. The photos don't just represent the history of the event, but also the history of Pran's life.
I still have the opinion that photos cannot change the world, but change people's perspective of the world. These images have an impact on how people think because of what they are seeing. There are some specific images that I really thought changed my perspective on the world. I really liked the image from outer space that helped people understand what the earth looked like. Some other images that really changed my perspective were the ones below. These photos changed my perspective on what was happening at the time. All we saw when 9/11 happened was sadness and sorrow but when the photo of the firemen raising the flag came out, it gave so many people the sense of hope and comfort. I thought that Ron Haviv really was an inspiration to many photojournalists because of the decisions he made in his life. I think he changed people's perspectives on photojournalist's dedication.
Yezenia mentioned that he made the decision to not settle down to continue his work. This really changed his entire life as a photojournalist but also changed other people's through his amazing photography. The other photo of the African-American man drinking out a different water fountain labeled "colored". I realize that I did not live through these times, but that photo really opened my eyes to how bad segregation was during that time.
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Photo by: Elliott Erwitt
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I really had an Ah-ha moment when I had to do the blog post about whether photos change the world. At first I thought that they directly changed the world, but as I researched I thought differently. I still believe that photos change perspectives that people have on the world but I still do not believe that they have a direct effect. I think that it helped me understand photojournalism more in-depth. I realized why photojournalists risk their lives every day to take a great photo. I have a passion for animals and photographing them. This created a connection between this exercise because all of these photojournalists have a passion and that is to show the world the truth. I like to show off my dog and it is something I really enjoy.
