The Importance of

Professional Photojournalism
By: Lexi Shy
News II: Advanced Journalism

Former Providence Mayor, Buddy Cianci at a press conference at City Hall when he
threw in the towel saying he would resign after his conviction on federal conspiracy
charges in 2002. (Mary Murphy, The Providence Journal)

BARRINGTON, R.I. __ Mary Murphys 1850s New England home in Rhode

Islands East Bay., is picturesque; once through the door you step onto
the original wooden floors, which creak softly as you make your way
around the living room.
The front door is flanked by a 15-foot long wall of books ranging from
novels on the Holocaust and the Nazis to different collections of artists
work such as douard Manet and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Family and friend photographs in antique frames fill the shelves as well,
while small cards with simple phrases adorn the outlines of the built in
wooden bookcase.
One reads: One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.
The wooden floors are only visible through the narrow spaces left
between two oriental rugs, scattered newspapers from years past and
prints of photographs from Murphys trip to the Soviet Union.
One clear space remains in the large sun-filled room; that is on the worn
blue cloth couch that sits just in front of a hand carved marble fireplace.
The table, which is just as worn, is cluttered with bills, letters and of
course:
more newspapers.
This picturesque 1850s New England houses image is only further
enhanced by its owner retired photojournalist Mary Murphy. Dressed in
her yard work clothes from working in her garden early that Sunday
morning, she puts on her slippers and sinks into the worn couch and
begins to go through the newspapers that lie around her.
I [keep newspapers I] guess to keep track of my work, to remember;
especially before there were digital archives, said Murphy. I have
always really liked the way photos used to be displayed in newspapers.
For the past 33 years she has worked at The Providence Journal as a
photojournalist, her experience and notoriety shows as she flips through
the yellowing newsprint pointing out which photographs are hers, most
of which are front page or just inside in the A-section.
The way photos are so important to telling a good complete story I
think is sadly disappearing as newspapers shrink in size and staffs get
smaller, said Murphy. I like how photos were integrated into the layout
of the story.

As she thumbs through more papers, some dated from as early as 1989,
there are pages full of photographs accompanied by written copy that
could not be easily found in todays newspapers. This layout shows just
how important even something as simple as the photograph layout
aspect of photojournalism was when the craft was at its peak.
Now when you go online to look at photos that go with a story, there is
no real design aspect: just a linear presentation in a slide show, said
Murphy.
After what seems like a lifetime, Murphy retired from The Providence
Journal earlier this year.
I took a buyout at the end of last January. Professionally the buyout
came at a good time because things were rapidly changing at the
Journal, said Murphy. Photographs weren't being used well in the
paper. The commitment to good photojournalism had changed for the
worse. It was just the right time.
With 33 years of work in her portfolio Murphy has some incredible
stories to share. Her favorite types of photographs to take are the ones
where she can share the story of someone who otherwise wouldnt be
heard.
I enjoy showing people the things you cannot imagine, said Murphy.
Some of the stories she has covered under this premise are, the story of
Rhode Islands Episcopal Bishop, Geralyn Wolf and her month of
homelessness, and the stories of Gina Gauvin and Joe Kinan victims of
the 2003 Station Nightclub Fire.
Mary Murphy is not alone, according to the United States Department of
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics there are 50,070 professional
photographers in the United States as of 2015 with 6,940 working in
Newspapers, Radio, Television Broadcasting, Periodicals, Books, and
Directory Publishers.
Unfortunately, jobs for professional photojournalists in newspapers is
declining due to the technological advances that companies such as
Apple has made with the cameras in iPhones. These are giving everyone
the chance to be a photographer.
In fact recently the Chicago Sun-Times, which is the eighth largest paper
in the United States by circulation, laid off all of their staff
photographers in 2013. According to the Chicago Tribune the Sun-Times
was planning to use freelance photographers to capture their
multimedia content.

The importance of having staff photographers at newspapers was never

more apparent than when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for
the first time in 108 years. The two largest newspapers in Chicago, the
Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times had two very different
photographs of the iconic celebration.
The Tribune came out with an amazing up close shot, captured by staff
photographer Brian Cassella, as the players are jumping and celebrating
together while the Sun-Times who with an unaccredited photographer
captured a more distant shot of the celebration from the backside of the
players.
This difference in photograph quality for such an iconic moment in sport

history shows just how much professional staff photojournalists such as

Mary Murphy and Brian Cassella contribute a great aspect to
newspapers.

