HISTORIES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

https://we.tl/t-XUUEml6QSy

1. EMERGENCE OF PHOTOJOURNALISM FROM ITS BEGINNING TILL VIETNAME WAR. WHY IS

VIETNAM WAR A SIGNIFICANT MOMENT FOR THE JISM?

Using images to communicate the news, photojournalism has shaped the way we view the world since
the mid-19th century. What began as war photography has slowly spread to other newsworthy events,
including sports, and even long-form storytelling through photo essays.Intrinsically linked with print
media and maneuverability of cameras, photojournalism, born in its formalized form in early 20th
century was meant to show to the world the evidence for crimes against humanity. It aimed to display
through images the proof of the unbelievable.There had already been photographs of important
apocalyptic events but the facility to print them in newspapers had not been invented.

Photojournalism has its roots in war photography, and the early use of using photos in the typical
reportage sense was in the 1850s with the Romanian painter and photographer Carol Szathmari and
Roger Fenton who shot images of the Crimean War that demonstrated its effects. Fenton’s work was
published in the Illustrated London News, bringing these images to a mass audience for the first
time.Illustrating news stories with images was only possible due to advances in technology. Early
photographs were printed using engravings, with the Illustrated London News being the first weekly
publication to make extensive use of the technology.

Similar engraving techniques were also used by photographer Mathew Brady during the US Civil War.In
1861, he began his journey photographing the American Civil War, at times placing himself in danger
during battle—though technological limitations stopped him from being able to shoot photos while the
subjects were in movement. Brady’s was a large operation, with him employing over 20 assistants, each
equipped with a mobile darkroom. While he has sometimes been criticized for not taking all of the
images himself, his work, and its subsequent success from its first exhibition in 1862, has garnered him
recognition as one of the pioneers of photojournalism.In the second half of the 19th century, the field
would expand beyond war and disaster photos. Photographer John Thomson paired with journalist
Adolphe Smith for a monthly magazine that depicted the lives of people on the streets of London. From
1876 to 1877, Street Life in London revolutionized the field by using images as the dominant means of
storytelling.

Robert Capa's cult image of the Falling Loyalist in the Spanish Civil War in 1938 earned him his
international reputation and became a powerful symbol of war. He famously remarked “If your pictures
aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough”. From the 1930s through the 1970s, photojournalism saw
its “golden age,” where technology and public interest aligned to push the field to new heights.
Innovations like the flash bulb and compact Leica 35mm camera made photography more portable than
ever. This miniaturization led to an exponential growth in picture magazines like Berliner Illustrate
Zeitung, The New York Daily News, and LIFE, which employed large staffs of photographers and used the
photo-essay as a means to disseminate news.In 1930s ‘Berlin Illustrierte Zeitung’ was selling 2 million
copies, whereas ‘Life’ sold half million copies of its first issue. Other magazines were Picture post
(Britain) which published 26 images of Capa and gave captions like ‘You can almost smell the gunpowder
in this picture’. Another famous magazine was VU from Paris.

Women also became leading figures in the field, with Margaret Bourke-White being the first American
female war reporter and the photographer of the first LIFE cover. Dorothea Lange was one of many
photographers employed by the Farm Security Administration to document the Great Depression in
1929. A pioneer in documentary photography, her Migrant Mother image became an iconic
representation of the era.

There was a distinct difference in the styles of French and American magazines with regards to visual
reporting. The French call it Photo reportage whereas the American call it photojournalism. Style and
approaches are different. The French employed a more poetic, lyrical approach whereas the Americans
had a more direct style. The Frenchman Henri Cartier-Bresson began about 1930 to develop the style
that he later called the search for the “decisive moment.” To him the camera was an “extension of the
eye.” Preferring the miniature 35-mm-film camera, he worked unobtrusively, making numerous
exposures that usually included one in which all the elements come together to form a compelling
psychological and visual statement.Soviet approach to publicity is evident through the illustrated
magazine ‘USSR in Construction’. It was a journal published in the decade of 1930 to 1941, as well as
briefly in 1949 and became an artistic gem and counter-current in the first year of socialist realism. With
elements such as oversized pages and multi-page fold-outs, each issue exists as an elaborate artistic
creation.Photography of this nature gives a sense of heightened reality. Looking at a photograph of a
scene or event was almost equivalent to being there. The journal informed readers abroad of the rapid
construction and industrialization taking place within the Soviet Union and depicted the nation as a
leading industrial power.

• World War II is a major event and war photographers are born. With the conflagration of war
enveloping Europe with many publications stopped or in Nazi control ‘Life’ took the lead on
Allied side by employing 21 photographers from all over the world.
• Compared to coverage of the Vietnam war 25 years later, atrocities were downplayed, while
courage of the combatants was stressed.

• Vietnam is a turning point full of contradictions and protest.

• Photographers were first welcomed by Americans as the government was eager for publicity.
This proved a disaster for them as photographers who started freely covering were also
providing the viewers with their point of view. This exposed the contradictions that lay within.

• While the US govt was suggesting that the war was being won and offering body counts of the
enemy dead to prove it, the images of war in Vietnam that were published in the media were
contradicting these statements. Never again could the photo reporters be trusted to confirm the
 point of view of the others, because through their photographs they effectively started to
challenge the legitimacy of the war that their society and many publications were sponsoring .

• Rather than authenticating the idealized image of Americans many of the photos were now
providing a disturbing even a somewhat radical point of view.

• Larry Burrows and David Duncan, two ex-marines turned war photographers publicly expressed
disillusionment and anger about the war. Don McCullin is another well known photographer who
expressed his anger at the atrocity of the war.

• The later wars have had a more challenging relationship with the photographers and
photographers continue to work and perish in this dangerous terrain.

• The embedded photographer has become the new photo reporter raising many ethical
questions.

World War II is a major event and war photographers are born. With the conflagration of war enveloping
Europe with many publications stopped or in Nazi control, ‘Life’ took the lead on Allied side by
employing 21 photographers from all over the world.One key US regulation was that all civilian pictures
had to be equally available to all. Therefore all civilian coverage had to operate on a basis of pooled staff.
The original participants in the pool were the three chief American picture-gathering agencies—the
Associated Press (AP), Acme Newspictures, and International News Photos—and Life magazine.
Compared to coverage of the Vietnam War 25 years later, atrocities were downplayed, while courage of
the combatants was stressed. Military photographers also made major contributions during this
period.W Eugene Smith is another war photographer whose coverage of WWII and the Minamata
disaster gained widespread recognition.

In another important development, in 1947 photojournalists Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour, and
Henri Cartier-Bresson were among those who created Magnum Photos. This photographer owned
cooperative harnessed the collective strength of its members to cover the great events of the 20th
century.Other agencies that followed are Sygma, Gama, Agence France-Press, and AP. The end of the war
also led to the larger distribution of color material for coloured photography which challenged the
standard of using only black and white in photojournalism.Color became the standard for "legacy
media," newspapers and magazines, as well as for web news sites.

The Vietnam War (1955-75) and its depiction through photojournalism was a turning point full of
contradictions and protest.Photographers were first welcomed by Americans as the govt. was eager for
publicity. This proved a disaster for them as photographers who started freely covering were also
providing the viewers with their point of view. This exposed the contradictions that lay within. While the
US govt. was suggesting that the war was being won and offering body counts of the enemy dead to
prove it, the images of war in Vietnam that were published in the media were contradicting these
statements. Never again could the photo reporters be trusted to confirm the point of view of the others,
because through their photographs they effectively started to challenge the legitimacy of the war that
their society any many publications were sponsoring. Rather than authenticating the idealized image of
Americans many of the photos were now providing a disturbing even a somewhat radical point of view.
Larry Burrows and David Duncan two ex-marines turned war photographers publicly expressed
disillusionment and anger about the war. Don McCullin is another well-known photographer who
expressed his anger at the atrocity of the war. During the same time, Indian photographers like Raghu Rai
and Kishore Parekhcovered the Bangladesh War in 1971, bringing to the world the massacre of East
Pakistan’s people and their resistance.

The arrival of television led to the shift of advertising from magazines to TV; Europe though continued to
flourish. The Golden Age of Photojournalism ended in the 1970s when many photo-magazines ceased
publication. They found that they could not compete with other media for advertising revenue to sustain
their large circulations and high costs. Still, those magazines taught journalism much about the
photographic essay and the power of still images. The later wars after Vietnam have had a more
challenging relationship with the photographers and photographers continue to work and perish in this
dangerous terrain. The embedded photographer has become the new photo reporter raising many
ethical questions about their ability to represent the happening of the world in an unbiased manner.

