Photojournalism

(click on image for larger view - photo Goron Tomasevic/Reuters)

I've been waiting to see some impressive photojournalism pictures coming out of the recent hot spots as history is dramatically and tragically made. I've not seen any that's blown me away as yet, though have a look at these images from Boston - of those, the above shot is my favourite. It shows passion and anguish which is enough to separate it from say, a crowd scene at a football game. Difficult times for photojournos' as they are no longer welcome by either side. But just one clear evocative image can last in your memory a lifetime. There are still shots from the Vietnam war that haunt me to this day. Video just washes over the mind and evaporates. It's the close up intensity and detail of a photograph capturing a moment that remains in the mind. There's nothing stronger visually and, currently hardly valued. The pro's out there risking life and limb do so for peanuts. It's for everyone's benefit that they continue to do so. Contrast that ethos with the paparazzi.

                             

 (click on image for larger view)

My own little bit of captured history was this moment when the Berlin Wall came down and I can say 'I was there!' No bullet dodging but getting lost in east Berlin, even accidentally, was a crime which we fortunately escaped from. Fantastic times.

Photographed on Nikon FE + 24mm, Tri-X film.