The Story Behind The Photographs

To some, 136 years may seem like forever, but in news photography, it
is only a quick shutter snap. People take these photographs for granted,
and have no idea that they are truly just the babies of a very long line of
journalistic history.
The 1820s was when it all began, and photography finally broke through
in the newspaper arena. Initially there was no way for these
photographs to be directly reproduced, so The Daily Graphic, the first
illustrated newspaper in the Unites States based in New York City, used
a set of artists to recreate the original photograph. That was during an
era of appreciation and excitement over just the idea speaking to the
world through pictures.
Eventually, the halftone printing process ran with the idea and
monumentally increased the use of photographs in newsprint. This
process finally gave photographers a voice. Providing a method to print
in full tonal range allowed reporters the ability to use photography to
truly reach readers. Although this process may seem archaic in todays
world, it revolutionized the world of photojournalism. Halftone printing
utilizes a screen along with an ordered pattern of dots to assist in
bringing out the full tonalities within a photograph.
By using this pattern of dots, the darkest areas of a photograph were
consistent of close knit large dots, and in contrast, the lightest areas of
the photographs were consistent of smaller dots with large spaces inbetween. In order to produce these different dots, the original
photograph was copied through a screen during the engraving process.
Both quality of paper and fineness of the screen were variables in the
production ofa the finest of details. Although computers have widely
taken the place of individual engravers, newspapers have managed to
keep the process of dots to create tonalities alive by printing through an
85-dots-per-inch (dpi) screen.
Before the existence of the halftone printing process, newspapers, The
Daily Graphic included, had to use a set of personal source experts
which was not limited to engravers, but included artists as well, in order
to include the value of the photograph with their news stories. The
process was tedious, but dedicated photographers went out to various
events, took around 12 pictures per shoot (limited amount due to use of
fragile glass negatives), developed their photographs which would then
be passed on to an artist to create a line-drawn rendering of each and
every photograph.
Although the artists were employed by the newspapers and were highly
skilled, line-drawn rendering contained its own set of problems. Some
artists were unable to stay unbiased and would improve upon the

original picture, thus hindering the truthful portrayal of an event;

unfortunately, these drawings were still utilized and published in the
newspapers.
The process continued once the artist was complete with the task of
line-drawing, and the photograph would then pass on to an engraver
who would use a zinc plate to reproduce the image. It didnt stop there,
though. The zinc plate would then be printed on a rotary press before
the photograph could be released for the public eye. This entire process
of line-drawn renderings was ever so tedious and time-consuming that it
would take several days to complete before the newspaper could even
consider going to press with a story accompanied alongside a
photograph. Because of the time taken for the entire process, by the
time a story/photograph combination was ready to go to print, they
would be considered somewhat obsolete in the news world.
This paved the way for the halftone printing process in 1870 that would
change the world of photojournalism. As the process grew and spread,
The Daily Graphic printed their first and truest to form photograph on
March 3, 1880. Stephen H. Horgan, the papers engraver, created a
photograph of a shantytown in New York City through the use of the
halftone printing process, and broke ground for future generations in the
field of photojournalism.
Although this groundbreaking process and idea was huge in the news
world, it was not widely accepted. The Daily Graphic came and went,
and 13 years after this monumental moment of the first photograph in
the print news, newspapers such as New York Herald still opposed the
notion of using any photographs through the halftone process. They
were stuck in the era of line-drawn renderings due to two major fears.
The first fear was that the widespread use of any pictures, including
line drawings, would lower the papers dignity(420), and the second
was a skepticism among publishers that halftone would make their
readers lament the substitution of mechanically produced photographs
for the artistry of hand drawn pictures(420) as well as the fact that
artists and engravers were well-established members of the newspaper
staff(420).
Even though publishers fears were understandable, even if a bit
misguided, photography was a newfound artistry, and its use up until
this time had been very limited. Once photographs became more
socially acceptable, photojournalism was allowed to breathe and
flourish. Jimmy Hare is but one of many photographers recognized for
his pioneering journey into the vast unknown of photojournalism.
An immigrant to the United States in 1889, London-born Jimmy Hare
was a photographer who covered everything from the wreckage of the
U.S. Battleship Maine in Havana Harbor during the Spanish-American
War in 1898 to the closing days of World War I in Europe(421).

Hare was a pioneer in his style and contribution to news events around
the world. In a time when many photographers carried around bulky
equipment that was time consuming to set up and limited the places to
shoot, Hares lightweight equipment with a folding camera loaded with a
roll of film, gave him the advantage of mobility over his competitors
who were shooting with fragile glass plates and awkward 5x7
Graflexes(421).
His understanding that mobility is key to capturing the perfect
newsworthy photographs to complement the articles in the paper
allowed him access to and credit for being the first to photograph an
airplane in flight. Hare captured the Wright brothers experiments of
flight in 1908, and was the model of determination and expertise by
showing the world what it meant to be an accomplished and successful
photojournalist. With his folding camera, he was able to secretly snap
two legendary photographs of the Wright brothers airborne plane. This
would end the rumors that the brothers had not truly flown in 1903 as
they claimed. These photographs, as well as many others produced by
Hare, created the standard for photojournalists and laid the cornerstone
for acknowledgement of photography as reliable and newsworthy
resource.
Women Enter the Field in Major Ways
While the field of photojournalism was beginning to truly expand and
grow in the world of news, women were not usually seen as the key
components. Photojournalism was truly male dominated to the outside
eye, but female photojournalists have been active since 1900.
Documenting early educational methods in white, African-American,
and Native American schools, Frances Benjamin Johnston broke free of
the constraints placed on women during the early times of news and
photography convergence (422).
In 1895, George Grantham Bains The Bain News Service adopted
Johnston as its photography representative in Washington, D.C.. Bains
business was quite lucrative and obtained photographs from other major
agencies as well as photographers, then selling them off to subscribing
newspapers. All the while making quite a pretty profit. Bains company
was one of the first to aid in the growth of photojournalism around the
world, and Johnston was able to take part in this new way of thinking.
Along with Johnston, Jessie Tarbox Beals was another woman pioneer in
the world of photojournalism. Because she had the ability to hustle,
Beals was hired as a press photographer in 1902 at the Buffalo (New
York) Inquirer and Courier (422). Some of her very well-known works
include the photograph of a murder trial in 1903, which was originally