The emergence of digital technologies has also changed photojournalism. In a field where journalistic
ethics rules, photo manipulation is a serious consideration. With digital manipulation easier than ever,
accuracy is a serious consideration. In fact, up to 20% of entries to World Press Photo are eliminated
before the final round due to post-production or manipulation violations.With many media outlets
simply picking up photo and video footage from social media users, a tide of content quantity over
quality must be balanced. The immediacy that technology affords has also aided photojournalists, giving
them the ability to send high-quality photos in seconds.

https://www.lightstalking.com/famous-vietnam-war-pictures/
 2. INVENTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Invention of Photography

Photography today is an art which everyone practices. Most people have a camera-enabled phone. But
our mobile phone cameras aren’t something that just came into being one day, cameras and
photography have revolved have evolved in more than a century to exist as it does today. The first
camera was as big as a room and today the camera can fit into our pockets. This history of photography
is an interesting one with several inventors contributing to it.

1. Camera Obscura: Since the time of Aristotle, it is known that rays of light passing through a
pinhole would form an image. This was used to watch solar eclipses. By the renaissance a lens
was fitted to the hole to improve the image and the camera itself became more portable.

Giovanni Batista in his book, Natural Magic suggested “if you can’t paint, you can buy this
arrangement and draw the outline of the image with a pencil. You will only have to fill in the
colours then”.
2. Thomas Wedgwood and Sir Humphry Davy created what we now call photograms. These were
made by placing assorted objects (leaves and insects etc.) on paper soaked in silver nitrate and
exposing them to sunlight. Those areas of the paper covered by the objects remained white; the
rest blackened after exposure to the light. Their images lasted only a short time before darkening
entirely.
Photography's basic principles, processes, and materials were discovered virtually
simultaneously by a diverse group of individuals of different nationalities, working for the most
part entirely independently of one another.
3. In 1826, French physicist, Joseph Nicéphore Niepce, made the first negative on paper and the
first known photograph on metal (heliograph).

Process: He used Bitumen of Judea, a kind of Asphalt that hardened when exposed to light.
Niepce dissolved the bitumen in lavender oil, a solvent used in varnishes, then coated a sheet of
pewter with the mixture. He placed the sheet in a camera obscura and exposed it to a scene for
eight hours (this process is same as the ‘click’ today). The light forming the image hardened in
the bright area while leaving it soft and soluble in dark areas. He then washed the plate with
lavender oil thus removing the soft, soluble bitumen that had not been struck by light. He had
found a way to remove the unexposed and still light sensitive material so that the image
remained permanent. He succeeded where Wedgewood had failed.

4. In 1839, Jacques Mandé Daguerre, a French painter announced the invention of a method for
making a direct positive image on a silver plate—the daguerreotype. However, multiple copies
couldn’t be created.
Process: It was made on a highly polished surface of silver which was plated on a copper sheet. It
was sensitised by being placed silver side down over a container of iodine crystals. Rising vapor
from Iodine reacted with the silver forming silver iodide which is light sensitive. During exposure
 a latent image was formed. To develop the exposed plate was again placed over a box of heated
mercury. Mercury vapors reacted with the exposed areas of the plate. Mercury formed frost like
amalgam or alloy with the silver. This formed the bright areas of the image. Where no light
struck no amalgam was formed. The unchanged silver iodide was dissolved in sodium thiosulfate
fixer, leaving bare metal plate which looked black, to form the dark areas of the image.

5. Hippolyte Bayard, a French photographer got a bit late than Daguerre in presenting his invention
and therefore couldn’t receive much acknowledgement. Bayard was more interested in paper as
a means of reproducing an image than silver plate but Daguerre had already presented his
invention and people were more attracted towards it.

6. Three weeks after Daguerre’s invention English scientist William Henry Fox Talbot evolved a
method for making a paper negative from which an infinite number of paper positives could be
created. He had also worked out an effective although imperfect technique for permanently
“fixing” his images. He called his method the calotype process. The calotype's paper negative
made possible the reproduction of photographic images. It was much lighter and manageable
than the Daguerrotype. However, the unavoidably coarse paper base for the negative, however,
eliminated the delicate detail that made the daguerreotype so appealing.

7. In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer introduced the collodion process. This method, also known as
the “wet plate” technique or Glass Plate Photography, involved coating a glass plate with silver
iodide in suspension, exposing it while still wet, and developing it immediately. Once fixed and
dried, the glass plate was covered with a thin, flexible film containing the negative image, the
definition and detail of which approached that of the daguerreotype. As this process merged the
advantages of both its predecessors, it was universally adopted within a very short time.

8. Gelatin Emulsion/Roll Film: By 1870s the invention and then perfection of these two techniques
made possible a dry plate technique where the dark room had not to be carried around and film
was loaded in the camera for many exposures. George Eastman was the pioneer of this
technique.

9. In 1888, George Eastman's introduction of the simple Kodak box camera (Kodak Brownie- the
first box handheld camera with a whole role of film) provided everyone with the means of
making photographs for themselves. Eastman revolutionized photography with his slogan, “You
push the button, we do the rest” and brought a commercial angle to it. His company Kodak
monopolized the selling of films and cameras. Now anyone could be a photographer.

10. In 1912, colour films came into being

11. In 1913, Oskar Bernack came up with the 35 mm format film camera which was commercially
made available as Leica (Light+ Camera) in 1924. Photographers could easily take photos around
the world and capture photos at eye level. This was also the beginning of Photo Journalism.

12. In 1930, Kodak completed 50 years and distributed half a million cameras to children below 12
years in US and Canada.
 13. In 1947, the first Polaroid camera was invented.

The Impact of Early Photography

● With the advent of the collodion process, came mass production and dissemination of
photographic prints.
● The concept of privacy was greatly altered as cameras were used to record most areas of human
life.
● The photograph was considered incontestable proof of an event, experience, or state of being.
● A number of photographers, including Timothy O'Sullivan, J. K. Hillers, and W. H. Jackson,
accompanied exploratory expeditions to the new frontiers in the American West, while John
Thomson returned from China and Maxime Du Camp from Egypt with records of vistas and
peoples never before seen by Western eyes.
● Roger Fenton, who photographed the Crimean conflict, and Mathew Brady's photographic corps,
who documented the American Civil War, provided graphic evidence of the hellishness of
combat.
● In the decades after World War II, photography of the body within the burgeoning mass media
largely reinforced gender differences the war had momentarily eased. Fashion magazines
returned in their imagery to a level of elegance and fancy dress not seen since the 1920s.
Advertising photography, now in its heyday, constructed safely differing roles for men and
women through images in which body posture, facial expression, grooming, and dress figured
prominently.
● In the 1960s photography made evident the centrality of the body to radical changes in society.
While battlefield corpses had figured prominently in photographs from the American Civil War,
government censors successfully ruled out any large-scale photographic representation of battle
carnage until the Vietnam War, when widespread disapproval of the war propelled
photographers to defy censors. Not only did journalistic pictures record the carnage brought to
the body by the war in Southeast Asia and the protest against it in Europe and America, but
 artistic pictures seemed to reflect symbolically the psychic stress of world events on otherwise
normal bodies.
● Artists explored the social and cultural bases of the body such as gender, race, class, and sexual
orientation. They also used photography to document artistic performances that used the body
in a very physical way to redefine experience.
 3. COLONIAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN INDIA OR HOW DID THE BRITISH USE PHOTOGRAPHY AS A TOOL
TO EXERCISE POWER IN INDIA? DICSCUSS ONE IMAGE FROM THE PEOPLE OF INDIA

Colonial Photography

Since the time of its introduction to the undivided Indian subcontinent, photography has acted as a
bridge for cultural exchanges between the citizens of the country and the colonial rulers. The
photographic practice began during the zenith of the British colonial period. Over time, the camera
evolved from an instrument of visual storytelling to a method of administering and dominating over a
vast, divergent population.

Photography came to India shortly after its introduction in Europe in 1839, though the new technology
did not become popular in the subcontinent until the 1850s. The advent of this new technology
coincides with the 1857 Indian Rebellion, the most important event in nineteenth-century India. A less
discussed consequence of the rebellion was the British government’s new demand for ethnographic
photographs in order to categorize people as a means for effective colonial rule.

