As “masters”, we shared our creative insights, knowledge, and recent experiences with eleven students from across the globe who came seeking a critique of their work and a chance to focus their own career paths in the near term.
United in our passion for visual journalism and a desire to continue to develop our own talents, we also reflected an interesting mix of skills, cultural perspectives, and differences in the way we approached the creative process.
Joop Swart Masterclass 2009 students listen as their colleague Simona Ghizzoni, second from right, poses a question.
From the outset, it was clear we each had a keen awareness of the uniqueness of this moment in time for photojournalism and documentary photography. Much of the conversation focused on fears and concerns created by the ongoing implosion of mainstream media companies and the accompanying shifts in photo imaging technology being created by the technology revolution of the early 21st century.
My own views about the power and benefits of multimedia fusions of still photography with audio and video were challenged by others who claimed that film, print media, and gallery walls still afforded more creative control over content messages and superior aesthetics to that offered by digital media. While I see multimedia fusions as opening the possibilities for deeper, more complex story narratives, some of my fellow masters saw the fusions as degradations of the intentionality of still photography when practiced by highly skilled professionals.
In part, their displeasure with the aesthetics of digital photography represented a concern over the fact that digital cameras “make decisions” about the shape of an image’s color palette and lighting that may be removed from the direct instant control of the photographer. Additionally, some of the photographers expressed dismay about the highly-templated approach of image presentation in digital formats like websites, pointing to the “click and move” sequencing of images that characterize so many slideshows and image groupings. They saw the groupings offered in print and on gallery walls as affording more opportunity to shape eye flow and place emphasis on specific images within a sequence, thereby perhaps deepening and clarifying the content message of the photography in a more profound way.
Gihan Tubbeh describes her working methods for an on-going personal project focusing on night scenes in Lima, Peru.
In addition to a premise that most mainstream media websites favor continuous expression of unfolding “latest news” over content that supplies context to world events, I also think the photographers were expressing fear of a loss of control due to the fact that presentations in the digital world require the support of a collaboration team in much the same way that films are made. It is essential in the digital world that strong photography be supported by designers and programmers who can translate the aesthetic vision into a language of code that actually makes the design presentation work in the digital space. That kind of collaboration requirement places the still photographer in a role much like the director in filmmaking. He or she may have a coherent vision for presentation, but they will need to depend on the skills of others to help translate the vision so it works in the digital environment. That places new demands on the photographer and ends the idea of “going it alone” as the best way to ensure absolute fidelity in the execution of creative vision.
While I think print too has placed such demands for collaboration on the individual photographer when he or she works inside a mainstream media organization, it was clear to me that some of my fellow masters had found ways to often work successfully outside such parameters. They had developed significant photographic projects without being subjected to the pressures within a media company that force inevitable compromising of creative vision as a natural occurrence.
U.S. student Matt Eich describes his interpretation of the Masterclass assignment theme "Touch" as Philip Blenkinsop records the conversation as a video with a Nikon D300s.
Another set of pitfalls they see is the torrent of visual images produced by amateurs or professionals of limited talent in the current environment. As Giorgia said, the glut of bad images flowing across the world daily, “threatens to cancel our history.” Her concerns were echoed by others who expressed concern about the intentionality of the photographers and whether or not they had any kind of social awareness of how their work was actually shaping the audience’s view of the world.
Implicit in this view is the idea that quality storytelling offering a fuller view of our contemporary history can only be provided by professionals. Such photographers have made it their life’s work to master the craft of photography and bear witness effectively to the key moments in life’s unceasing flow so that the audience can learn fundamental truths about the human condition from their images. Anything less from a content or aesthetic perspective contributes to visual pollution that threatens to obscure a clear view of our current reality as a species profoundly shaping this planet’s future possibilities.
While this view may seem elitist to some, I think it does reflect the reality that photographers want their work to have meaning to an audience. Also, they want to present stories in forms that help the audience connect more readily with the subjects being presented in the photography. I do think clarity of vision, aesthetic sensibility, and ability to control the forms of presentation do matter for such aspirations to be realized, but ultimately it is the audience that determines the value of the communication.
British photo book publisher Dewi Lewis, left, listens intently as students discuss work during day-long editing session and critique.