deemed off-limits to the press, and the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis,
dangerously taken from a hot air balloon. Beals is also known for
photographing many up and coming and famous authors including Mark
Twain.
Because of their passion and love for photography, both Frances
Benjamin Johnston and Jessie Tarbox Beals defied the societal
constraints of the model Victorian woman in the 1900s. They were able
to prove that women were key players and had a valuable role in
developing and bringing to life the new field of photojournalism.
Freelance Photojournalist and Adjunct Professor at Roger Williams
University Kathryn Lucey believes that in the more modern
photojournalist world gender is not an issue, but these women made it
possible for there to be a diversity in gender in the newsroom.
Ive never felt like it was difficult, said Lucey. It was a mans place in
the newsroom but it never seemed like an issue for me.
Although gender seems to be less of an issue in the newsroom, it has
become an extremely vital tool in newsrooms.
There are assignments that are more conducive to a certain gender,
said Lucey. Some subjects are more comfortable with someone of the
same gender so its good to have the option of both.
Photography as a Tool of Social Reform
Not only was it out of character to see women break into this new and
exciting field, but the idea of using the camera as a tool for reform was
relatively new as well. This may seem commonplace today, as the world
is saturated with photography by social justice photographers, but the
idea of using photography to relay messages about ideas, policies, and
economic issues in order to evoke change was not at all popular in the
early stages of photojournalism. The two men who were truly pioneers
in this field of social reform through photography were Jacob Riis and
Lewis Hine.
Danish-born, Jacob Riis joined the New York Sun as a reporter in 1870
after immigrating to the United States. Because of his experiences, Riss
was able to write firsthand accounts of the indignities and inequities of
immigrant life (422). Riis documented in-depth horrors experienced by
immigrants to the new, modern America, but to his dismay, many
people assumed his stories were embellished and not a true
representation of immigrant life. This was when Riis turned to
photography and began to document immigrant life through
photographs in order to show society that his stories were not

fabrications, but in fact, the everyday reality for the immigrant

population.
Goal driven Riis wanted to use the camera to aid the implementation of
social reform (424). This form of documentation was the first step in
the late 19th century of truly putting a face with a name and exposing
the atrocities that were taking place in the immigrant world. There was
no denying his stories when he had the photographs to back it up and
prove he was an honest journalist documenting the plight of other
immigrants.
One of the problems that Riis ran into was the overcrowding taking
place in the emigre neighborhoods in New York City. Not only was
overcrowding an issue, but he was also dealing with little to no sunlight.
Because of the sometimes deplorable conditions Riis encountered in the
late 1890s, he had to implement the use of German Blitzlichtpulver
flashlight powder which [was]dangerous and uncontrollable
making this type of photographical documentation all the more difficult
(424).
Yet another factor photojournalists had to deal with was that in the late
1800s cameras were not as mobile and portable as todays technology.
Although society looks at the use of film as outdated and only for use by
those with their own personal darkroom, film was not readily available
to photographers like Riis. In order to document the slums of New York,
Riis was forced to carry around a 4x5 wooden box camera, tripod,
glass-plate holders, and a flash pan (424). This made photography
quite difficult in this time period, but photographers like Riis didnt give
up on their craft.
A reason for working through these difficult situations was that the
photographs gave glimpses into ghetto life, which shocked and appalled
the public who would certainly not venture into these places except
through the newspaper.
Photographs of children laying in garbage, men and women with empty
eyes and eerie stares as they sat on their straw beds in damp and dirty
tenements truly depicted the human suffering occurring inside of this
new, modern America. Riis was not unlike many other photographers, as
many of his photographs had to be hand-drawn because the use of the
halftone process was not widespread. Riis published a book, How the
Other Half Lives, and it is widely recognized to this day as some of the
first use of photography as a tool to portray social suffering and call for
reform.
By documenting the New York immigrant slums, Jacob Riis was able to
take advantage of his tools and resources and use photography as a