In 1858, after the rebellion was suppressed and the mutineers severely punished, the new British
colonial authorities commissioned their officers to take photographs of their Indian subjects in “the first
state-sanctioned archival photographic practice in India.” Photography provided colonial rulers with a
new technology to categorize people by religion and caste, which helped contribute to long-lasting caste
and religious tensions in India.

Photographs of Western India, Volume I: Costumes and Characters by William Johnson, contains
eighty-seven photographs of different groups from western India classified by religion, caste, occupation,
and gender.

https://www.dailyo.in/variety/people-of-india-1868-archives-india-museum-photographs/story/1/8805.
html

https://archive.org/details/peopleofindiaser03greauoft/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater

https://scroll.in/magazine/913134/the-exoticised-images-of-india-by-western-photographers-have-left-a
-dismal-legacy

Inception of Photography in 19th century India

Photography was first used in India in Jan1840. Exactly One year after its announcement. Thacker Spink
and Co. of Calcutta advertised Daguerreotype cameras in the daily, Friends Of India. The earliest known
image is a daguerrotype of the San Souci theatre in Calcutta.

By 1860-65, every city with a British administration had several studios. The three presidencies of that
period i.e. Bombay, Kolkata and Madras were the first metropolises to host these commercial
photography studios. One of the first and principal initiatives among these was the Bombay
Photographic Society (October 1854). Established by Governor Lord Elphinstone and Lady Canning, it
started with over two hundred members hailing from diverse professional backgrounds. The Bombay
Photographic Society and its monthly journal became a successful platform for the exchange of
knowledge between local amateurs and expert practitioners.

Camera as an administrative tool

After the invention of cameras in Britain and France, the appearance of photography in India was almost
immediate. In the 1850s as British colonies increased in numbers, a large number of photographers
visited India to capture the architectural, natural and anthropological elements of the country. This led to
the cognitive exchange between British photographers involving the transfer of their skills to native
Indian draftsmen and surveyors, strengthening the use of photography as an administrative tool. The
camera entered as an instrument to document people, traditions, monuments and notable events.

While the expeditions of these British photographers across the subcontinent were regarded as an
endeavor to document and record the momentous events, changing landscape and the socio-political
scenario, there are several underlying narratives that counter this glorification surrounding the imperial
era and the advancements it brought.

Other Early Uses

1. Identification: Cheevers, Secretary to the Medical Board in Calcutta noted that by 1856, the
police were using photography in identification of old offenders and to identify victims.
2. Documentation: In 1856 Joseph Mullins of Photographic society of Bengal had suggested photo
records of pensioners to avoid impersonations, and in 1862 there were calls for prostitutes to
carry certificates with photos detailing presence or absence of venereal diseases.

Photography as an apparatus of the colonial state

Colonies were testing grounds for new technologies, especially because the colonizers could have a
much greater control there.

A culture of visual representation through paintings and lithography was already in place. But with the
advent of photography they were deemed unreliable and deceptive. This was mainly because the
paintings carried the artist’s point of view. Photography required no such testimony, for it provided both
the privileging of the visual and the indexical.

The state mobilized photography in its attempt to have knowledge over, and control of diverse and
mobile workforces and the power relations constructed through these processes came to invest
photography with an authority that could not be reduced to its technical and semiotic properties.

Later CS Pierce identified three types of signs: symbols, icons and indexes.
Photos are iconic because they resemble whatever was originally in front of the camera and they
are indexical because it is the physical act of light having bounced off an object through the lens
and left impression on the film emulsion.
Photography became a tool for surveillance. It not only helped in procuring evidence but also led to
exerting of power.

The Camera as a Tool of Subjugation

In the process of documentation, several British photographers tended to bypass the ethics of
photojournalism. As pointed out by writers Diva Gujral and Nathaniel Gaskell in regard to their
collaborative book "Photography in India: A Visual from the 1850s to the Present" some photographs,
especially those of the members of indigenous ethnic communities remain witness of the coercion
employed to capture them within their native environments; where these subjects appear visibly
uncomfortable in front of the camera. Images like these hint at the larger processes of subjugation and
control that were not allowed to come to the surface.

The disparity in the photojournalistic practices of British photographers and Indian photographers is
quite distinct here. The difference lies in the subject in their photographs and the outlook through which
these protagonists were captured. Samuel Bourne, Linnaeus Tripe, William Johnson were driven to
document and record the primitive cultural landscape of the country, the tribal communities and
working class, ignoring the sensibilities regarding their subjects. Besides their enthusiasm towards
photography, their agenda appeared to portray the “chaotic and primitive East”; in desperate need of
colonial intervention through images of famine stricken villagers, racial stereotypes, dilapidated buildings
and heritage sites and the impoverished labour class.

Though their images provide a realistic visual testimony of the economic scenario of 19th century India,
they are devoid of the cultural sentiments and inclusion of consent from the human subjects in them.
And in case of landscape photography, the visual aesthetics was one of order and stability. Rather than
depicting remote regions as untamed or untouched, the photographers tended to highlight the
mountains, sweeping valleys and tropical flora and the establishments of affluent English bungalows.

The narrative being depicted through the documentation by British photographers can be construed as
the legitimization of the colonial presence. Although these images when published in newspapers of
Great Britain they ultimately sparked serious controversies over the function of the British empire and
the administrators posted in India. The photographs were indicative of the highest kind of colonial
cruelty and mismanagement. The debate regarding the need of a British colonial power in India spread
throughout the higher echelons of the British government.

The Anthropological Value of Photography

In his talk to the Photographic society of Bengal Oct. 1856, Joseph Mulins stressed the anthropological
value in capturing all minute varieties of Oriental life, oriental scenery, oriental nations and oriental
manners. In 1861, local governments were issued instructions to collect photographs of tribes and castes
under their jurisdiction.

Photographers like Raja Deen Dayal, Hurricund Chintamon, Samuel Bourne, Charles Shepherd, Linnaeus
Tripe, Willoughby Wallace Hooper Henderson and Johnson, and Underwood set out on trips and
captured images of the architectural wonders, unusual topography, portraiture of royal families and
indigenous ethnic communities. Their photographs trace the eccentricity of India’s customs, the
grandeur of royalty, festivities and architecture, all at its best.

Their photographs were not simply a reflection of the architectural and cultural landscapes, but gave us a
glimpse of the perspective through which the British saw India and its inhabitants.

Conclusion

Despite the political undertones and the larger administrative processes involved with photography,
colonial India's early cameras were also used to produce art, postcards and souvenirs. Some of the first
images to be captured in the country were taken by the British army and civil service to ease the process
of record-keeping. A camera had the capability to replace a team of draftsmen who were employed to
document the planning and layout of buildings.
Keeping aside the underlying visual narrative and power struggle implied by the British photographers by
their documentations 19th and early 20th century India, their works are crucial to the study of colonial
history for scholars and researchers. Their significance spans beyond their sole function as records; they
are testimonies to the impact of the colonial empire and the employment of photography to serve as
proofs of historic moments and the socio-cultural transformations.

Role of Lord Canning

He was to become the first Viceroy in 1858, when India came under direct rule of the crown. He and his
wife were patrons of Bengal and Madras photographic societies and had developed an interest in
Photography. It resulted several years after his death, in the publication of 8 Vol. work ‘The People of
India’.

Civilian and army officers were encouraged by Canning to take Camera with them on their travels and
deposit copies with him. The collection grew and Canning gave orders to place the project on an official
basis.

In none of the images in People of India is there any engagement with the face of the subject. The
project is concerned not with individuals but with categories. The work is singularly determined by a
desire to classify groups by their political allegiance. Instead of individuality, the concern is with external
signs, how these may be read as signifiers of collective behavior.

The Salvage and the Detective Paradigm

Official photography was enveloped in a discourse of truth and indexicality, but in practice vigorous
efforts were often made to construct a different reality for the camera. Primitiveness was salvaged from
imminent extinction and encounter with hybrid reality.

