photojournalist

Interview: Michael Kamber on Photojournalism Ethics and the Altering of Images

Michael Kamber is a photojournalist who has been working around the world since 1986; he has traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, the Sudan, Haiti, Israel, and many other countries to capture conflict. Kamber has been published in most major newspapers in both the United States and Europe.

Recently, he took the initiative to create an exhibition at the Bronx Documentary Center titled Altered Images, which focuses on exposing documentary photography that has been staged, manipulated, or faked. We spoke to him to learn more about the current state of ethics in photojournalism and where things are headed.

How I Use the Fujifilm XT-1 for Documentary Wedding Photography

I'm a documentary wedding photographer, which means there's a certain way that I work, and a certain style to the photography I produce. The end product of which is an accurate, beautiful document of the single most important day thus far in a couple's life together. I want my clients to feel what they felt on their wedding day, years later when they're reminiscing with their album.

America’s First Female Photojournalist, Jessie Tarbox Beals, With Her Cameras

Here's a photograph of Jessie Tarbox Beals, America's first female photojournalist, with her camera on a street a century ago. While most female photographers of her time shot photos from the peace and safety of photo studios, Beals ventured into the world of photojournalism and made a name for herself through her tenacity, self-promotion, and freelance news photos.

A Photojournalist’s Point of View: Covering an Atomic Energy Agency Meeting at the UN

Want to see what it's like to cover a meeting between the world's nations as a photographer? Vienna-based photojournalist Patrick Domingo was recently sent to the annual meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the United Nations Office at Vienna. In addition to shooting photos for official news purposes, Domingo decided to record some point-of-view footage showing what the experience is like.

Embarrassed to Photograph Ferguson

I’ve spent the past week down in Ferguson, MO covering the protests and police response. What I never expect was to find myself embarrassed to photograph but it happened on Tuesday 8/19/14.

Getty Photographer and Former Marine Scott Olson Arrested Monday in Ferguson

Getty Images photographer arrested #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/ScOaHO8bjY— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 18, 2014

The photograph above, tweeted out by Huffington Post justice reporter Ryan J. Reilly, shows Getty photographer Scott Olson being taken into custody by Ferguson police while covering the ongoing protests and riots sparked by the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed African American man who was shot and killed by police on August 9th.

Destroying the Creative ‘Monsters’ and Overcoming the Immature Mindset that Nearly Killed Me

I’m writing this from the perspective of someone who is trekking through the process. I’m not sitting on a high horse. I can’t even afford a horse.

It is often said that you have to be partially insane to be a creative. I’m not sure if that idea is influenced by the odd forms of modern art, or if someone recognized the risk of choosing fields with high unemployment rates.

Photog Awarded $200K for Unlawful Arrest, Prompts the Creation of an Officer Training Program

Three years ago, in late July of 2011, freelance news photographer Philip Datz was arrested by the Suffolk County Police Department in New York for “obstruction of governmental administration” because he was recording the conclusion of a police chase from a safe distance away.

Last we told you about the case, the police were dropping the charges and officers were going to have to go through "media relations training," but the case has gone much further than that in the intervening three years.

Riding the Rails: A Chat with Documentary Photographer Michelle Frankfurter

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Michelle Frankfurter is a documentary photographer from Takoma Park, MD. Before settling in the Washington, DC area, Frankfurter spent three years living in Nicaragua where she worked as a stringer for the British news agency, Reuters and with the human rights organization Witness For Peace documenting the effects of the contra war on civilians.

Since 2000, Frankfurter has concentrated on the border region between the United States and Mexico, and on themes of migration.

CNN iReport Invites Google Glass Owners to Become Citizen Journalists

In a world where cell phone photography and videography is as prevalent as it is, CNN’s iReport has manage to become a fairly successful citizen journalism service, allowing users from across the globe to upload their eye-witness and breaking news. The service essentially crowdsources breaking news, but iReport is about to take it a step further than even the smartphone allows for.

Why You Should Think About Hiring a Photojournalist to Document Your Wedding

"Documentary wedding photography" is a style of photography which a small, but growing, number of couples are turning to for their wedding day. Of course, there have been photographers documenting life ever since there has been photography. In the last 10 years or so, more and more couples have decided against the traditional style of endless posed group photographs and portraits, and are commissioning photographers who do not direct or pose people during the day.

This style of wedding photography has attracted a fair number of news photographers and photojournalists, who have been doing exactly that in other areas of life. I've spent 16 years working as a photojournalist for The Times newspaper in London, and thought I'd post some pictures to illustrate how that experience has shaped how I now approach photographing a wedding.

Amy Toensing Shares the Story Behind Her Photographs of the Oldest Culture On Earth

At an estimated 60,000 years old, the indigenous culture of Australia, the Aboriginals, are estimated to be the oldest still-surviving culture on the planet. And in the above video world-renown photographer Amy Toensing shares her experience photographing this incredibly unique culture for National Geographic, delivering an extremely heartfelt talk about the hardships the Aboriginal culture has continually faced since their land was colonized in 1788.

These Pictures Are Not For You

As photojournalists, we live the good life, getting the rare chance to make pictures for a living. While that is all fine and good, being a human first is always most important. There is no exception -- especially in the case of spot news.

When a square mile of earth swept west into Oso, Washington, leaving 36 (and rising) dead, media from local and national outlets hastily mobilized to the rural area to cover one of Washington’s most catastrophic natural disasters. In times of great sadness, tragedy and personal loss to others, a journalist’s job is to clearly, accurately and respectfully report the story to an audience, keeping dignity at the forefront. While “clearly” and “accurately” smack of journalism school requirements, “respectfully” is often passed over.

Memory Cards vs Kalashnikovs: On Trying to Cover the News in Crimea Right Now

As Jim Morrison once said, "Whoever controls the media, controls the mind." There is power in an image, and the press often become persona non grata in a conflict that is socially and politically charged. This is what is happening in Crimea right now, as photojournalists Kilian Fichou and Laetitia Peron revealed in a recent article on the AFP Correspondent blog.

Photojournalist Given Humanitarian Award for Choosing to Help Before Taking Photos

As a photojournalist, there are many moments where you have to answer a simple ethical question: do you take the photo, or do you try to help? This happens a lot in more tragic events, and conflict photographers are often accused of making the wrong choice.

Which is the right and wrong choice is up for debate in any given situation -- a photo might spark change on an international level after all -- but one thing is for sure: we don't often hear about photojournalists putting down the camera and choosing to help right then and there. That, however, is exactly what happened in the case of Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz in February of this year.