medium of
communicating the
atrocious conditions in
the immigrant world. But
he was not alone in this
new form of
communication. Lewis
Hine joined in with his
documentation of child
labor. Hine used
photography as a
means of exposing the
things that had to be
corrected in society
(424). Even though
Urban America was a
place of growth and
change in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was also a place in
desperate need of social reform.
Beginning with the idea of communicating, how people survived in this
new way of life, Hine documented immigrant lifestyle which lead to him
being published in the Charities and the Commons magazine. His
portrait series-chronicling immigrants as they arrived on Ellis Island are
some of his most famous immigrant documentation. One detail that is
truly gripping and really catches the observers eye is that the people
arriving from their respective countries came dressed in their best
traditional clothing. These photographs accurately depicted the vast
array of people entering America with anticipation and belief in
achieving their dreams.
1908 was a big year for Hine as it was when he published his immigrant
documentation as well as began work for the National Child Labor
Committee (NCLC) as an investigator as well as a reporter. Hines
ingenuity and creativity were absolutely showcased through this work,
setting a standard for investigative photojournalism. Traveling across
the country, Hine posed as factory and mine workers in order to
infiltrate the doors of businesses employing underage children. Many of
Hines photographs are the ones easily recognized today: small children
working on large machines, soot covered faces aged from the toils and
troubles of long working hours in the treacherous and dark mines.
The photographs Hine took during his time working with the NCLC are
credited as helping facilitate the passage of Child Labor Laws
restricting exploitation of youth which went through the congress for
approval in 1918 and 1922 but these were deemed unconstitutional by

the Supreme court (435). The

congress then passed another law in
1938: the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Photojournalists like Lewis Hine and
Jacob Riis brought to life the reform
movement in the United States and
this is something that many
photojournalists strive towards to this
day.
They were the beginning before that
it was pictorial they were among the
first to use the camera to make
change and others followed, said
Lucey. We should not just do what we
are asked of each day and we should
try to bring to light different things
about our community that people
dont know about.
Lucey has spent the past 27 years working on documenting social
injustices in Hati, working with the medical relief foundation. This type
of work although very powerful and meaningful, is seen less among
newspapers now.
Todays staffers do not have the time or the ability to do in depth
projects [on social reform], said Lucey. Projects that mean the most to
me, such as Hati, I did on my own dime and own time.
National Geographic
As photojournalism continued to grow in the early 20th century, it built
its base as a tool of social reform as well as a viable tool for newspapers
to showcase events, which then led to photography emerging and
rearing its head in the world of magazines. Todays well-known
photographic magazines such as National Geographic, are filled with
vibrant, life-filled photography from cover to cover. Society would not
know what to think if National Geographic was presented in any other
way, and it certainly would not have the followers it does if people could
not see the glimmer in the eye or the wrinkle on the sun beaten skin of
the subjects inside of those photographs. But this was not always the
way for National Geographic. Photographs did not exist in the
magazines history with its first issue in 1888, as it was a completely
text based magazine.

Amazingly enough, it took National Geographic 15 years to publish its

first halftone photograph, and in 1903 a photo of Filipina at work in the
rice fields was printed (425). Although this photograph was
revolutionary for National Geographic, it took them another two years to
run a full, unbroken photo spread. This was completely unintentional,
but it showcased the power the uninterrupted photo display could truly
have.
This unplanned yet happy accident occurred when Gilbert Grosvenor,
National Geographics editor at the time, ran into the problem of having
an 11 page spread to fill but no material to fill the space on the day the
issue was scheduled to go to print. With no material to pull from,
Grosvenor was left with no other option but to turn to the photographs
of the Tibetan city of Lhasa. These photos had arrived by mail from the
Imperial Russian Geographic Society earlier that day. Photographed by
two Russian explorers, the city of Lhasa finally had the opportunity to be
revealed to the people. The lack of printed material and the timing of
the photographs turned out to be a perfect fit and fix for the National
Geographic.
Grosvenor going against the grain filled an 11 page spread with never
before seen photographs in a never before seen fashion. Keeping in
mind that photographs had never been used in magazines before,
Grosvenor knew there was a large possibility he could be fired for filing
the 11 pages with photographs instead of text, but it was a chance he
was willing to take. People were so utterly impressed with the spread
that Grosvenor received accolades and congratulations, thus leading to
him attempting the stunt again in April of 1905. This running of 32
pages of photographs from the Philippines, 138 photos in all, marked
the turning point for the magazine in terms of photograph presentation
(425).
National Geographic was a heavily influential in the world of
photojournalism by being a magazine of firsts including publishing the
first nighttime nature photographs. These 74 photographs taken by
George Shiras III in 1906 included animals such as the lynx, albino
porcupine, white-tailed doe, and a snowy owl. Shiras had been
photographing since the late 1800s, but this was the first opportunity to
publish these nighttime nature scenes.
Another first arrived for National Geographic when, just four short years
later, the magazine published its first color photographs which were
actually hand-painted renderings of black-and-white photographs. Due
to limited printing capabilities, real color photographs were not yet
available, so National Geographic took to artist rendering the handpainted photos for the 1910 publication of William C. Chapins
photographs of Korea and China.

Over 128 years later, National Geographic is still in circulation and

continues to contribute to the world of photojournalism across country
and continent borders to reach the global community by proving
subscribers with photographs from around the world including from the
bottom of the ocean and from up above in space.
The Tabloids
Photography became a staple to the American people in the early 20th
century. With immigrants composing much of the population,
photography was the universal language spoken for all to understand. It
gave people a way to visually receive and understand the news from
around the world. With the rise of industrialism, Americans had more
time to spend more time relaxing and reading newspaper and also had
access to electricity so they could spend more time later at night
reading and consuming news. With this being the case, there was more
time for the enjoyment of newspapers and magazines. This fueled the
popularity as well as the hunger for photographs within the journalism
world.
This craving of photography and seeing the world as it truly was brought
the darker side of photojournalism to life; the creative and strategic
posing and planning of photographs became a staple for racy
newspapers. People such as Harry Coleman, who worked for the New
York Journal as the assistant art director, even took to posing subjects
who were deceased in shirts and ties for a gruesomely lifelike portrait.
This began the altering of photos in the world of photojournalism. Not
only were photographers posing their subjects to their liking, but they
also altered photos to please their subjects, which consisted of touching
up wrinkles in elderly women and removing elements of the photograph.
This practice has not been thrown aside in todays world, but has
increased over the history of photography in the modeling world as well
as the tabloid and magazine markets. Although this is still forbidden in
professional newspaper photography.
1910 was the year the tabloid caught on, featuring a half-size
newspaper filled with pictures and brief stories, and proved to be ideal
to reach the immigrant population and daily commuters on the subways
as its size and use of photographs was an ideal fit (428).
New Yorks Illustrated Daily News debuted in 1919 and broke through as
the United States first tabloid. It is most recognizable today by its
current name, Daily News: New Yorks Picture Newspaper. Recognized
as one of the most successful newspapers in the 20th century, tabloids
were intentionally arranged to display one major headline that

screamed in the face of the reader. Because they contained juicy

scandals, these tabloids drew an immensely large following and enticed
the public with their graphic images and short, easy readability.
Another major tabloid that brought a new and different technique to the
photojournalism world was the Evening Graphic, which was a major
scandal-monger in the early 20th century (428). The composograph,
which is a staged, fake news photo based on real events, was
introduced through this tabloid. The composograph first came on the
scene during the heated divorce trial of Kip Rhinelander.
This heated divorce enthralled the public and began when Rhinelander,
a white man, sued his wife, Alice Jones, for an annulment due to the
claim that she had failed to inform him that she was African-American.
This, of course, was taboo in the early-mid 20th century, even illegal in
many states, for a racial mixing to occur in marriage, so photojournalists
were racing to get in and photograph the trial. Unfortunately, the press
was banned from the proceedings, and they were unable to bring back
any photographs of the controversial case.
Rhinelander was able to make a case based on the fact that he was not
informed of the racial ancestry of Jones, and she was asked to strip to
the waist to prove that Rhinelander, her husband, should have known
that she was in fact African American. Although the proceedings were
documented through written media, Harry Grogin, the Evening Graphics
assistant art director, was not satisfied. Through the acquiring of
different members of the proceedings, he was able to pose the scene,
and through the accumulation of 20 different photographs, Grogin was
able to successfully create a composograph of the scandalous trial.
With circulation rising from 60,000 to more than 100,000 after the
issue the Evening Graphic continued to stage real news events,
which set the standard for composograph for tabloids across the nation.
Crime Photography
Arthur Fellig, more commonly known as Weegee, is the most famous
photographer to capitalize on the tabloid mentality and concentrate his
energies on the seamier side of city life (429). Fellig obtained his
nickname, Weegee, from his unusual ability to appear at just the right
time where crime was occurring, and more times than not, ahead of the
police. Fellig had the skill of prediction like an Ouija board (phonetically
spelled wee-gee), and was known to predict assorted crimes, auto
crashes, and fires during his time with the Daily News, the Daily Mirror,
and PM.

Weegee is also commonly known for his

inquisitive photography and stark and
uncensored look into city life. His
publication of the book titled Naked
City was an apt summation of his style
and his subject. In his pictures, the city
was indeed naked, unadorned and
exposed (430). Although Weegee knew
how to take an intriguing photograph,
that was only half the battle a tabloid
photojournalist faced; he also had to
know how to market and sell the photo.
Knowing how to sell his photographs is
how Weegee furthered his career
because he knew how to make the
most out of just one small, but
tantalizing photograph. If I had a
picture of two handcuffed criminals
being booked I would cut the picture in
half and get five bucks for each (430).
Weegee capitalized on photographs like
this as well as ones of bullet-riddled corpses for sometimes five dollars a
bullet. In order to be a successful freelance photojournalist, Weegee had
to be prepared at all times, which including driving around at night
through the city looking for an opportunity to get just the right
photograph. His car was equipped with a police radio, typewriter,
developing equipment (photography wasnt just a click away in the predigital era), a supply of cigars, and a change of underwear (430).
In order to be a crime photographer, it was important that freelance
photographers, such as Weegee, be a one-man show ready at a
moment's notice. They needed to be able to shoot, develop, and sell in
a very short, which is why Weegee was such a success and is one of the
most famous crime photographers of the 20th century.
Flash
Having a built-in flash is not something that the modern photographer
even thinks twice about because it comes standard in almost every
camera today. There are even attachable flashes that plug directly into
the camera that are a modern day photographers convenience. This
was not always the case for photographers, and the road to achieve
modernization and convenience was sometimes scary and filled with
danger.