Phrenology
While in European context it was a technique of diagnosing individual’s dispositions, in India W.E
Marshall attempted to elicit a collective diagnosis of all Todas as they were supposed to be an
endogamous tribe.
 4. ROLE/IMPORTANCE OF PHOTJOURNALISM

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism the collecting, editing, and presenting of news
material for publication or broadcast that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now
usually understood to refer only to still images, and in some cases to video used in broadcast
journalism. Photojournalism can fall under all subjects’ of photography but the image needs to be
news wordy to end up being published.
There are two types of photojournalism. The first type is where an image is used to illustrate a story.
Many feature journalists work closely with photographers and commission them to produce images
that will be published with their articles. There is no limit to how many images used. This is usually
the photo editor decision. The second is where an image is used to tell a story without any words.
One single image may be used or as many as ten images are often used in magazines. If you can
write - do so; it will be an advantage when you submit some images.
Photojournalism is an important aspect to the news media. For most people who
read newspapers or watch the news, it is the photographs that summarize what has
been written. This makes newspaper reading and news reporting much more
effective as now one can relate the news to real life scenes and understand fully
what it must be like to be in that actual place at that actual time. This applies
especially for people who are not too fond of reading the newspaper or watching
the news. For such people, it is the pictures that convey the news.
Photojournalism is a type of journalism that depends on images to tell a story. It is
not classical photography as the pictures taken are mostly or entirely related to a
news story or event. They are not usually for entertainment or appreciation but
more for conveyance of a news event. These images have to be relevant to society,
informative and should be able to convey what is happening in the world. The
images should also possess an objective quality. It is very important that the
photograph is relevant to the context of the story being reported.
Photojournalism has reached the same status as all other forms of journalism. A
status as a medium which is part of the daily stream of information and to which readers have a critical
attitude. Photojournalism has not become more or less
credible, just as journalism has not become more or less credible. Photojournalists
must take on the role of storytelling rather than seeing themselves as illustrators of
articles.
Greater demands are made on photojournalists but also on other users of pictures
such as journalists, editorial assistants, and editors. Photojournalists are trying to
get attention in an increasingly visually oriented environment and therefore
photojournalists must make use of visual storytelling techniques to become better
storytellers. Every journalistic photograph should tell its own story. The portrait
where the eyes catch the reader and tell stories about the person's life. The strange
light over a natural landscape. Or the funny moment from everyday life which
stimulates the reader's memory.
All photographic stories should be based on a photographic angle which creates
identification for the reader. Makes the reader feel surprised, emotional, or just
stimulated to think about something. That is the strength of the photograph! The
story is always the most important – the main contents. The storytelling tools
frame the photograph in ways that underpin and strengthen the contents. A well
composed photograph that makes good use of its mode of expression to fit the
story is more effective and makes a greater impression on the reader. It
communicates better.
Photographs do not provide readers with answers. A photograph will not tell you
why a child is crying. Therefore it is doubly important that the written and the
photographic story complement each other and use each others' strengths. The
strength of photojournalism lies in the ability to communicate feelings and the
immediate reaction from readers. Written journalism gives you the answers to who,
what and why. The photojournalist must reflect on his and the journalist's story
and the best way to express it visually. The means and the options must be
considered and a common angle determined, so the final story provides the reader
with information as well as experiences.
 5. WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON THE ETHICAL ISSUES A PHOTOJIST MUST KEEP IN MIND WHILE
COVERING SENSITIVE ISSUES RELATED TO POVERTY AND CONFLICTS? GIVE EXAMPLES TO
SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENT.

Refer to Kevin Carter, Hooper, The Guardian + ETHICS pdf

The question of ethics in photography is almost as old as photography itself. “For photographsto accuse
and possibly invoke a moral response, they must shock,” Judith Butler wrote in heressay Torture and the
Ethics of Photography

ethics as a set of principles of right conduct. ethics is the one that views it as a study of good and bad,
wrong and right in relation to a particular profession. Photojournalism is by itself a profession and its
quest of ethical issues covers a range of other sub-issues such as posing, staging, recreating, altering,
faking reality, hidden cameras, professional role Vs humanity role, covering tragedy and grief, gruesome
photos, digital alteration and indecent photos, just to mention a few.
Related to photojournalists’ code of ethics which includes accuracy, truthfulness, respect to privacy,
objectivity, integrity, a sense of public interest and humanness.

● posing and accuracy

● staging and truthfulness
● recreation, alteration and objectivity
● faking reality and professional honesty
● hidden camera, privacy and public interest
● tragedy, grief and gruesome photos: professional Vs humanity role
● indecent photos, stereotyping and the role for human dignity

Photojournalism ethics
Though there is a professional say that “camera never lies”, in general photojournalism works within the
same ethical approaches to objectivity that is applied by other journalists. What, when and how to
shoot, how to frame and how to edit are constant considerations as far as this profession is concerned.
photojournalists operate as trustees of the public. Our primary role is to report visually on the
significant events and on the varied viewpoints in our common world. Our primary goal is the faithful
and comprehensive depiction of the subject at hand. As photojournalists, we have the responsibility to
document society and to preserve its history through images.” This is a bottom-line of the
photojournalism ethics.
“Photographic and video images can reveal great truths, expose wrongdoing and neglect, inspire hope
and understanding and connect people around the globe through the language of visual understanding.
Photographs can also cause great harm if they are callously intrusive or are manipulated.”
Photojournalists and those who manage visual news productions are accountable for upholding the
following standards in their daily work:
● Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.
● Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.
● Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording subjects. Avoid stereotyping
individuals and groups. Recognize and work to avoid presenting one’s own biases in the work.
● Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and
compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the
public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.
● While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence
events.
● Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images’ content and context. Do not
manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent
subjects.
● Do not pay sources or subjects or reward them materially for information or participation.
● Do not accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.
● Do not intentionally sabotage the efforts of other journalists.

Ethical obligations to photojournalists

So a photojournalist should maintain that, the code of ethics is followed to its maximum. He/she should,
therefore, ideally:

● Strive to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in public. Defend the rights of access for all
journalists.
● Think proactively, as a student of psychology, sociology, politics and art to develop a unique vision
and presentation. Work with a voracious appetite for current events and contemporary visual
media.
● Strive for total and unrestricted access to subjects, recommend alternatives to shallow or rushed
opportunities, seek a diversity of viewpoints, and work to show unpopular or unnoticed points of
view.
● Avoid political, civic and business involvements or other employment that compromise or give the
appearance of compromising one’s own journalistic independence.
● Strive to be unobtrusive and humble in dealing with subjects.
● Respect the integrity of the photographic moment.
● Strive by example and influence to maintain the spirit and high standards expressed in this code.
When confronted with situations in which the proper action is not clear, seek the counsel of those
who exhibit the highest standards of the profession. Photojournalists should continuously study
their craft and the ethics that guide it.

