Owen's Media Blog: Photojournalism

Robert Capa

Robert Capa was under the employment of LIFE Magazine when, on June 6 1944, he was amongst the soldiers of the 16th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division landing on Omaha Beach as part of the D-Day movement.

Hungarian-born, Capa was well-known for risking his life for his work. His D-Day photography captured the horror and heroism experienced by the soldiers as they disembarked their carries into a sea of bullets and shrapnel. Despite using three rolls of film, he had exposed 106 frames. In the development lab, the technician was as eager to see the stills as Capa himself was. Unfortunately this excitement led to the films being dried too quickly, several more frames were destroyed.

Those that remained were blurred, surreal shots of conveying the chaos and confusion of the day.

Capa stayed at Omaha Beach for several days following the landing to capture to actions that followed the initial landing.

His works have been published in numerous places online; not least the Magnum Photos website. Skylighters also has a feature on Capa featuring some of his works. LIFE Magazine also printed his works following his return to England after the landings.

(Images © Magnum Photographs.)

No doubt during his time in the field, Capa experience many traumatic moments. He is documented as saying how he, along with numerous soldiers, were hiding behind large pieces of metal obstruction in the water as they waded toward the beach whilst bullets tore holes in the water around them.

Photojournalism | 150 years of outstanding press photography; Reuel Golden; CARLTON; published 2011 Carlton books ltd.

‘If your pictures aren’t good enough it’s because you’re not close enough ‘

Implies involvement and sympathy with the subject are equally crucial as being close to the action. His notoriety – as a gambler, drinker, bon viveur, serial seducer of women – was carefully nurtured by him to increase the value of his images.

His reputation as ‘ the greatest war photographer’ was finally confirmed bu his pictures of D-Day. All but 11 frames of 108 were destroyed by overheating drying cabinet. Heavy grain and distortions made the images graphically powerful; LIFE magazine labelled them as ‘out of focus’ to hide their mistake.

After his death, he left a vast photographic legacy, a body of work that showed him to be an perceptive humanist photographer, an outstanding portraitist, and masterful at capturing the complexity of a military action. He was also an inspired innovator in the field of photojournalism, creating and nurturing the Magnus cooperative.

(Source: Skylighters.)

Kevin Carter

"When this photograph capturing the suffering of the Sudanese famine was published in the New York Times on March 26, 1993, the reader reaction was intense and not all positive. Some people said that Kevin Carter, the photojournalist who took this photo, was inhumane, that he should have dropped his camera to run to the little girl’s aid. The controversy only grew when, a few months later, he won the Pulitzer Prize for the photo. By the end of July, 1994, he was dead."

Carter was another Photojournalist whose method of working also saw him prefer to step into the field of action for his work. His picture above raises many ethical questions as to how such jobs should be carried out.

The humane way of looking at it is to condone Carter for not running to aid the defenceless child - to help in whatever he could under the circumstances. At the same time, however, Carter also had his work to consider; not in a selfish sense, but in that he has been despatched here fully aware of the situation to carry out a specific role. His own livelihood would partially depend on his completing the task at hand above all else.

Indeed, Carter wanted to help the girl who was so in need of aid. But, as seen from the image below, he was escorted by soldiers throughout his visit to the country, and was legally forbidden from interfering with the events he could see before his eyes.

It is likely that had he tried to become involved with unfolding drama, he would have been jailed or even shot. His images went on to make the situation known throughout the world, which may have been of some comfort to Carter, despite leaving a mark on him mentally and emotionally.

Like previous, the image above demonstrates further how photojournalists must emotionally distance themselves from their subjects, or indeed the world. During the first democratic election campaign in Sygma, a policeman was shot from a moving train at Midway Station, Soweto. Whilst those around scrambled to his aid, Carter saw a photographic opportunity amongst the chaos and took to his camera.

"A member of South Africa's neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) begs for his life, Bophuthatswana, March 1994"

Described as the one true image of the entire campaign, Carter again took to his camera during a time of crisis and despair to capture this spine-chilling image. With his now-deceased comrades beside him, the victim has hunkered down in despair, fearing for his life. Perhaps most powerful is that it is not known whether he was indeed executed, or if he survived.

In his field and during his time, Carter would most likely have seen many traumatic sights, from the gruesome to the harrowing.

"Despite being frequently arrested for infringements of the draconian South African prohibitions on reporting, he was always drawn irresistibly to the heart of the conflict. His tumultuous emotional life brought passion to his work but drove him to extremes of elation and depression."

Images Source (1)

Images Source (2)

Eddie Adams

Image Source

PROPOSAL

Local Heritage Railway, Epping Ongar Railway, is the only such preservation railway that is running on former London Underground rails. The branch was closed by London Underground on September 30 1994.

It was bought and re-opened as a heritage line / visitor attraction in October 2004 for a run of 4 years, before being resold in 2008, temporarily shut whilst renovated, and re-opened to the public again in May 2012 with heritage steam and diesel traction.

Nobody would ever have thought that an underground train would ever travel out to this sleepy little village again, However, to mark 20 years since this line was closed by LU, the EOR was able to bring back the vintage tube train of 1960’s build to the line.

The EOR is the only heritage railway to have carried out such an operation, more so in that rather than have the unit delivered carriage by carriage on the back of a lorry, it was transported across the Underground network and arrived by rail over the two company’s connection at Epping station.

Obviously, with the branch no longer electrified, the unit was unable to run under its own power; aid was provided in the form of LU Engineering diesels, which were also an unusual sight.

A one-off event in the history books, the event was well attended, with visitors coming from all over the world to see this unusual sight of a tube train alongside a steam train.

The event has proven a unique photography opportunity, and caught the attention of various media outlets. My proposal is to cover this event photographically, giving a flavour of the weekend to all those who hadn’t attended and to show what happens in the sleepy corner of Essex. The Tube is one of London’s icons, so no doubt such imagery will capture the attention of tourists and enthusiasts throughout the world.

Sample Images - The Overnight Move

In a rare sight for London Underground, rolling stock was moved from their running line onto private ground using a rail connection, in this instance, just east of Epping Underground Station. This connection has not been crossed since LU closed the line between here and Ongar in September, 1994.

So as not to interrupt passenger services, the transferral was carried out after services had finished at approximately 1am. Below are a selection of "test" shots from the movement.

The Spectator

Looking Forward

As this took place after public opening hours, I was granted special permission to access the platforms to take the photographs.

Sample Images - The Event

Hours after the above move took place, the Epping Ongar Railway's event opened to the public. A momentous occasion, a 0.0km mark was unveiled at Ongar. This is where all London Underground measurements are started from, despite the line no longer being owned and operated by the company. Alongside the vintage tube train was another vintage rail vehicle, in the form of Metropolitan 1, the last steam locomotive to have operated on the Underground in revenue-earning service. This locomotive had also been the star of recent heritage events on the Underground Network, including "Tube 150" in 2013.

To access areas that are not normally accessible by the public, I was again granted special dispensation and given appropriate training on how to behave in such areas.