Tutorial #7

Almost Every story ever written is accompanied by a photograph which compliments the journalist's writing. Pictures have been used to tell stories since the time of the cavemen, who drew pictures on cave walls depicting hunts and tribal rituals. In contemporary times, however, a photojournalist uses not only a digital camera but photographic skills to portray emotion and tell a story. However, it is not as simple as point and click. There are many aspects that need to be taken into account such as angle, focus, outline, lighting and the subject of the photo.
For example, if I, as a journalist, chose to do a story on the Black Saturday Bushfires, I would choose to take a photo such as this one:

Instead of:

This is because the first one shows emotion in the damage surrounding the family. They stand in the middle of a wreckage assumed to be what's left of their home. The photo is also visually appealing. This does not mean that the reader will enjoy seeing such damage, it means that it is easy to look at, the family is in the centre surrounded by the colourless wreckage, which borders the photo.
The second photo isn't as visually appealing. Yes, it does show the actual fire that destroyed homes, but the layout isn't as good as the first. This photo is clearly divided into thirds, with one extremely bright and colourful strip cutting horizontally through the middle. The fire is cut off by the roof so the image is also incomplete.
One example of famous photojournalism is Kevin Carter's photo of a vulture stalking a small child in Africa in 1993. Whilst there is much argument over the morals of the photo, the picture itself would be great to use in a story.


 
There is much emotion that can be provoked by this photo. Also, the focus of the reader is drawn to the vulture despite the fact that the child is in the foreground. There is a story told through this picture, even without words to accompany it.
Yet another aspect which has to be taken into account when choosing a photo to accompany the story is what the readers will expect to see. With a lot of stories the cliche and predictable picture will work a lot better than a picture that will make the reader ask, "Why is that picture there?" And example used in class was a story about a gum cleaning machine. The cliche picture of gum stretching between a shoe and the ground was chosen to be better than a picture of the cleaning machine.