Discussing ethical issues in photojournalism

Posing Vs Accuracy
As an element of photography, pose influences how the viewer perceives what is pictured. Borchers
(2005) says that some photographs are taken without the subject’s knowing exactly when the shutter
will be snapped, whereas other subjects are well prepared for the photograph. It is this ‘well-prepared
pose’ that Mdegella (2008) says it is moving away from the ethical conduct of photojournalism since it
looses its originality (as remembered that accuracy is one among the most emphasized code of ethics for
journalists).
Borchers (2005) says that, “when persuaders (photographers) pose subjects, they can manipulate the
props of the subject uses, the subject’s facial expression and the activity the subject engages in.” This, of
course, tarnishes out the objectivity of the image and hence unethical.
Two photos of one event published in two different papers in Appendix I show the effect of posing to
photojournalism ethics. While at the weekly Mzalendo paper, the photo is showing President Jakaya
Kikwete talking (not closely) to one of the victims of violence against women, Ms Asha Magua, the same
event has Mr. President so closely to Ms Magua at the daily Tanzania Daima to the reason that, in this
next photo President Kikwete may have known that photographers were taking his photo with the
victim, so he posed good for being publicized. As a result, the Tanzania Daima’s photo may have fulfilled
the subject’s intention but faded away from its actuality, hence lost its credibility in ethical
photojournalism.
Staging Vs Truthfulness
Staging refers to the composition of the photograph and what is excluded from the picture. By centering
the subject in the photograph, the photographer communicates a sense of balance. By placing the
subject to one side, the photographer creates a sense of imbalance. In addition, cameras capture only
what is in the viewfinder. Photographers can exclude elements of a scene that they do not want to
document.
Look, for example, the photo appeared in Dar Leo of May 3, 2008 (Appendix II), and see how the photo
has been staged. The incident of giving a cheque to an albino man is not in its actuality and so the photo
has lost its touch of truthfulness.
That is, however, not to say that, it is always unethical to stage your photograph for the news, but it is
unethical if that is not mentioned by the editor. As posing, staging can also dispute the originality of the
photo. Any prior arrangement may not present the actuality of the photograph, hence not ethical. In
exception of the meetings, group photos and special events, never stage the photograph for news in the
media.
Recreating, Altering and Objectivity
The use of images by photojournalists has raised ethical concerns. With today’s digital technology,
images can easily be manipulated to serve the ends of unscrupulous photographers. Grumet (1997) says
that it is possible to digitally alter a photograph without leaving any sign of what has been done. In one
example, Borchers (2005) records the incident in which the University of Wisconsin-Madison digitally
inserted an image of an African American student into a picture of Caucasian students on the cover of
the school’s admission booklet. The student’s photograph was inserted to give the appearance of
diversity. When students found out about the digital insertion and raised questions, the school pulled
the booklet and reprinted it at a cost of $64,000 (more than 70 million Tanzania shillings).
Therefore, digital alteration may not only cause ethical damage, but financial as well.
Photographs need to remain truthful in spirit. In any case if to be manipulated, that will be only through
quality enhancement such as burning, dodging, contrast control, color balancing, spotting and cropping.
Out of that, it is unethical.
It is wrong to alter the content of a photograph in anyway that deceives the public. It is a responsibility
to preserve its originality as a matter of historical record.
Current technology has deteriorated the integrity of photography, but accurate representation is still the
benchmark of photojournalism (Mdegella, 2008).
The photo in Uwazi of May 13 – 19, 2008 (Appendix III) shows that the accused witch Rama with a
human skull, which gives the interpretation that Rama was found with or owns that skull. In reality, these
are two different stories though they both derived from superstition associated incidents in Dar es
Salaam in last month. This is, of course, is the work of digital technology that can manipulate the photos
the way the editor wants, but it is not allowed in ethics, unless otherwise the fact is mentioned.
Faking Reality and Professional Integrity
Faking reality may happen in as many ways as it can be avoided. For example, the way to angle a camera
can make a lot of difference from the reality. Camera angle, as Borchers (2005) says, shapes our view of
the subject by determining whether we see it from the top, bottom, side, or front. The angle the
photographer uses can influence how we perceive the pictured subject. An upward-looking camera angle
gives power to the subject; a downward-looking angle communicates weakness. A straight-on shot
indicates that the subject is trustworthy.
For a photographer to time a subject in a certain bad angle to snap the photograph and have it printed
on the newspaper, it is unethical. It is against honesty and truthfulness as appeared in the code of ethics.
Faking reality also can happen in the way of mixing photos as appeared in the Appendix IV. The
weekly MwanaHalisi published on its June 11 – 17, 2008 issue a picture comprises of Benjamin Mkapa,
President Jakaya Kikwete, MP Rostam Aziz, Andrew Chenge and Geoffrey Mgonja, all in one, and there is
no mention if this photo is not original. Absolutely, it is unethical.
Hidden Cameras, Privacy and Public Interest
Lester (1999) says that ethical worlds often collide, however, because of the fundamental techniques the
two reporters use to gather information. During a controversial news event, when a father grieves visibly
over the loss of a drowned child, a writer can stay behind the scenes with pen and paper hidden. Facts
are gathered quietly and anonymously. A photographer is tied to a machine that must be out in the open
and obvious to all who are present.
Long lenses or hidden camera techniques can be used, but the results are usually unsatisfactory. Focus,
exposure, and composition problems are increased with the use of telephoto lenses or hiding a camera.
Besides being on ethically shaky ground, the use of hidden cameras is illegal in many places around the
world, for example eight states in the United States of America, i.e. Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine,
Michigan, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Utah, have strong legal punishments against hidden
cameras.
But then there is another fact: the photographer, unlike the hidden writer, can be the target of
policemen, family members, and onlookers who vent their anger and grief on the one with the camera.
No call to journalistic principles of truthfulness will convince a mob not to attack a photographer in such
an emotionally charged situation.
Because photographers must be out in the open to take pictures, the photographer’s ethical orientation
must be more clearly defined than with writers who can report over the telephone. A photographer
must have a clear reason, for example, why a private image of the soldier beating a civilian is necessary
for the public interest; and that can give him or her a ‘professional excuse’ to hide the camera.
That is to say, only under the banner of public interest and fearing for the danger, then a photographer
can make use of a hidden camera. Otherwise it is unethical.
Tragedy, Grief and Gruesome Photos: Professional Vs Humanity Role
Burkholder (1993) poses a question on how images should tell the news story, and answers that, if news
outlets use graphic pictures of war, they are accused of exploiting the pain of others. If they avoid
graphic photos, they are accused of “sanitizing” the conflict. In this question, it is really a dilemma for
photojournalist. What criteria should guide photo decisions, local or community standards?
Newsworthiness? Dramatic impact? A commitment to tell the whole truth?
According to Al Tompkins from the Poynter Institute in the U.S., when deciding whether a photograph is
too tragic for the paper, newsrooms should consider: “What is the real journalistic value of the
photographs? What do they prove and why are they news? Do they dispel or affirm information the
public had prior to seeing the images?” By looking at the photos in terms of what they add to the news,
editors should be able to determine whether publication is appropriate.
Lester (1995) observes that, after a gruesome image of dead or grieving victims of a tragic event is
presented to the public in either the print or screen media, many viewers are often repulsed and
offended by the picture.
But now our type of journalism in Tanzania, and even in other countries, has made it ‘correct’ to have
violence and tragedy on media images. There is a popular say in many newsrooms that “If it bleeds, it
leads.” The reason for this, says Lester (1995), obvious incongruity is that a majority of viewers are
attracted and intrigued by such stories. Photojournalists who win Pulitzer Prizes and other international
competitions are almost always witness to excruciatingly painful human tragedies that nevertheless get
published or broadcast. It is as if viewers want to see violent pictures, but through gaps in the fingers in
front of their face.
The photo published by Asumini biweekly on May 6 – 9, 2008 (Appendix V), shows this reality. A person
accused of pick pocketing a mobile phone has sat down severely injured by the so called an angry mob.
The photo is violent and somehow gruesome, not good neither for a person himself nor for his family.
What if the person did not steal the cell phone?
While presenting his topic on photojournalism ethics to the 2nd year mass communication students,
Mdegella (2008) showed a picture of a burning man, and asked what would be the photographer’s first
role in such incident: to rescue a burning man or to take a photo, and the answers were both,
professionally he has to take a photo first and humanly he has to rescue first. That is to say, it is a
situational approach which can better work here than photojournalist ethics per se.
On this, Lester (1995) has this suggestion: editors need to be sure that images of murder or automobile
victims are really necessary to tell the story. Journalists often cite the reason for using such visual
messages as a way to warn others of the dangers of modern living or to urge drivers to watch the speed
limit. Another, perhaps more honest reason, is to avoid being scooped by a rival media organization.
Despite well-rehearsed explanations, sensational images of victims of violence are shown as much for
economic as utilitarian reasons. The media concentration on criminal activity creates an exaggerated
perception of crime in the minds of viewers. Rather than focusing on bloody body bags, journalists need
to explain the underlying social forces that cause such tragic events to occur.
Indecent Photos, Stereotyping and Human Dignity
Coastal people are lazy. Chaggas worship money. Pembans do not want the Union. Muslims are
terrorists. CUF members are violent. CCM leaders are corrupt. Disabled are helpless. Street children are
beggars and cruel. All these prevalent stereotypes are perpetuated by images presented in the media.
Stereotypical portrayals of ethnic, gender, physical characteristic, sexual preference and job-related
cultural groups are a result of journalism professionals being lazy, ignorant or racist, says Lester (1999).
As with the printing term from which the word comes, to stereotype is a short-hand way to describe a
person with collective, rather than unique characteristics. It is easier and quicker for a photojournalist to
take a picture of an angry CUF member during a mass demonstration than to take the time to explore in
words and pictures the underlying social problems that are responsible for the civil disturbance.
Ignorance and racism is the reason stereotypes persist.
Appendix VI, a cut from Tanzania Daima of June 7, 2008, shows a photo of two disabled people with their
walking sticks just standing on the street. According to the heading of article accompanied by this photo,
the author wanted to argue that even the disabled can work. But the photo does not say that, rather it
says the disabled can stand on the streets – a typical stereotype which humiliates human dignity.
Photojournalism ethics emphasizes on human dignity, respect and analytical presentation of the images
and issues. Since many readers form their opinions about individuals from cultural groups from the
pictures they see in the media, Lester (1999) advise that the editors should make an assessment of the
pictorial coverage of under-represented groups for their own newspaper or television station. If biases
are found, photographers, reporters and editors should attend sensitivity training workshops in order to
promote more fair and balanced images. For example, to break the stereotype for the disabled, show
them working, playing, studying, etc.
Conclusion
Pictures are worth 1,000 words, says Burkholder (2003). Images are one of the most powerful forms of
communication, especially in journalism. One image or sound can summarize an event or person or
motivate a nation; one image can upset people more than endless pages of print on the subject.
In the early days of newspaper journalism the photojournalist’s role was relatively straightforward.
Armed with a camera, he captured a moment in time – a reality. Back at the newsroom he spent hours in
the darkroom mixing chemicals and perfecting his art. The photojournalist emerged with a snippet of
reality, ready to show the truth to the public. The development of news photography in the 19th century
supported claims by newspapers that they reported events as they happened, objectively.
Today, the ethics of photojournalism goes far beyond the ethics of the newspaper photo. It includes the
millions of news-related images that appear on our televisions, cell phones, computer screens and other
multi-media devices. We have become an image-saturated world, to use Burkholder’s (2003) metaphor.
With these advances photojournalism has become more complicated technologically and ethically. The
claim that photographs and images simply “mirror” events is no longer plausible. Moreover,
photojournalists face tough ethical decisions on what to shoot, what to use, and if and when images can
be altered.
In newsrooms, digital technology has all but eliminated the cumbersome process of film developing.
Digital images are easily transmitted, raising the demand for images. With fresh demand comes
increasing competition for the best, most dramatic photo.
Therefore, now than ever, ethics in photojournalism has to be observed.

