Nieman Reports

Spring 2010

Visual Journalism

Photojournalism is changing, propelled by newsroom budget cuts, multimedia possibilities, and the ubiquity of digital images. In Visual Journalism, photojournalists write about emerging digital business strategies and their efforts to expand the reach of their photographs online and on gallery walls. They also share ideas about how to fund projects of personal passion and societal value. Their words tell vital stories about how they do their work; slideshows of their photographs—exclusive to our Web site—and multimedia presentations convey their visual stories. Read and watch as the future of photojournalism unfolds.

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Visual Journalism

Spring 2010: Introduction

By Melissa Ludtke• Visual Journalism• March 15, 2010

Envisioning Digital

Failing to Harness the Web’s Visual Promise

By Fred Ritchin• Technology• March 30, 2010

Today, too many news organizations still don’t take advantage of digital media’s capacity to give readers contextual information and to engage them in finding out more about the story the pictures tell. Read more

Meditating on the Conventions and Meaning of Photography

By Jan Gardner• Technology• March 30, 2010

RELATED ARTICLE “Failing to Harness the Web’s Visual Promise” – Fred RitchinFred Ritchin’s book “After Photography” is a rich stew of memoir, history (remember the darkened image of … Read more

Journey to a New Beginning

By Ed Kashi• Technology• March 30, 2010

As the doors of established media slam shut, a photojournalist knocks on new ones to find the promise of more authenticity in his storytelling and greater control over his work. Read more

Multimedia Adds New Dimensions to the Art of Storytelling

By Ed Kashi• Technology• March 30, 2010

RELATED ARTICLE “Journey to a New Beginning” – Ed KashiFrom a book to a Web site, from a series of photographs to a digital flipbook, my work—and that of many of … Read more

A Different Approach to Storytelling

By Brian Storm• Technology• March 15, 2010

‘… photographs require context to tell a more complete narrative. The best thing for photojournalists to do is to slow down, become a little more engaged, and spend a little more time on their projects in a much more intimate way.’ Read more

Looking Beneath the Surface of Stories in Iraq, Iowa and Rwanda

Technology• March 30, 2010

Providing storytelling and context for photographs is a major motivation for MediaStorm’s multimedia projects, such as the three that founder Brian Storm discusses in the conversation. Read more

Photojournalism in the New Media Economy

By David Campbell• Technology• March 30, 2010

Success will depend on ‘seeing oneself as a publisher of content and a participant in a distributed story, the form of which helps reshape the content of the story.’ Read more

A Story Rooted in a Community Gives Voice to Its People

By David Campbell• Technology• March 30, 2010

Ali Ahmed Ali was among a community of Yemeni sailors who lived in a boarding house in South Shields, Great Britain, between trips at sea. Photo by Peter Fryer. RELATED ARTICLE … Read more

From Film to Digital: What’s Lost? What’s Gained?

By David Burnett• Technology• March 15, 2010

‘Today, it seems that speed trumps all else, becoming the way success is measured. It might be better if other factors—such as content, reliability and value—were to trump speed when it comes to evaluating visual journalism.’ Read more

44 Days and the Portrayal of History in Tehran

By David Burnett• Technology• March 15, 2010

Words and photographs by David Burnett. Read more

Steps Learned Along the Way: Redefining Photojournalism’s Power

By Wendy Watriss• Technology• March 15, 2010

‘Even in the best of times, even when highly recognized within the field itself, our images are only tools, not an end in themselves.’ Read more

Agent Orange: Pressing the Government to Take Responsibility

By Wendy Watriss• Technology• March 30, 2010

Words and photographs by Wendy Watriss. Read more

New Pathways

In Pursuing a Personal Project, Global Dimensions Emerge

By Kael Alford• Features• March 15, 2010

‘As photojournalists casting about for creative and meaningful direction in the face of … an industry shifting beneath our feet, we may be best served by following the threads of our own experience and then going deeper.’ Read more

Finding Common Themes in Louisiana and Iraq

By Kael Alford• Features• March 15, 2010

Words and photographs by Kael Alford. Read more

Newspaper Employee to Nonprofit Director: A Photojournalist’s Journey

By Christopher Tyree• Features• March 30, 2010

The idea behind Wéyo ‘was to capitalize on our collective years of journalism experience and turn our narrative storytelling abilities toward work with nonprofits.’ Read more

‘Lost Boys’ Return to Sudan as Doctors

By Christopher Tyree• Features• March 15, 2010

Words by Christopher Tyree. Photographs by Stephen Katz and Christopher Tyree. Read more

The Impact of Images: First, They Must Be Seen

By Marcus Bleasdale• Features• April 7, 2010

Through photographs transformed into comic images and other creative collaborations, the work of a photojournalist is connecting with new audiences in creative ways. Read more

Photojournalists Reach Viewers in Different Ways

By Iason Athanasiadis• Features• March 30, 2010

Using emerging funding strategies and finding fresh venues to display their work, photographers bring foreign news reporting to new audiences. Read more

Pakistan: A Freelancer as Photographer

By Iason Athanasiadis• Features• March 15, 2010

RELATED ARTICLE “Photojournalists reach viewers in different ways” – Iason AthanasiadisWhen I went to Pakistan in 2007, the country was embroiled in a huge constitutional crisis. In one day … Read more

Pushing Past Technology to Reach Enduring Issues

By Donna DeCesare• Features• March 30, 2010

‘I want my students to be engaged not just about making a product … they’ll submit to the College Photographer of the Year contest—but in thinking critically about the process and aesthetic choices.’ Read more

