|
August 24, 2009
Photojournalism means the photographers can tell the story themselves in pictures, and a couple of decades ago there were places where they could publish those photos. In the print world, many, if not most, of those places have since disappeared. So how is visual storytelling taking place in a digital world?
Gary Sauer-Thompson, street art, Adelaide CBD, 2009
David Jolly in the New York Times says:
Newspapers and magazines are cutting back sharply on picture budgets or going out of business altogether, and television stations have cut back on news coverage in favor of less-costly fare. Pictures and video snapped by amateurs on cellphones are posted to Web sites minutes after events have occurred. Photographers trying to make a living from shooting the news call it a crisis.
The great benefit of not using pictures is that you don't need photographers! Do we need visual story telling?
Gary Sauer-Thompson, street art, Adelaide CBD, 2009
Jolly adds that both Getty Images and Corbis--the two major stock photo companies--recently:
rose to prominence by buying up hundreds of image archives and making them available for sale online. While they do continue to sponsor photojournalism — Getty Images employs 130 photographers around the world — the companies are, in effect, services for managing digital property rights.
In effect photographers need to create their own stories in a digital world. What then, after they have been published on the web--on Fickr or a weblog?
|