6. ANALYSE LANGE’S ICONIC PHOTO ‘THE MIGRANT MOTHER’

Refer to pdf

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/migrant-mother-dorothea-lange-truth-photography/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2014/4/14/migrant-mother-dorothea-lang
e/

https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awpnp6/migrant_mother.html

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-lange-photo-20170521-story.html
7. WAR, FAMINE AND PHOTOGRAPHY/PHOTOJOURNALISM (in terms of ethics also)
❖ Captain Hooper- Madras Famine
❖ Raghu Rai- Bangladesh war
❖ Kevin Carter- Sudan
❖ Eddie Adams- Vietnam War

● THE GUARDIAN- IMAGING FAMINE

● Death, disaster, issues, pandemic, famines
● Appeal- to raise funds or solve an issue
● Positive vs negative images
● Nature of photojournalism
● Geographies/location
● Moving images- Emphasis on women and children, crying, emotions, visual representation
● Pictures, celebs, policy
● Stereotypes, icons, symbols- misrepresentation, positive negative trajectory
● Visual memory- still vs moving image
● Time and place
● Responsibility- moral codes, ethics, dignity, safety, protection, exploiting subjects

● WILLOUGHBY WALLACE HOOPER

● Dehumanizing images during Madras Famine
● Problematic images + caption
● Mostly posed
● Indoor, outdoor, studio shots
● Insensitive, lack of empathy
● Graphic visuals of animals feeding on the remains of dead
● Aestheticised lives of those dying
● Arranged people for appeal, perfect shot
● Adjusted his focus before guns were being fired
● Saw people as objects. Only meant to be shot
 8. KEVIN CARTER- SUDAN

REFER TO PDF ON CARTER

The vulture and the little girl, also known as "The Struggling Girl", is a photograph by Kevin
Carter which first appeared in The New York Times on 26 March 1993. It is a photograph of a
frail famine-stricken boy, initially believed to be a girl,[1] who had collapsed in the foreground
with a hooded vulture eyeing him from nearby. The child was reported to be attempting to reach
a United Nations feeding center about a half mile away in Ayod, Sudan (now South Sudan), in
March 1993, and to have survived the incident. The picture won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature
Photography award in 1994. Carter took his own life four months after winning the prize.

In March 1993, The New York Times was seeking an image to illustrate a story by Donatella Lorch about
the Sudan famine. Nancy Buirski, the newspaper's picture editor on the foreign desk, called Marinovich,
who told her about "an image of a vulture stalking a starving child who had collapsed in the sand."
Carter's photo was published in the March 26, 1993 edition.[16] The caption read: "A little girl, weakened
from hunger, collapsed recently along the trail to a feeding center in Ayod. Nearby, a vulture waited."[3]
This first publication in The New York Times "caused a sensation", Marinovich wrote, adding, "It was
being used in posters for raising funds for aid organisations. Papers and magazines around the world had
published it, and the immediate public reaction was to send money to any humanitarian organisation
that had an operation in Sudan."[17]
Claiming responsible ethical behaviour of photographers, publishers and the viewers of such
photographs of shocking scenes, cultural writer Susan Sontag wrote in her essay Regarding the pain of
others (2003):[18] "There is shame as well as shock in looking at the close-up of a real horror. Perhaps the
only people with the right to look at images of suffering of this extreme order are those who could do
something to alleviate it … or those who could learn from it. The rest of us are voyeurs, whether or not
we mean to be."[19]
The framing of the two subjects in Carter’sphotograph shocked people across the world into recognising
what was unfolding in Sudan.But the shock soon spread beyond the frame. Who shot the photograph
and what role could hehave played? Inevitably, Carter faced public criticism.

Due to the public reaction and questions about the child's condition, The New York Times published a
special editorial in its 30 March 1993 edition, which said in part, "A picture last Friday with an article
about the Sudan showed a little Sudanese girl who had collapsed from hunger on the trail to a feeding
centre in Ayod. A vulture lurked behind her. Many readers have asked about the fate of the girl. The
photographer reports that she recovered enough to resume her trek after the vulture was chased away.
It is not known whether she reached the centre.
Four months after being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, Carter died
of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning on July 27, 1994, at age 33.[24][25] Desmond Tutu, Archbishop
Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, wrote of Carter, "And we know a little about the cost of being
traumatized that drove some to suicide, that, yes, these people were human beings operating under the
most demanding of conditions.
9. RAGHU RAI’S WORK/PRICE OF FREEDOM (refer to notes also)

Bangladesh - The Price of Freedom. By Raghu Rai.

There is a famous photograph by photographer Roger Fenton of a barren field, on straining

one’s eye you get to notice a few canon balls strewn in the foreground. This one believes is the
first war photograph famously known as ‘Valley of Shadow of Death’. The image was made in
1855 when Fenton was sent from London to cover the Crimean War.

War Photography has been one of the most sensational genres of the visual medium. Images of
the 1857 rebellion of the Sepoys against the British have become iconic and are our very first
pictures of photojournalism. Many photographers have laid their lives covering conflicts
including Robert Capa, the man who coined the dictum ‘If your photographs aren’t good
enough, you’re not close enough’ implying one should be in the thick of it while covering war.

‘The Price of Freedom’ by Raghu Rai is a photo book of his coverage of the liberation of
Bangladesh that gets us into the thick of the Indo Pak war that culminated with Bangladesh
coming into being as an independent nation.

The book opens with a personal essay by Raghu Rai himself recounts his memory of covering
the sequence of events that led to the war and finally the birth of a new country. As a young
photographer in his 30s it was his first experience of a conflict and he knew that his images
would impact public opinion about the people of East Pakistan in the Indian Press. His
photographs did splash in newspapers then, but many did not make it to the press and as time
passed, they remained hidden in the photographer’s collection.
When he stumbled upon these photographs four decades later, he immediately contacted his
friend and photographer Shahid ul Alam from Bangladesh whose excitement at viewing this
collection was enormous. Shahid who had seen what had happened in Bangladesh in 1971 from
inside claims that these archives are one of the most ‘significant’ visual documents of the
liberation struggle. In his introduction written for this book he makes the point that though
many photographers, both local and international were photographing what was happening the
locals were too vulnerable to make their work public. Some of them managed to give their films
to international photojournalists but never got to see their work. Though this was happening
soon after the infamous Vietnam war, which got a lot of attention because the photographs of
American brutality outraged public opinion and ultimately forced USA to retreat, here there was
no such proliferation of film or photographic material.
This book which has over eighty black and white photographs of the thirteen-day war fought
around the end of 1971 brings us once again closer to the work of one of India’s face of
photojournalism. Though the war itself was short and was limited to the month of December in
1971, the exodus of poor Bangladeshi’s (East Pakistan then) started happening from the
beginning of the year as the Pakistani administration unleashed a reign of terror on the helpless
citizens as the demand for independence from Pakistan started growing.
Raghu tells us that he first went to the border of East Pakistan from Calcutta in August 1971 he
was shocked to see the trickle of refugees entering India in peak monsoon with minimal
belongings. The first section of the book brings us the image after image of people, old, young,
infant primarily on foot moving on and on. The cover image of the book draws us to the
deep-seated eyes of this old woman upon whose wrinkled skin on can feel is seated the march
of time. The first image inside is spread across the two pages and gives a sense of the long
trickle of humanity that may have been walking for days in rain and slush. All on foot carry the
weight of their belongings, the minimal that they wear seem to be all that they have. Another
image of two women both old and hunched are given support by younger men of the family as
they negotiate the long path. Whereas most photographs give us the scale of misery through
either the sense of movement or of the density of humanity in makeshift camps which are in
the open, the real heart-rending photos are the ones that are individual portraits; the eyes, the
skin, the tear, the emaciated exposed ribs or the bloated infants in need of food all tell us the
same story about the misery of a conflict. Raghu whose early photojournalism work was all
done in black and white film knows his medium well. He can translate color into shades of grey
and frame a photograph in a way that hits the nail on the head. Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first
woman photojournalist had expressed her preference for Black and White by saying that it
‘leaves a lot for us to imagine’. Such is true for these images too, as their stark depiction, drives
the point they make. It is not just the shades of grey in these images but also a certain grainy
texture of the photo chemical film which brings back the past closer to us and is missing from
the digital images that we see today. As the books unfolds, the misery of refugee existence gives
way to fighting on the street. Roll of tanks amidst fire, soldiers carrying injured men, images of
lost lives and bombed bridges punctuate the march of the Indian army with the aid of the local
fighters. The inequality of the conflict where the local guerillas are armed with old rifles and
ride rickshaw to take on a much well-equipped enemy shows determination on part of the
‘Mukti Bahini’ that are backed by Indian soldiers.

Finally, Raghu Rai’s image of the surrender on 16th December 1971 has gone down in the annals
of the history of the liberation of Bangladesh as an iconic image. The sheer dejection and
embarrassment on the face of the Pakistan army commander General Niazi sums it all. Raghu
Rai tells us that he was flown into Dacca in an Indian army helicopter to seize this image in his
camera, and it would become ‘the’ image of Indian victory.
This statement of the photographer brings to mind the notion of embedded photographer, a
term coined and treated with suspicion in later years of photojournalism. Media those days was
so simple, and this conflict was so one sided in terms of the perpetrator and the victim that it
may not have occurred to the photographer the ethical question of showing his government’s
point of view.
The book is dedicated to Indian armed forces and the people of Bangladesh, and the
photographer does acknowledge the help he got from the Indian administration.

The celebration and euphoria on the streets of Dacca is palpable. The second last image
counters the first image of the book as it shows the refugees returning to their homes. Imagery
of India’s partition in 1947 is evoked here, as long rows of bullock carts and rickshaws laden
with people and belonging raise dust on the untarred road and make their journey back.
Final image is the grand reception that the first President and father of the Nation Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman receives from his people as his cavalcade in an open vehicle crawls through
the streets of the capital city. The scale of this image is a reminder that perhaps those eyes of
portraits that we saw of people earlier were carrying hope throughout and have now brought
cheer to a new nation.

https://www.therawsociety.org/raghu-rai/

https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/raghu-rai/#:~:text=Raghu%20Rai%20was%20born%
20in,join%20Magnum%20Photos%20in%201977.

https://www.thequint.com/photos/raghu-rai-on-the-story-behind-his-five-most-iconic-photographs

https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/colour-photos-lack-seriousness-raghu-rai/story-1fe5DDvL4
Oy33g643QZBeJ.html

https://raghuraifoundation.org/biography/

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/DQM6jB1jOnmM2pklze6CGK/Photo-Essay--War-without-end.html

https://thewire.in/history/witnessing-the-bangladesh-war-of-1971-through-raghu-rais-camera
10. NOTE ON: HOMAI VYARAWALLA / SUNIL JANAH

Homai Vyarawalla

Homai Vyarawalla (9 December 1913 – 15 January 2012), commonly known by her pseudonym Dalda
13, was India's first woman photojournalist. She began work in the late 1930s and retired in the early
1970s. In 2011, she was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of the Republic of
India. She was amongst the first women in India to join a mainstream publication when she joined The
Illustrated Weekly of India.

Background

Born in 1913, Vyarawalla came from a middle-class Parsi family, and studied painting at the Sir J.J. School
of Art in Mumbai. It was with Maneckshaw Vyarawalla, a photographer who was her boyfriend and later
her husband that she began to learn photography from him. A very early experience with a camera was
on a school picnic at a temple; she later sold the images to her friends for a rupee apiece. She and
Maneckshaw would take pictures together, and her early photos were of street scenes in Mumbai. Later,
in 1942, they moved to Delhi after Maneckshaw had been hired as a photographer with British
Information Services; they hired Homai not long afterward. Given the difficulty of a woman being
accepted as a professional photographer in those days, Homai’s own images and accompanying text
were first printed under Maneckshaw’s name and credited with his initials, “M.J. V”

Though she is often seen today as a key contributor to mainstream nationalist iconography,
conspicuously absent from her photographs taken between 1937 and 1942, is any reference to the
nationalist movement.

She’s known for the photographs she took of Indian and foreign leaders and of seminal moments in
India’s history. She worked for the British state but a significant part of her repertoire focused on Indian
nationalist leaders; she was a key chronicler of the Nehruvian era, but also had sharp personal critiques
of this period; the only professional woman press photographer in her time, she had an extremely
cordial and comfortable relationship with her male colleagues.

Job at British Information Services

It marked a major shift in her photography from an emphasis on civilian life to covering high visibility
events and elite nationalist icons in the capital. It was also to be a significant personal transformation:
From her Parsi reticence to khadi, she would now become an ardent supporter of both Mahatma Gandhi
as well as the freedom movement. These transitions were striking considering that Vyarawalla still
continued to be employed by the Colonial State.

Emergence of press photography in India

This was a time of great public visibility but for photographers of the time it also coincided with
technological shifts that saw the introduction of less cumbersome cameras like the Rollieflex and the
Speedgraphic. This period also saw the consolidation of mass-produced newspapers that created a
market for photojournalism. Photography was to be a powerful weapon in this invocation of modernity
and the camera was offering new forms of knowledge, visibility, leisure and travel to a generation in
transition.

Capturing Nehru

The person she most enjoyed photographing was India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru; in one
famous shot, she captured him at Palam Airport in front of a sign reading “Photography Strictly
Prohibited.” Despite being one of the most photographed men in history, Mahatma Gandhi actually
hated the flash. Nehru on the other hand is remembered as “the darling of the photographers”.
Extremely camera friendly, he was not averse to performing for them in both public and private
moments. In capturing the charisma of Nehru, Homai was merely responding to the iconic space
occupied by leaders like him in popular imagination. Many scholars who have worked on charisma have
pointed out how it is more powerful in times marked by political turbulence or instability. What caught
public imagination was this representation of a playful, expressive and mercurial Nehru.

Portraits of certain politicians became markers of national identity in public spaces such as on the walls
of government offices, courts and railway stations as well as on early stamps. They also circulated
through more personal routes such as postcards and portraits in family albums.

Capturing the Urban and Elite Life

While her days were spent photographing political events, Homai had a completely different agenda at
night. This is when she would replace her khaddar sari for a silk one and set out for the Gymkhana club
or an embassy party where she would cover the social life of Delhi. The British Information Services did
not restrict her from taking on assignments for others. Homai would photograph for the British, the
Americans and the Canadians as well as for the Chinese and the Soviets. These images of fancy dress,
fashion shows, boisterous games, Xmas parties and sporting events represent a glimpse into a small but
elite sub culture of the city. She also photographed scores of weddings, school functions and other
events such as fashion shows and “brides of India” competitions where women would dress up in
costumes of different parts of the country.

Important Work

● She photographed Gandhi’s funeral.

● An image of a smiling Jackie Kennedy in 1962 with a baby elephant named Urvashi.
● A 1955 photo of Helen Keller putting her hands into a namaste gesture to greet Nehru.
● A 1958 photograph reveals Nehru touching the beard of a visiting Ho Chi Minh—it’s an image
she didn’t want published at the time, because it seemed disrespectful. “It’s a really good
example of her respect for her subjects and the restraint that she exerted,” says Beth Citron.
● She photographed Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to India.
● Inauguration of the first Asian Games in India- launching of a pigeon in the air by Nehru.
Most of Homai’s photographs on the War effort were first printed in the Illustrated Weekly of India. The
Weekly was edited then by an Englishman and often reflected British interests in India. One of her
photograph depicting utility services, proclaimed: “There is a job for Every Patriot,” presenting the
citizens of Bombay as patriots not for independence but for the War. Another featured the kitchens of
the British army, “Chapattis for the Indian Troops and Bread for the British Army”.

Black and White Photography

Homai liked black and white photography because in color not much was left to imagination. Plus, early
color didn’t have a lot of shelf like and faded away after some time.

Capturing Women

While most of Homai’s images of Bombay depicted the idea of a progressive and developmentalist
colonial state through themes of scientific and social transformation there were photographs that tell
other stories: of women’s education and work for instance, but also about self image and sexuality. Being
a woman photographer, she clicked women a lot, with a lot more intimacy. She photographed several of
her friends at the JJ School of Arts learning career skills but also at picnics where they posed for the
camera like film stars. There were other snapshots of everyday life, of women participating in mock drills
of utility services for the War and of working class women in particular.

The Dichotomy

Vyarawalla took pictures of social events, including British social life at places like the Delhi Gymkhana
Club. For Pablo Bartholomew, a photographer based in Delhi, this aspect of her photography is
interesting. “She had access, and she photographed that really well,” he says. “Though she did keep her
Indian identity. It’s not like she dressed Western, she dressed Indian. So there was this dichotomy within
her that she was very Indian in a certain way, but yet she was drawn to things around the Empire.” Key to
understanding her, too, is the fact she was Parsi, not Hindu, notes Gadihoke. “She came from a
community that was actually very westernized.”

Decline

Vyarawalla was active as a photojournalist until her husband’s death in 1970, when the profession
stopped appealing to her: with the coming of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, access to leadership was
more limited, and she didn’t approve of how the newest generation of photojournalists acted. She did
not take a single photograph in the last 40-plus years of her life. It wasn’t until years later that her work
began to be rediscovered.

Conclusion

It is interesting that her colleagues referred to her as “Mummy”, a nickname given to her by friends who
were much younger. She shrewdly notes that this kept her on a pedestal, a survival strategy that she
used to her advantage. An extremely attractive woman, Homai created a “no nonsense” and
de-sexualized persona that kept people at a distance. Perhaps in this lay the key to her successful
working relationship as the only woman photographer among the men at that time.

She was able to carve out this kind of space for herself, and this kind of agency for herself that in those
times. Homai Vyarawalla straddled several identities simultaneously. Her work that evolved out of a
negotiation with all these different spaces reflects this rich and layered history.

● Sabina Ghadioke made a documentary, Three Women and a Camera (Dayanita Sinha, Homai
Vyarawalla and Sheeba Chhachhi) which captures Homai’s life.
● Homai Vyarawalla donated her photo archives to the Al Qazi Foundation in Delhi.
● Her work helps in understanding India’s visual history.

Sunil Janah

Introduction

Sunil Janah, like his contemporary Homai Vyarawalla was in some ways lucky to be born at a time when
India’s tryst with its destiny was at its peak. The country was undergoing major upheaval that ultimately
led to its independence from British rule. It also led to its partition and ultimately the first phase of
independent India’s life of a decade and a half (till mid 1960s) saw a period of hope and nation building
with its people following Nehru’s dream of building a new India with the factories, dams and
infrastructure that would power the country into the future.

Sunil Janah was one of the foremost chroniclers of this phase of India’s history. He worked relentlessly
photographing the country and its events when photojournalists were not considered as glamorous or
important as they are considered today.

Background and Early Days

Sunil was a Calcutta person. Born in the year 1918 in a well-educated family he went to Presidency
College to his graduate studies where he studied English. His first tryst with photography reportage came
about in 1943. He had been till then interested in taking pictures and photography had become a keen
hobby. In 1943 Bengal and nearby states were gripped by a terrible famine. This famine, which took two
million lives, was entirely man made by the British rulers.

Sunil who was studying at Calcutta University and had string left wing tendencies read and heard about
this famine. He had by then joined the students wing of the Communist party of India. He was asked by
the General Secretary of the Party PC Joshi to cover the horrors of the famine for the Party newspaper
‘People’s War’; this was a great opportunity for Sunil. This was an experience that shaped Sunil’s
commitment to his profession and life. His pictures of the Bengal famine are gruesome and real. They got
wide circulation as very few were willing or allowed to cover this ghastly famine by the British
government.
Next were the horrible events of communal riots that engulfed the country and specially Bengal just
before independence. Again Sunil covered the communal carnage and migration of thousands of
refugees as Bengal got divided on religious lines.

Encounter with Margaret Bourke White

PC Joshi introduced Janah to the well renowned international photographer, Margaret Bourke White.
Margaret wanted to do some feature for Life magazine and asked Janah to assist her. She wanted him to
help her with communication in rural India. This turned out a truly rewarding experience for Sunil as he
got free access to quality film in bulk quantity to shoot and he got to travel in a hired car, which was a
luxury. They together covered the famine in Bengal and Orissa as well as later when Calcutta was on fire
with communal riots they showed the world its misery.

Portraits: Amongst the work of Sunil Janah, portraits are of great value, as he photographed many
important personalities from the field of politics, culture, art, literature etc. His experience of
photographing Nehru at a very early age is worth mentioning. That photograph of Nehru is unique as it is
one of few in which he does not wear a cap. Sunil was a young seventeen year old student activist then
and clicked Nehru photo after seeking his permission, as he was released from the jail.

Freedom Movement: As India underwent the Freedom struggle, covering agitations and demonstrations
against the British were a major part of Sunil Janah’s work. The Quit India movement in 1942 was
photographed extensively by him both in Calcutta as well as in Bombay. Here it is important to mention
about his photograph of Gandhi addressing a public meeting. As Janah was unable to get a proper frame
where both Gandhi and the crowd were clearly visible, he resorted to merging two separate photographs
of the same meeting. This required great expertise in the dark room where the picture was printed. One
can say that photographers were already using image manipulation before digital camera came in.

Famine-Riot: Sunil Janah’s images of the Bengal famine are very stark. We see many emaciated figures
young and old, men and women, photographed against the harsh sky. People migrating to places and
living in tents show us the misery of the whole event. Similarly Communal riot images brought out the
barbaric nature of the event which Janah photographed in Calcutta, he says he was scared for his life to
cover the carnage but Margaret Bourke took him along and he managed to photograph the dead bodies
spread on the road. Electric wires to protect communities from rioters blocked roads are seen in a
photograph.

New India: After independence, like many optimistic citizens of the country Sunil too set out to
photograph the new country that was coming out of the shackles of colonialism. He travelled extensively
photographing rural communities far and wide. His people images from Kashmir to Kerala are poignant,
they show happy people working in farms, and there is a certain hope for a better future in these
pictures. Also Sunil photographed the new emerging Industry in the country. Being a Socialist at heart he
wanted to show the worker in the factory as the real hero. He covered big factories that Nehru called the
‘temples of Modern India’. Steel plants, Rail engine works, car manufacture, dockyards feature mainly in
his work.

Dance and Sculpture: Sunil Janah had great respect and love for Indian history and civilization. He loved
its Art and Culture. Two areas, which he photographed extensively, are Indian classical dance and Indian
Sculpture along with Architecture. Many famous dancers were photographed in his studio. He brought
the temple sculpture alive with his photographs of them in Black and White.

Later in life Sunil Janah shifted to the West, first to UK and the USA where he died in 2012 in California.
In 1973 he was awarded the Padma Shree award and just shortly before his death he was given the
Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.