Nonetheless, I did not share some of the pessimism and angst I heard being expressed as underlying tones in our conversations. Digital photography doesn’t have to mean surrendering fundamental principles of craft practice and carefully-honed visions. I remain convinced that “subject-driven” narrative stories can enable the voices of the previously unheard to be considered much more powerfully as a part of daily global journalism. Multimedia storytelling seems to offer prospects for fusing media elements together in powerful new combinations that do justice to the complexities and mysteries of the human experience. I don’t think it is inevitable that digital photography has to be inferior to what existed previously in film. Nor does creative control have to be lost simply because one may need to act collaboratively rather than as a solo practitioner to achieve strong results. Finally, I think professionals do have a duty not just to advocate for their own work, but also to establish standards and methods that can improve image-making for anyone interested in creating or using visual communication.
I think my colleagues in Amsterdam are right to demand that we in media do better in creating richer, more compelling digital presentation to house the fruits of powerful photography they are producing to tell stories. And they are right to demand that we build the subject-driven narrative with their photography as the primary building block.
South African photographer Bénédicte Kurzen, left, questions a master's critique comment, as Maggie Steber, center, and fellow student Ali Akbar Shirjian, second from right, acknowledge her point.
The fascinating conversations we had in the course of the week have helped me to see more clearly the gap between artistic ambitions and expectations and the actual practices that have been defining the earliest days of multimedia journalism on websites. I came away re-energized and with a fresh perspective on the state of contemporary photojournalism and documentary photography, thanks to the critiques and frankness of our conversations.
I will do some additional posts shortly about other topics we discussed during the week.
Tom, great read!.
The question about how websites/digital display offers less in terms of presentation seems like a nice challenge for a solution.
Context seems to affect the experience of “taking in” the work and perhaps the difference between display on screens, galleries, books, etc. is just another opportunity to complement the other… ? Extend the vision; the story ? Well, it sounds nice in theory I guess
Thanks for sharing and there are a lot of juicy topics in this post.. Looking forward to hearing more.
~deb
Hey Tom,
just reading your report.
what an incite into our week. thanks for your eloquence on highlighting the enriching experience.
best wishes and happy thanksgiving weekend, Celina
Thanks for these insights from abroad. It seems that these young photographers are very concerned about controlling their art and less concerned about the amount of people whom it reaches. If you’re working for social change and rely only on the parts of the medium where you can have the most control (print, books and galleries) don’t you ignore the ability to reach many, many more people on the web?
So who is more important, the viewer or the photographer
[...] of the intentionality of still photography when practiced by highly skilled professionals. Tom Kennedy Spread the [...]
[...] My own views about the power and benefits of multimedia fusions of still photography with audio and video were challenged by others who claimed that film, print media, and gallery walls still afforded more creative control over content messages and superior aesthetics to that offered by digital media. While I see multimedia fusions as opening the possibilities for deeper, more complex story narratives, some of my fellow masters saw the fusions as degradations of the intentionality of still photography when practiced by highly skilled professionals. [...]
Interesting article. It is important that photographers are able to get their message across accurately, especially if their work is to contribute to social change. However, the medium has for too long been more elitist than necessary, not making itself accessible to wider audiences. If you prefer print and galleries then at least follow the lead of Drik in Bangladesh and work out ways to bring your photos to a wider, less elite audience (who frequent art / photography galleries).
Rob
The Rights Exposure Project
Tom, good stuff.
One of the great joys, and defining factors for me, about working as a photojournalist in print, has not only been a matter of control or a sole vision, like one necessarily has, when defining one’s own personal documentary work, for books or exhibition. But lies in the very creative interaction, and collaborative role one plays within an editorial team, when doing a story with magazines. Editor, photo-editor, journalist, art director and photographer all have their distinct roles to play in editing the final outcome. Producing a multimedia piece should not be so different, however like film, there has to be one director whose overall vision defines the work, perhaps that can sometimes be the photographer, or the journalist, or an editor, but for sure, that role has to be evident from the outset.
There is a feeling with the qualities of film, in its color palette, which is hard to find in digital, and part of it is also about a discipline when shooting and a way of seeing which is defined by the camera format and viewfinder. And is not helped in any way by the plethora of banal images that dominate the internet, from amateurs and pros alike. Didn’t we cross similar bridges, have similar discussions, with the transition from b/w to color? It took me such a long while to cross that rubicon, and the same applies to digital. A different medium but by no means less.
I think quality storytelling is often stronger in collaboration with others, and should be democratic communication aimed at the widest audience. Galleries and books afford a real luxury, an intimate communication, something to be touched and touch people, but it’s hard for these spaces not to be elitist, unless you are really taking the work in grassroots spaces to communities who might not have access to the web
Thanks
Nigel