Photojournalists have become an essential part of journalism. In photojournalism, the images become the words in a story. They are so powerful and convincing that the pictures tell the stories themselves. In class we talked about James Foley, who was captured and beheaded in Syria. To my understanding, Foley had been covering what life was like in Syria. Foley gave his life to the art of photojournalism. He told stories through his images, and even in the face of danger, he continued to do what he loved. That is passion; although his passion is, somewhat what killed him. The Final Salute is a beautiful example of photojournalism. I googled some of the images we were not able to see in class, and most of them really do bring you to tears. You feel so many different emotions when viewing the images from pain and suffering to hope and love. As hard as they are to look at they are images that need to be seen. I have a group of male friends that were in the Marines; luckily for me they all came home after their first and second tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. For some, that is not the case, and I think it is important that their stories are told. It’s one thing to read their stories, but it’s much more powerful to see them in an image. Certain images, like the one shown below, capture the story without writing it out in words. On November 18, 2011, Wayne Tilcock took this picture of students participating in the “Occupy Movement” at UC Davis in northern California. After being asked to leave, University police pepper sprayed students as they were blocking a path. This image will forever be engrained in my mind. Looking at the image you can almost taste the pepper spray. You feel the pain from the students, and the lack of respect from the officer because of the picture Tilcock took. I’m sure we can, but I don’t think we should do without photojournalism. In James Foleys case he was showing Americans what life was like in Syria. Sure we can turn on the television and watch the news, but he was trying to capture what life is like for average people; people like you and me. Photojournalism is so important because you can tell a story maybe when words cannot. Photojournalism is an important part of journalism because of the simplicity as well as complexity in the images, especially the ones we have viewed in class.
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PaigeCreighton University Archives
December 2017
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