During Jacob Riis time as a photojournalist, photographers were quite

limited and only had access to flash powder in order to create a burst of
light to illuminate the scene. In order to create this flash, the powder
was fired inside a pan and let out one burst of light ending in a very
smoke-filled room. Although this process was able to light the scene,
small explosions (known for taking off limbs from the very
photographers lighting them) bent firing pans (known to fracture the
skulls of those holding them), and leaving subjects gasping for air from
the smoke were all commonplace when flash powder was involved.
Photographers did not go anywhere without ointment for burned hands
when shooting with flash powder; it was a necessity.
Flash forward a few years, advancements were made and modernization
was occurring so photographers such as Arthur Fellig Weegee were
able to use flashbulbs. These bulbs, although much safer than flash
powder, were actually extremely inconvenient. Created in 1925 by Paul
Vierkotter, the flashbulb was a glass bulb containing an inflammable
mixture that was set off an electric current (431).
Although these bulbs had less collateral damage associated with them,
there still remained the issue of convenience. Each bulb was very large,
some as large as a football, and they were also good for only a single
exposure. The convenience factor came in when the photographer had
to change out the bulb in between each shot causing delays. Not only
were the delays a problem, but this process would also cause
photojournalists to miss out on important shots and opportunities.
Convenience, although not in modern day terms, was finally achieved
with the invention of the electronic flash. Harold Edgerton of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) worked to develop the
electronic flash and succeeded in the early 1930s. The flash worked by
discharging high voltage from a capacitor through a gas-filled tube,
producing an extremely brief burst of light (432).
Photographer George Woodruff with the International News Photos (INP)
took notice of Edgertons invention and approached him with the
opportunity and question of using his newly developed electronic flash
in news photography.
With Edgertons acceptance of the opportunity and the challenge that
came with it, he accompanied Woodruff in a trial run to a circus
performing locally, and with him he carried three large flash units. It
took both men to accomplish the electric flash, Woodruff manned the
camera while Edgerton manned the strobe (flash), but they were able to
capture and stop action of runners, boxers, and swimmers in their
natural environment (432).

This precursor to the modern day flash system created by Edgerton was
much more useful and clearly less dangerous than the flashbulb and
flash powder, but it was not the only electronic flash being created at
the time. Though Edgerton, a scientist, was quite diligent and innovative
in his creation, a photojournalist by the name of Edward Farber was also
working to create an electronic flash.
Working for the Milwaukee Journal at the time, Farber created a 90pound electronic flash system that had oil capacitors and an AC power
supply. Due to the heavy nature of his flash system, Farber continued to
develop and tweak his idea, and by 1941 he had built a photographers
dream flash, which only weighed 13 and a half pounds. By the 1950s
the electronic flash design was sold to Garaflex Inc., in Rochester, N.Y.,
and remained for many years a standard piece of equipment for the
news photographer (432).
Cameras Lose Weight
Press photographers in the early 20th century mostly relied on the
Garaflex camera, though these were more portable than cameras from
the late 19th century they were still not convenient for the photographer
on the move. The Garaflex looked like a large rectangular box with a
hood on top. To view through this oversized single-lens reflex camera,
the photographer would look down the hood at an angled mirror that
would reflect what the lens saw- except that the image was reversed left
to right, (433).
With this type of camera shooting things such as sports became
extremely cumbersome. The press photographer would be handling as
much as 70 pounds of equipment, the camera itself and then the
telephoto lens attachment along with the different plates for the film,
which when shooting a sports game or things such as crime in progress
or any type of fast paced movement it became almost impossible to
capture the entire sequence of events. Which is why many times
newspapers would consider photographers to not be as useful as a
writer.
The camera developed by Oskar Barnack would be the camera that truly
set the standard for photojournalists in the 20th century. It completely
changed the world of photojournalism up to this day. The Leica, which
Barnack invented while serving as a technician at the E. Leitz factory in
Germany in 1927 was small enough that it was easily held in one hand.
This gave photojournalists of the time the gift of mobility and not only
was it lighter than its predecessors but it was had an extremely fast
lens. Having a fast lens is crucial for shooting motion.

