I really enjoyed the speakers at the Alexia Foundation on Friday. Since my major is photojournalism, it was fascinating to hear from such great photojournalists, especially Tim Kennedy. One of my favorite things that he said (not verbatim) was, "Your ability to photograph someone depends on your ability to convince them of the value of their story". He really emphasized the importance of showing a person's story through your pictures. He said he tries to capture through picture the work that people put into their passion, and that the greatest benefit of visual journalism is the chance to meet people. I loved hearing him say this because people fascinate me, and I love having the chance to try to show someone's character and personality through a photograph. Some of the other things he said were vital as a photojournalist are passion, observation, courage, empathy, building trust, and inspiration. Although these were all powerful to me, empathy stands out the most. I loved that he said that the subjects of your photographs aren't objects. I think lots of times photojournalists forget they're photographing people, and view them instead as statistics. It's important to view everyone you photograph, no matter how unknown, young, or different from you they may be, as real people with real stories. Because if we taking pictures of them don't see them for their individual worth, how can the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment