The Daily Mirror was first developed for ‘Gentlewomen’, and its on its first day of publication the paper sold 276,000, the sales began to drop after this initial launch, and the owner Alfred Harmsworth decided to change the original plans and develop the paper for men as well. On the 2nd April 1904 the editor published a whole page of pictures of Edward VII, with his children , Henry, Albert and Mary. The issue was such a huge success, that Alfred Harmsworth realised the potential of interest in pictures of the Royal family.
The magazine that many consider as the pioneer of photojournalism is the British magazine, Picture Post. Edward Hulton, who was a conservative supporter, and publisher wanted to launch a picture paper, and so set up with Stephen Lorant, who had already founded his own political surrealist magazine ‘Lilliput’, where pictures of animals were put next to famous people. Hulton also offered Lorant the chance to start, what would eventually be the most successful and influential British news magazine, Picture Post. They wanted to set up a magazine that was aimed at the mass literary world, not simply the intellectual people, and created stories with photographs The magazine was first published in 1938 and was an immediate success. Fig 3 shows what a typical front cover of Picture Post looked like, and the kind of stories it discussed ‘How the war began’.
Sales of the picture post increased rapidly during the Second World War; in 1943 the magazine was selling 950,000 copies a week. The idea for picture post came from abroad, and the first photographers for the magazine were German, Hans Bauman, and Kurt Hubschmann. Picture post was considered to be the leading British picture magazine in the 30s/40s
Tom Hopkinson was employed as the editor of the magazine, in 1940 after Lorant immigrated to the United States. Whilst Hopkinson worked for Picture Post there was a lot of conflict between himself and the owner, Hulton. Edward Hulton supported the conservative party, and objected to Hopkinson’s socialist views. Hopkinson brought many contributions to Picture Post such as the introduction of many talented writers and photographers, such as James Cameron, and Bert Hardy.
However the conflict between Hulton, and Hopkinson was brought to a head after an article that he instigated on the Korean War was seen as communist propaganda, and Hopkinson was forced to resign.
Picture post survived between 1938–1957, and was considered as a magazine that handled many subjects that millions of young men and women talked about amongst themselves. Picture post magazine relied on the relationship it had with its readers, the personality of the magazine.
Many of the journalists from Picture Post became the main bodies behind the BBC when it first started. And many of the design ideas are still in use today, in double page spreads in the majority of magazines, and is the basis for many advertisements campaigns.
‘Picture post painlessly surrendered all the values and purposes that had made it a journal of consideration before the eyes of its diminishing public drifted into the market of arch cheesecake and commonplace decoration, and by and by it died, as by then it deserved to do’ James Cameron
Towards the end of the nineteenth century photographs were used more simply in order to support the written word, rather than working to illuminate it. Rivalry between leading newspapers meant that photographers made greater efforts to get better and better pictures, that achieved the most dramatic effect, rather than simply representing an event. Modern photojournalism was more of a product of new cameras, in particular the Leica, creating a new kind of photojournalist, allowing a greater freedom of movement with developments in film sensitivity, allowing them greater opportunity to work in adverse light conditions.
Nowadays we see images in our everyday lives, and many people could not imagine living without images within our magazines, newspapers etc. Images are also used in many other forms of media, advertisements, moving image etc The theory behind photojournalism remains the same, to capture a moment in time or ‘instantaneous truth’ without manipulation, the image can stand as an accurate reflection of the times.
In an age when the written word, and still image are constantly fighting to take place against the moving image, Photojournalism is deemed highly significant to the media.
‘The net total readership and sales of newspapers has declined in the post-war period, as have magazine circulations…’
However it is hard to forget that television now plays a significant part in our culture, and the quote above reflects this. Many images used in the written media take the form of the pictures we see before us on the screen. It is often seen that the media is a window on the world, and many of the articles we read in the daily papers, and gossip magazines, simply would not exist without the use of much stronger images that are now used in the media. Without the use of any image the powerful, hard-hitting media stories we receive everyday, would simply mean very little to us.
‘the photographic image speaks directly to the mind and transcends the barriers of language and nationality’ pg 217 Media Studies
Images create a universal language between many different cultures, and break down many barriers that the written word cannot. Whilst we have just talked a little about how images are important to the media as a whole it is important to understand how important the development of photojournalism has been to our society as a whole. Whilst many events have occurred in the news, the most prominent in peoples minds, has to be the events that occurred on September the 11th 2001. During, and after the attacks on the world trade centre, so many photographs were taken by various people, which captured so many emotions that they really showed what people were thinking and feeling. Although if asked the majority of people would probably record that they first heard about the attacks was when the story covered all channels of television, (something that hadn’t occurred since the funeral of Princess Diana) it would be impossible to imagine how we would have reacted to the events of that day if we had seen any still images at all. There now many images available to the viewer concerning these events, and it is probably fair to say that these pictures contain so much more feeling in a single image than in moving image records.
‘Whilst Rothstein argues that the photojournalist’s job is to mirror the world, Webster is critical of photojournalism’ special plea…. That it presents us with accurate pictures of the world’ 217
Whilst some events are seen to ‘mirror events of the world’ such as those we have just discussed, it is often considered that photojournalists can manipulate our understanding of events, just as journalists manipulate our understanding of the truth.
‘no communication is natural because culture always intervenes in the process of encoding and decoding. We necessarily see the world as our culture has taught us’ 217
Photojournalist work on the same basis as the reporter but that capture the information through the pictures that they take. The photojournalist is not always considered to be the same as the paparazzi photographer who is only interested in a limited range of images, which will sell Newspapers. These will generally include people, and show-revealing images in some way of well-known figures in the public eye. However people are more and more aware that manipulation is an important part of photojournalism, whilst the word itself remains taboo, there are certain decisions that a photographer must make before taking a picture. For example they must consider how to represent the subject matter in order to tell a story, but without it appearing as if the action is staged. Photojournalists are driven to these decisions by social consciousness, and the aim of achieving a difference in the world, or at least creating a story that has some ounce of impact onto other peoples lives.
As we can see from above, photojournalism has proved to be a major development in the history of magazines. From the first printing techniques used in The Illustrated London News, to the introduction of Picture Post, photojournalism has developed a long way. Nowadays we have such a variety of magazines, there is one to suit every taste. Photojournalism has become an integral part of the reporting world for its ability to grab attention, and tell a story without words, but also allows the reader to see what an article is talking about rather than imagining it. There are many different varieties of photography in magazines and newspapers, Fashion photography, Sports, magazines about photography itself, the list is endless. How photojournalism will develop in the future is really anyone’s guess. Will we still receive daily newspapers, and magazines? The future of photography is already moving towards digital photography, as a quicker and simpler method of taking and sending pictures, but will this affect photojournalism as we know it, We will have to wait and see.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Price, S, Media Studies, Longman, Britian 1993
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O’Sullivan T, Dutton, B, Rayner, P, Studying the Media, Arnold, London 1994
- http://photography.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa112000a.html
- http://photography.about.com/library/dop/bldop_jcameron.htm
http://weblogs.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/history/msgReaders$17
http://photography.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa112000a.html
http://photography.about.com/library/dop/bldop_jcameron.htm
Tim O’Sillivan, Studying the Media, p11
Stuart Price, Media Studies, p217