The Leica having a fast lens was also equipped with 35mm motionpicture film with as many as 40 frames possible in the original methods
(434). This meant that photographers no longer had to worry about
changing out different plates in between photographs; it provided the
photographer with up to 40 uninterrupted frames to shoot with. Without
the interruption photographers were able to shoot full sequences of
events and capture while out on assignment making the photojournalist
a more valuable component of the newsroom.
In 1924, Leicas were available on the market to those who wished to rid
themselves of the burdensome weight of cameras such as the Garaflex.
Giving photographers mobility and also with more features that helped
them take photographs with available light rather than using dangerous
flashbulbs, people were no longer posing for cameras and this helped
bring about the use of candid photography.
Erich Salomon was the first photographer to really take advantage of
the candid style of photography. Not only is he considered the father of
candid photography but he is also credited with coining the term
photojournalism to describe what he was doing (434). Salomon was
able to move more freely into private events as a press photographer
because of the size of his camera. Before the invention of a smaller
hand-held camera press photographers carried around large obtrusive
cameras such as the Garaflex as well as flashbulbs, which were
unpredictable and dangerous.
With this background in mind officials were quick to turn Salomon away
until he produced his hand-held camera and he was not only given
entry to these private quarters, but he also became a habitu of
diplomatic circles (435). This is when the camera became not an
intruder into everyday life, something that was out of place and that
people were objected to but more of a way to document things as they
happen.
Due to the small size of his camera, Salomon was able to be discreet
and move freely within events and capture the side of people that was
not always made public. This candid style of photography gave his
viewers insight into the personal lives of diplomats and others that
would have otherwise never been seen. The laughter, sleeping and
conversing of these peoples was captured in its most raw form.
In his career, his subjects varied but some of the most well known
names were Albert Einstein, Herbert Hoover, and Marlene Dietrich.
Though he died in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp, in 1944, his
work is still well known and is the basis for the style of photojournalism
that we use today.

Documenting
Photographers such as Erich Salomon used the candid style of
photography to capture the things that were unseen in the private lives
of well-known societal figures. This can also be seen in the work of
documentary photographers such as Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine who
worked to document for social reform. Although these were independent
photographers working for social reform there was also an organization
that sought to document the plight of the Americans during the Great
Depression.
In the 1930s the Farm Security Administration (FSA) was created under
the direction of Roy Stryker and the job of the photographers was to
document the prolonged effects of drought on U.S. farmers and to also
show the ways in which the New Deal programs that Roosevelt
implemented were helping farmers get through these times. Two of the
most well known FSA photographers were Dorothea Lange and Gordon
Parks.
Dorothea Lange whose photographs are still widely known and
recognized and referred to as iconic began work in the FSA in 1935. This
is when her image Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother) was
taken. The photograph, which is candid in style, shows a Native
American woman and her two children in a pea-pickers camp. It was a
unifying image that showed the public just how drastically farmers were
struggling because of the drought. This photograph can still be found in
history textbooks across the
nation, and it will most likely
continue to be one of the
foundation photographs depicting
the Great Depression.
The second well-known
photographer from the Farm
Security Administration is Gordon
Parks. In 1942 while working in
Washington, D.C. Parks was able
to chronicle the life of Ella
Watson. This photo essay was to
show the evils of racism and
show just how common
discriminatory practices were in
Washington (440).

Parks was quoted in a book about his

photography saying, The photograph
of the black cleaning woman standing
in front of the American flag with a
broom and a mop expressed more
than any other photograph I have
ever taken. It was the first one I took
in Washington, D.C. I thought then,
and Roy Stryker eventually proved to
me, that you could not photograph a
person who turns you away from the
motion picture ticket window, or
someone who refuses to feed you, or
someone who refuses to wait on you
in a store. You could not photograph
him and say, This is a bigot.
Because bigots have ways of looking
like everybody else (440).
By taking the photograph of a black woman with the cleaning tools in
the foreground of the American flag, Parks was able to show the
injustice and racism that was happening around him in Washington.
This use of photography for documentation of social injustices such as
child labor, deplorable immigrant living conditions, and racism is
something that many photojournalists strive to do to this day. It also
contributed to the already forming idea that photographers were
essential to the newsroom.
War Photography
As the use of the camera for social reform continued to grow,
photographers such as Robert Capa were photographing the plights of
war. Having covered both the Spanish Civil War and World War II, Capa
was a very well known and established war photographer. One of his
most famous pictures and arguably the most impactful and known war
photograph in history is his photograph of a Spanish Republican
militiaman, arms flung wide, dropping backward at the instant he was
killed by a bullet (441).

This photograph is
just one of the many
iconic war
photographs that
Capa took. Capa
believed that in order
to get the most
truthful and impactful
photograph you must
be right there in the
action. So during
World War II Capa was
embedded with the
troops who stormed
the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. His are the only pictures from this
historic day and there are only 11 in total.
Though Capa was armed with two cameras and took 106 photographs of
the battle before retreating back to a landing craft, the film was rushed
to Life magazines London based photo editor, John Morris, and a
technician was told to rush the process of film development. This rush
placed on the editor and the prolonged exposure of the negatives to
higher than usual temperatures in the drying cabinet, lead to the
destruction of all but 11 frames of Capas film.
Photo editor John Morris said this about the films, I held up the four
rolls, one at a time. Three were hopeless: nothing to see. But on the
fourth roll there were eleven frames with distinct images their grainy
imperfectionperhaps enhanced by the lab accidentcontributed to
making them among the most dramatic battlefield photos ever take. DDay would be forever known by these pictures (441).
Robert Capas photographs of D-Day are iconic and they were the
fruition of the reduction of restriction of photojournalists on the front
lines. During World War I, the government almost completely restricted
photographers who were embedded and on the front lines. They were
trying to restrict the images that the public was seeing. Photographs of
dead soldiers were not run in newspapers due to the fear that the public
would stop supporting the war.

