julie wainwright photograp Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Newbie question here, I have been reading everything I can to learn about photography, but I can't seem to find a straight answer on what exactly is a PJ Style of shooting? Is it more candid or is it more of a documentary style? Thanks in advance. Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fullmetalphotograper Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 In terms of wedding photography it is documentary and candid. Basically covering event from beginning to end. Also looking to tell the story of the wedding. You are looking at covering as it unfolds with nice environmental shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 IMO, PJ wedding photography at it's best is a photo essay in the tradition of Life magazine. Without human sensitivity, talent and honed skills, at its worst it can be a collection of dull snapshots. It definitely is not as easy as it looks to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaetano catelli Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 i've only seen the real deal once. it was at a wedding vendor fair. i looked at this guy's work and exclaimed, "you ARE a photosjournalist!". sure enough, he had a tear sheet showing covers of various newsmagazines he had shot. turns out some of the people at the news agency that handled his work had started asking him to shoot their wedding, and it grew into a sideline for him. he used a Leica and shot T-max 3200 only -- no flash, no assistant. he had his own darkroom in which he made silver gelatin prints. prices started at $6000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annealmasy Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Visit the <a href="http://www.wpja.com">WPJA</a>. They give a pretty fair description of what wedding photojouralists do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooke_moore Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 I think this is the most misunderstood description going around. What a photojournalist is and what most clients think are so far apart it is almost silly. From the wedding mag influence which thinks that snapshots are photojournalism and what a lot of people are selling is a sloppy coverage that provides a lot of images but not much focus to them. If you follow some of the threads here, like one recent one about must have misses you will see that much of the starting out people think that if you just passivly shoot you will some how have a pj approach. The tradition of PJ is one of intense storytelling with a point of view. This is sadly lacking in much of the wedding PJ that I see. The key point in my opionion is the point of view. Point of view is what I feel I try to do in shooting weddings. By that I mean seeing the event unfold through the eyes of the bride, the groom, the parents, the guest and even through the sort of overview eye of the photographer. What results is a set of images that surprise each of the participants because some are what they remember, some are what they imagine and some are totally from a point of view that they could not imagine. The best story telling photography is like that. It is intentional and often quite scripted and at times directed. Finding the balance is hard work. Takes time, takes skill and takes intense energy. Brooke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_sokal___dallas__tx Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 True PJ is telling a STORY with pictures-photo+journalism. It is not a random collection of candid pictures but the pictures in true PJ should be candid. The event is captured, the story told, without significant interference by the observer (photographer). PJ style is made to look like PJ but there is often action directed by the photographer. That may be as simple as asking the subject to repeat something they actually just did but the tog failed to capture, or may be totally scripted and posed to look spontaneous. Those are my thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonj Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Julie, I think photojournalism is when you set out to capture a photo that will convey the emotion of the event. I think candid pictures are unrehearsed photos as they happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_schilling___chicago_ Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Julie this is a good question and I think your answers will change as you gain more experience and knowledge. I went to the WJPA website to see if I could pull their definition of PJ but it looks like they've revised their definition to simplify the wording. Their old definition was very vague and appeared to be the work of a committee that had trouble coming to a consensus. Much of what is called or viewed as PJ is staged. Many brides will say that they don't want alot of "posed" photos but what they are really saying is that they don't want alot of photos that look posed. Seems to me there's a difficult balance to getting all the expected images of the key players without posing and/or positioning. I think the next wave of coverage will be a "Fusion" style that incorporates PJ and Traditional with a Fashion and Street style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn_mertz Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Maybe this will help. Here is National Press Photographers Association code of ethics. Apply it to wedding photography. http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/ethics.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie wainwright photograp Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 Does PJ only refer to weddings? I know this is the wedding forum mostly but it surely follows through somewhat into the other realms. Thanks everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_sokal___dallas__tx Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Huh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie wainwright photograp Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 Photojournalism is not only a wedding idea is it? Can't it be for any event? Julie Maybe my nurse brain is thinking too far off the ladder! I worked a night shift last night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_fang Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Photojournalism can be applied to anything as long as you're shooting what you see, in a storytelling way, without setting anything up. Once you start interfering, whether by directing the subject, inserting subject matter, or Photoshopping beyond crops/toning/sharpening, it's no longer photojournalism and you're being unethical and/or ignorant if you're trying to pass it off as such. <p>I think photojournalism STYLE can be more loosely applied, in that the pictures can LOOK like they're PJ but may be directed or manipulated. That's fine too as long as the client knows what they're getting, and the photographer's honest about what they're representing.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn_mertz Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Yes, step out of the wedding realm and into the medical maybe it will be easier to understand. If I walk around photoographing you working as an RN and just observe and photograph that is PJ. If I tell you to stick a syringe in someone's arm because it will make an interesting photo that is not PJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie wainwright photograp Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 Got it! Ha! Thanks guys for the answers, everything is a lot more clear now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiva Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Also, my photojournalism style will be different from another person's style and we will "tell the story" the way we see it. (In the case of a wedding we are shooting photojournalism to a well choreographed and planned event so the chore is to "see" the special moments living and breathing within the planned and choreographed event.) No one Correct Way to tell a story but is seems to be a person's perspective. A person's perspective can be skewed and molded or it can be fluid and artistic or it can be ... ... ... Sadly, photojournalism can be like a lot of today's journalism which is planned and canned according to political leanings. CAUTION to all photojournalists to approach each wedding story with a fresh mind's eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg_avalos Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 WPJA is a great organization but for my taste, it places too many creative constraints on photographers. If you are willing to meet their requirements, then you might want to check them out. They are an impressive organization. Personally, I think their competition and website requirements are stifling. Many photographers have been practicing what I call Freestyle Generalism. Basically it's a little more than a simple fusion of the two formats. I placed my thoughts into a blog... www.avalosphoto.blogspot.com I have been working on the site for a while now but expect it to be done in the fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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