Shooting while thinking

Every time I gaze upon amazing photos taken from unique angles, I cannot help asking myself: what will I do if I am in the event? At times, I find myself wanting to capture the moment with a camera, but I find that the pictures I take cannot express the thoughts I had at that particular moment. I believe that a high-quality picture evokes emotion and thought from the audience.

When I was a film reporter, I usually went to press conferences with photojournalists. However, the photos turned out to be monotonic- mostly medium shots of movie stars posing before a movie poster and smiling. Later, I attempted to take pictures by myself but things didn’t improve. As Kenneth Kobré states in his book Photojournalism, a medium shot should, like a news story, contain all the storytelling elements of the scene. This requirement makes medium shots a tough task if a photojournalist really wants to capture an excellent photo.

While reading Kenneth Kobré’s Photojournalism, I find that all the sample photos showing in the book were not taken in press conferences. Though a press conference is a good source for photojournalists to take pictures, it may be the least possible approach to capture a vivid and impactive picture because the subjects in press conferences cannot be candid, for they know there are many cameras focusing on them. I believe the best pictures usually arrive by accident and most of the time occurs in a casual situation. To be at the right place at the right time and shutter at the right moment with the right gear is really a skill that cannot easily be taught.

The goal of photojournalism

“My goal is always to create high-impact, evocative images which not only inform, but also spark the desire to become involved… images that cause reflection upon and empathy with another human being’s struggle, all the while, respecting the dignity of those who appear in the photos. When successful, my imagery reveals a common humanity, allowing viewers to see a bit of themselves in other human beings, half a world away. Beyond just providing information… the images should motivate viewers to take action”.

I read these words in Karl Grobl’s blog, who has been working as a photojournalist for NGO in many different countries all over the world. I like his words and his attitude towards photojournalism, not only provide information, but also motivate viewers to take action.

Keeping pace of the technology in communication

When I entered Shanghai International Studies University five years ago, majoring in International Journalism, my Chinese journalism professor once told me that to be a successful correspondent, I should master three basic skills: the first skill is reporting, the most basic skill for a correspondent; the second is proficiency in a foreign language accessing to cross-culture and bilingual reporting; and the last one is driving, which means we can reach the scene as soon as possible to get the news.

However, the world has changed a lot in the past five years. The above skills are not enough on the journey of a successful reporter.

I used to be only interested in paper journalism, which usually have different work division for reporters and photojournalists. But during my work for Shanghai Morning Post as a film reporter, I found it extremely important for a journalist to command the skill of photography, for so many newsworthy things will happen aroud you just unexpectedly. The celebrities may suddenly cry, become angry, burst into laughter or do things out of expectation which would make you feel regret if you didn’t catch the moment.

Sometimes, pictures speak louder than words. An image has no age, language or intelligence limits. Since then, I established a habit that wherever I go, I will take my camera with me. Though I took a photojournalism class in college, I found that it was hard for me to use the skills in my daily work. When news broke out, my first and only reaction is pressing the button without a moment’s thought of taking a nice picture. Sometimes, I find that a reporter, if he grasps the skill of shooting, would take better photos than a photojournalist does, because he knows which pictures his story needs. That’s one of the reasons I am in the Journalists’ Toolkit course, I want to learn more about photojournalism.

In the past, different media seem to have a clear dividing line, press just needs pictures and articles, radio needs audio, and TV needs video. But after the boost of new media, the internet, things have been changed a lot. The dividing line is now fading–the press may also have their own websites, in which, video and audio are required, while TV put some investigation and deeper analysis articles on the websites. Being a good journalist who can meet different challenges seems to be a must for a journalist.

Technologies in communication field are developing quickly, we must keep the pace. Maybe in the future, a journalist should choose the way of reporting when he or she faces an news-event: news writing or shooting? And all serve the audience.