Although Lucey
has not worked
on war
photography,
she has had
experience in
the dark room
working with
film. With
digital as the
main use in
photography in
todays world
experiences
like Photo
editor John Morris with the D-Day photographs.
There is a lot of pressure in the darkroom, coming back and knowing
there is a deadline and the event you were shooting runs late and you
have to process everything so quickly, said Lucey. It is easy to make
mistakes.
Restriction changed during World War II, photojournalists could move
freely on battlefields and accompany naval assaults. [They] could shoot
where, when, and what they wanted (446). Though they were much
less restricted in terms of shooting and actually being present on the
front lines, the film that was shot was put through screening where
many images did not pass the tests. This is why Capas photographs are
so important; it was a first hand account of D-Day and was released to
the public.
One of the most iconic uses of photography as a tool for reform was
during the Vietnam War. There are three main images that are said to
have influenced the United States to pull out of the bloody war in
Vietnam. The first being Malcolm Brownes photograph of a Buddhist
monk who notified the media and set himself on fire in the middle of the
street. This self-mutilation was to protest the Diem regimes treatment
of Buddhists in South Vietnam (448). This was a clear depiction of the
severity of the issues within Vietnam and showed viewers the reality
that seemed so distant to them.
Another iconic photograph from the Vietnam War was the execution of a
suspected Viet Cong guerrilla. Eddie Adams was in the street in South
Vietnam when Chief of National Police General Nguyen Ngoc Loan shot
the suspected guerrilla point blank in the head and Adams captured the
moment. When this was released in the United States, it showed not

only the brutality of the war but also the lack of democracy in the
country America was defending (448).
In June 1972, Nick Ut photographed the third iconic Vietnam War
photograph, nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked down the
street, scorched down the entirety of her back from napalm-loaded
explosives that American bombers were dropping. This showed
Americans the horror that was war and that even those who were
innocent were being caught up in it.
These three photographs are one of the most well-known examples of
photographs that had an real impact on policy and reform.
Rise Of Current Photojournalism
With the improvement of technology and the innovation of
photographers and the way in which they took photographs,
photographers began to receive the same recognition as writers. When
we think of the news today it would be strange to see an article without
a photograph or if found online, a video. Photographs have become
commonplace in the news in the 21st century. This was not always the
case.
Originally, the photographer was a second-class citizen in the
newsroom (449).
Because photography was a new way in which people were recording
the events
around them it was believed that they would disturb the high-culture of
writing. It was also believed that just anyone could be a photojournalist
and that it did not take the skills or the tenacity that it took to be a news
writer. In early newsrooms photographers were even referred to as
reporters with their brains knocked out (449).
Even well established and respected war photographers such as Robert
Capa came back from WWII and were not shown the respect that the
soldiers were, even though they wore the same uniform and were on the
front lines but dawning a camera instead of a gun.
This lack of respect and recognition of the important role that
photography and photographers alike played in the newsroom is what
prompted Burt Williams a photographer from the Pittsburgh SunTelegraph to organize an association for press photographers. In 1945,
The National Press Photographers Association was founded.
Founded during a time when photographers were not only being
disrespected but they were even being attacked. Williams believed that
there should be an organization established to protect the working
press photographer on the job (450). This organization even started a

magazine, National Press Photographer, and created the annual Flying

Short Course. This course was designed to be an in-depth, intense
professional development course for photojournalists across the country.
The hope was to raise the standard of the photojournalist and their work
so that the practice would be more respected.
This is an association that is still alive today and hosts an annual
conference and also still operates its Flying Short Course. The
organization has grown with more than 10,000 members today, which
includes professionals and students and they are still working toward
the goal of raising the standard for photojournalists around the country.
Photojournalism Today
Many people believe that since technology such as the iPhone has come
out that they can be a professional photographer without any training or
equipment, which has led to the loss of the distinguishability for
professional photographers. But journalists and photojournalists alike
still see the importance of having trained staff photographers.
Twenty-eight year veteran reporter, columnist, editor and current
Director of Media and Public Relations at Roger Williams University Ed
Fitzpatrick explains how staff photojournalists are just as pertinent to
informing the public on news as reporters.
It is important for newspapers and all media outlets to tell stories that
are happening in our community, said Fitzpatrick.
Having informed citizens as Fitzpatrick further explained is an important
aspect for communities to be able to grow and know what is happening
in the world around them.
Photographers do this [inform citizens] they capture part of the story
that people see first and remember most, said Fitzpatrick.
Mary Murphy who worked as a photojournalist since 1983 believes that
nothing compares to having trained fulltime staff photographers at a
newspaper.
Staff photographers are trained to find different ways to photograph
situations, said Murphy. They have an eye, you can see things that
lots of times the reporters dont; collaborative reporting [photographer
and reporter] makes stories better.
Having a trained eye is not something that happens when someone
opens the stark white package and pulls out an iPhone 6. It is something
that takes years to master and use. Not only do photojournalists have to

have the eye for what makes an interesting and impactful photograph
but there also has to be passion behind the lens.
I like what it [a photograph] can do to tell a story and how it can
compliment a written article, said Murphy. There is always something
the rest of the world doesnt get to see, and I get to show it to them.

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