Photojournalists take the pictures. Viewers create the story. - April 13, 2020
"I did my job"

Presented virtually for the first time ever, the World Press Photo Foundation delivered its 63rd annual awards this week from Amsterdam. As usual, the top awards went to stunning examples of photojournalism. This craft continues to offer a shining light for us all.

News photos capture perfect moments, again - September 23, 2019
not to be ignored

Swedish photojournalist Adam Karls Johansson took a photo in August 2018 of a small girl sitting between a pink backpack and a handwritten sign on the ground before a very large building. The building was the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm, the sign said “skolestrejke for klimatet,” the girl was then 15 year old Greta Thunberg. It was Greta Thunberg’s first school strike for climate. "She sat alone, and the adults just walked past her. It was as if they did not notice her at all,“ recalled Mr. Johansson, quoted by journalisten.no (September 26). “Along with some other journalists, I tried to sell the story of the schoolgirl who was striking for climate to a Swedish magazine, but they weren’t interested.”

News media awards emotion, this year it's rage - February 13, 2017
"the world we live in"

Photojournalism exists, thrives, on emotional capture, a millisecond of desire, strength, weakness, joy, despair. And, too, there is anger. The eye of the photojournalist proclaims, betrays and affirms. And, too, it confesses.

f/16 And Be There - August 23, 2016
Images are evermore important to the media sphere. About 100 million are posted to Instagram each day. The vast majority are personal, not newsworthy except for the volume. Across all platforms images are the big attention-getter, shaping news editors decisions proportionally. Images are emotion-laden, including, sometimes, compassion.

Tabloid drops photos, photojournalists complain - September 7, 2015
cynical or not

Germany’s biggest selling tabloid Bild appeared (Tuesday September 8) entirely without photos in the online and print editions, advertising excepted. The action was to protest reader complaints about publication of photos last week of Turkish police officer Mehmet Ciplak carrying the lifeless body of 3 year-old refugee Aylan Kurdi, explained editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann. “To change the world needs to see the truth.”

Letting others see what they see, photojournalism touches - August 31, 2015
the whole world is watching

Photojournalist Nilüfer Demir was on duty, pool photographer accompanying other Turkish journalists reporting on refugees attempting to across the Aegean Sea from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos and from there, hopefully, escape the tempast that is Syria for safety. She has seen many refugees, many little inflatable boats. She saw on the beach early Wednesday morning (September 2) a tiny lifeless human being and took the picture.

Migrant photos shock, draw complaints, meetings scheduled - August 31, 2015
proceeds donated

The horrific discovery and subsequent worldwide reporting of people who had suffered ghastly demise inside a sealed van near the Austria-Hungary border raised further outrage over the crime and its victims. News media during that final week of summer holidays raced to the scene and were, by most accounts, thoroughly sickened, a view expressed over and over. Explicit descriptions were chilling, as they should have been.