Beyond the obvious

Photojournalism is alive and well with photographers producing incredible work in 2012. The selection of work by the World Press Photo Awards show cases some of the best stories and images selected by the judging panel. I highly recommend you browse the website galleries, which are packed with interesting information as well as the images. It's not only about still images. The multimedia work is equally impressive. Here is the winning story , particularly interesting to me as I recently met several people who had migrated to South Africa. They were more fortunate than the people in the story " Into The Shadows " but also faced daily difficulties and challenges. Two ladies originally from Zimbabwe,  Sharon the hairdresser and her friend Blessing who works at a hotel in Cape Town, chat while braiding photographer Magda Indigo's hair. Sharon opened her stall on the Cape Town parade. Life is difficult. She has to pay for the stall as well as for storage of h...

The line between photojournalism, commercial photography and art has become less and less obvious. I am not surprised. Photography is a medium we use to express things and communicate, like a pencil and paper, and it should not be confused with the reason the image is created. Commercial photography is all about selling something and photojournalism is about bearing witness. One photographer with an eye for creating powerful images can bridge these different worlds. Steve McCurry is a great example as you will see in the two videos below. Before any photographer picks up a camera they do need to know why they are taking the picture. That mental focus is just as important as physically focusing the lens. Here Steve shares the stories behind some of his most famous photo journalistic images. 2013 Pirelli Calendar. A totally different mission. I notice he prefers continuous light to flash. Given how poorly photojournalism and humanitarian photography pays, I'm also w...