Capturing the Moment
Module 1, Activity 7.1 - Photojournalism Introduction
Student Page
(teacher lesson for this page)

Introduction:

In this lesson you go on a virtual field trip to view the work of award winning photojournalists. You will also read about how difficult it can be to take the right photograph and what a dramatic effect the right photograph can have. In the end, you will start to define the role of photography in journalism.

Activities:

Task One - Virtual Field Trip
Go to the digital museum called the Newseum and view their pages on Photojournalism.

Please note that this site requires a flash plug in. If you cannot see the site properly, you can click on the link at the bottom of the Newseum page to get a plugin. If you are working with very low Internet bandwidth, the site will likely take a long time to load.

As you look at the photographs and listen to the commentary, remember that you are trying to decide what photojournalism is. Look at least 3 collections before moving on to the next step of Task One.

Now that you have viewed several photos, decide what photojournalism is and record your definition in your notebook. Be sure to include why photojournalists take the pictures that they take.

Task Two - Point of View
Read the article linked to below and then return to this page.
Abortion - by Mark Hertzberg

After reading the article, find a partner and discuss the following questions:

1. Why was the story a difficult one to cover?
2. What made the story news?
3. How did the photographer decide which photo to select?
4. What is the purpose of photojournalism?

Task Three - Guided Imaging

One of the most famous pictures from the War in Vietnam is a photograph of Kim Phuc. Select one of the following articles and read it. As you read, think about the power of one photograph to change a war, a person and the quest for peace.

• Guilt and Forgivness
• The Power of Forgiveness

After reading the article, do an image search on the Internet for one of two other images from the same time period. Look at either:

1. Eddie Adams' photograph of Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a suspected Viet Cong collaborator in the head, taken February 1, 1968.
2. John Filo's image of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over the body of Jeff Miller from May 4, 1970

Find a partner who found the other image. Do not show each other your images. Instead, describe everything you see in the picture to your partner. Speak slowly and specifically about each detail that you see. Have your partner close his eyes while he listens and try to picture everything in his head. Once you have completely described your picture, your partner tells you about the picture he has found. Again you close your eyes and try to picture the image he is describing. Once you have both described your pictures, look at the images themselves.

The process of having someone describe a picture as opposed to seeing the picture expresses one of the key differences between the printed word and a photograph. In your notebook, record at least three ways that photojournalism tells a story differently than news writing does.

Add to your notes by writing about a the role of photograph in the context of the newspaper. Write down three roles that any photograph in any newspaper has. Do not use telling a story as one of those three items, as telling a story is already a given.