Photojournalism: An Art, Or An Epidemic??

As a journalism student, it has to be awknowledged that the writing component isn’t all there is to it. Photojournalism used to be an art, a merge of two kinds of art-forms existing for the same purpose: to tell a story. But lately it seems the world of photojournalism has become so tainted and trivial due to so may cases of altered pictures, it’s more or less as trustworthy as a room of a thousand lawyers! So where do we draw the line? When is it ok, and not ok to alter a photo- a moment in time?

Here’s an example, the following picture is of a calla lily. This picture was used as the cover of a greeting card:

Now a lot of people would say that even though it is obvious that the lily was not found floating in a black background, crisp and perfectly on it’s side; the alteration is a form of art… making the image more pleasing to the eye. For many, this is ok. It is even ok for the following photo to be a representation of

the human take on nature today:

This picture was altered to make the tree look like it was swaying… the picture almost looks like a painting… but one that was never painted. This person used a photo of the mountains in the background and added everything else to it. Again, some would say it was art, and it acceptable to use as a cover for a magazine article in “New Internationalist” magazine. Yet when you show the public the difference in these two pictures of O.J Simpson printed in two seperate magazines, placed side by side in the shelves, a wole heap of controversy arises!

Both of these pictures started out exactly the same. Time Magazine decided to darken the image for artistic reasons. This brought on so any racial arguments and debate that Time Magazine had to publish an apology to the public! So when is it ok to alter a photo.. I personally think that as a photojournalist… the pictures should be of enough quality and substance to stand without alteration. I mean a photo is a moment in time, how can you possibly tell an accurate story with an altered picture?

Humans seem to accept the change in pictures of objects and nature, and see the issue only when it is their face on display. In the O.J case, it was mainly the African American community that disagreed with the alteration.

Yet, alterations happen so often, it’s hard to tell what really happened in each image we see. As a journalism student, that is alarming because our whole goal in what we do is to tell the story, the truth, the facts… it’s one thing to fix a personal camera mistake, like erasing your thumb from a picture. But then again… if it was a bad shot… why not just take the picture again? A good photojournalist should be able to see a “kodak moment” without the aid of alterations.

If changing the picture alters the perception of what actually happened in the picture, then it isn’t an accurate depiction… that’s my opinion. I know there are a massive amount of arguments to rebut my opinion, so… lemme have ‘em… let’s see what everyone else thinks!

Until next time, Keep Smilin’

Tinatinks

Is Home Really Where The Heart Is?

I found this story in the Hamilton Spectator today about an apartment building that had fallen to pieces while people were still living in it. According to the Spec., the city had known about the deteriorating foundation for almost 50 years! I don’t understand how a human being could possibly sleep at night knowing there are people living in an unstable building.

Not only did the city know, but the landlords were asked to fix it long ago, and they apparently told the city they were in the process of doing so. This is a pretty obvious question, but wouldn’t someone see the fruits of such labour if they were actually trying to fix the problem?

There were even tenants and citizens writing letters about the issue trying to get someone to get off their butts and do something about it!

Yet, despite the constant requests… the building practically collapsed and tenants had to flee the bulding with 10min. notice!

In the end, no one was fined for anything. The landlords were only expected to reimburse the tenants for lost posessions and damage and such.

Even though there were documents showing that someone was aware of the issue for so long, and complaints were steady, no one was fined!

I personally think there should have been more legal action. I live in an apartment building where I can see the remains of this fallen building, and from what I can see, there were major problems. I probably wouldn’t have known that it used to be an apartment building if I wasn’t told! It’s just a pile of rubble now!

So the results now are that the building department that the landlord was working for was reviewed, and told the landlords were responsible, yet no legal charge. Shouldn’t there have been something done?

Please feel free to comment, I’d like to see what other people would do if they were deciding the ruling for the landlords.

Obama+Clinton= Catch 22

I’d like to take this time to comment on the ongoing controversy surrounding this year’s presidential candidates: Barack Obama, and Hilary Clinton.

Let me first make it very clear that I am completely neutral in who I think should win the election; but I can’t help but notice how throughout their campaigns, the ancient issues of racism and sexism have been plastered throughout the media. Voters seem to be caught in a catch 22. Should people vote for Clinton to avoid feeling sexist, or should they vote for Obama to avoid the guilt of acting racist? It’s no secret that both parties have been playing the activist card. It seems people are choosing cause rathar than a President. I personally think that voters are forgetting what really matters at the polls. Rathar than focussing on what each candidate plans to do for their country as leader, it seems people are more concerned with their skin colour and gender. A lot of people would argue that American culture has gotten past the ideas of racism and sexism; but if that were true, would we be having the debate to begin with? I would be curious to see how many people would still honestly agree with keeping women in the kitchen, and Caucasian men in the White House. Maybe that’s why “Leave It To Beaver” was so popular for so long!!… Moving on… I think that emphasizing the fact that Obama is dark-skinned, or that Hilary is a woman is only endorsing the ideas that are supposed to be “American History”. Being a journalism student, that would further raise the question of whether or not it’s right for the media to highlight the controversy surrounding these two issues.

Now don’t get me wrong… no matter who wins, it will be a historical moment for America since both Hilary and Obama are the first of their “kind” (a woman or an African-American) to be president. I can’t help but find myself glued to the T.V to see who has the most votes where. I honestly haven’t even been following what either of them stands for, so I’m guilty of exactly what this blog is ranting about. Voters are so concerned with what really doesn’t matter when it comes to the best-suited candidate for President. The URL below is a blog that I found talking about racism and sexism in the election, and how it is more or less a battle of which community is more oppressed. There’s lots of discussion here so take a look and see what you think!! As always, I’m interested in anyone’s comments, so don’t be shy!! I’ve added the Movement Vision Lab blog on my blogroll for anyone who is interested in reading more opinions on this. http://www.movementvisionlab.org/blog/gender-race-and-the-presidential-election-a-response-to-gloria-steinemAn

on the side note:
I found this youtube video poking fun at Obama’s name… Honestly though, who could resist!?!?! Enjoy!!

Until next time… Keep smilin’
TinaTinks

An Interesting Personality Quiz

I saw this quiz online that was created by two well-known philosophers named Carl Jung and Isabel Meyers-Briggs… quite logically called the Meyers-Briggs personality quiz. It gives you a four letter classification after you answer all the “yes” or “no” questions; and then explains what each letter means. After taking it I was considered an ENFP (Extroverted Intuitive, Feeling, Percieveing) person, and it sounds about right. I guess I’m a typical female that lets my emotions take control. Anyway Check it out and see if you agree with your results!!!

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

This is the site that will explain your results further…

http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

This is tinatinks’ debut to the world of blogging!

This would obviously be my first posted blog. The point of this post is really just to get to know the program, and play with all the creative components… as far as substance goes… it’s  work in progress. This blog is going to take on a theme of reflection. Call it a stream-of-conciousness if you will, on ethics. A lot of the posts will be debatable topics surrounding the questions that people constantly ask themselves subconciously; things about life and death, the human condition, and scenarios that would make you question the motives and morals of a person. Being a first year journalism student at Mohawk College, the idea of journalistic ethics comes up time and time again. Well since humans are who make up the world of journalism, it’s really general human ethics that are being judged and questioned. I’ll post quizzes, discussion topics, scenario situations and personal reflections in the hopes that I can get some commentary or opinions in response.