‘Destiny’s Children’: A Legacy of War and Gangs

By Donna DeCesare• Features• March 30, 2010

The recent launch of the Web site “Destiny’s Children” ends one phase of a two-decade project on youth gangs while it begins another. Read more

Taking Time to Rethink, Adjust and Move Forward

By Justin Mott• Features• March 30, 2010

‘Today, how we divide our time and do our work and get paid for it has virtually no connection to how things worked for those who started out a decade or two before us.’ Read more

A Personal Project: Third-Generation Victims of Agent Orange

By Justin Mott• Features• March 15, 2010

Words and photographs by Justin Mott. Read more

Carving New Pathways With Photojournalism Students

By Josh Meltzer• Features• March 30, 2010

‘I ask myself what I should be teaching my students. How can I prepare them so they can find good jobs? Figuring this out is my daily challenge.’ Read more

The Untold Story of Mexican Migration

By Josh Meltzer• Features• March 15, 2010

RELATED ARTICLE “Carving New Pathways with Photojournalism Students” – Josh Meltzer To see more of Meltzer’s work, visit his Web site.My Fulbright project in Mexico centered on migration within the … Read more

Preparing the Next Generation of Photojournalists

By Sherman Teichman• Features• March 30, 2010

Exposure, a photojournalism, documentary studies, and human rights program, ‘prepares students for immersive experiences and guides them in their efforts to document through photography what they observe.’ Read more

Taking Stock of the ‘Area Boys’ in Lagos, Nigeria

By Samuel James• Features• March 15, 2010

RELATED ARTICLE “Preparing the Next Generation of Photojournalists” – Sherman TeichmanSamuel James, the winner of Exposure’s first Alexandra Boulat Award, will continue his photographic work on the lives of … Read more

Shifting Strategies

Partnership of Photojournalist and Writer

By Melissa Lyttle• Journalist’s Trade• March 30, 2010

‘With our close collaboration, I felt for the first time as a photographer that I was working with a writer who really wanted to hear what I thought about the story.’ Read more

Finding an Extraordinary Moment During an Ordinary Ride

By Melissa Lyttle• Journalist’s Trade• March 15, 2010

RELATED ARTICLES “Partnership of Photojournalist and Writer” – Melissa Lyttle “Our Emotional Journey—Traveled Together” – Lane DeGregory See more of Lyttle’s work in … Read more

Our Emotional Journey—Traveled Together

By Lane DeGregory• Journalist’s Trade• March 30, 2010

‘Journalism, at its best, is collaboration. No single reporter can ask every question. No photographer can capture every scene.’ Read more

The Camera—It’s Only the Starting Point to Change

By Santiago Lyon• Journalist’s Trade• March 30, 2010

‘So how does a global news organization such as The Associated Press get this technology working for us? In short, how do we train our photojournalists to use it?’ Read more

Crossing the Line: From Still to Video—to Both at the Same Time

By Julie Jacobson• Journalist’s Trade• March 15, 2010

Words and photographs by Julie Jacobson. Read more

Gift of Training + Shift in Newsroom Thinking = Multimedia Storytelling

By Evan Vucci• Journalist’s Trade• March 15, 2010

Words and photographs by Evan Vucci. Read more

Being a Photojournalist Doesn’t Equal Job Security

By Nuri Vallbona• Journalist’s Trade• March 30, 2010

After taking a buyout, a longtime newspaper photographer thinks about her future direction in an industry where multimedia now rules and technological know-how is essential. Read more

Recognizing the Special Value of Still Photos in a Video World

By Nuri Vallbona• Journalist’s Trade• March 30, 2010

Arleen White struggles to cope after the judge accepted a plea of manslaughter in connection with the murder of her 15-year-old son. Photo by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald. RELATED ARTICLE “ … Read more

Visual Literacy

The Still Photograph: Embedding Images in Our Mind

By Edward Burtynsky• Visual Journalism• March 15, 2010

With his large-scale images, Edward Burtynsky seeks to ‘bring viewers to that point where they begin to grapple with their own consciousness about being in that space.’ Read more

A New Focus: Adjusting to Viewers’ Increasing Sophistication About Images

By Jörg M. Colberg• Visual Journalism• March 30, 2010

In an age when visual literacy is common, photojournalists may need to bring fresh sensibilities to their work. Read more

The Fluidity of the Frame and Caption

By Venkat Srinivasan• Visual Journalism• March 30, 2010

When keywords become invisible captions and cameras increasingly do what darkrooms once did, how photojournalists approach their job changes. Read more

Remembering

Documentary Photography

By Glenn Ruga• Visual Journalism• March 30, 2010

The impact that photographs can have is illuminated in a look back at iconic images. Read more

Documentary Photographers Have Their Say in Words and Pictures

By Glenn Ruga• Visual Journalism• March 30, 2010

A heroin addict is being injected by his friend on a roadside in Pakistan in the early morning. Photo by Yusuke Harada from “Behind the War on Terror” on SocialDocumentary.net. Read more

Nieman Reports

Spring 2010

Visual Journalism

Visual Journalism

Envisioning Digital

New Pathways

Shifting Strategies

Visual Literacy

Rethinking

Remembering

Nieman Notes

By James Reynolds

By Kevin Cullen

Words & Reflections

By Joel Kaplan

By Sunday Dare

By Michele Weldon

By Michele Weldon

By Stuart Watson

By Sam Butterfield

By Michael J. Jordan

Curator's Corner

By Bob Giles

Masthead