Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
One of the most shocking events in the U.S. last year was the U.S. Capitol riots. On Wednesday 6 January 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building to protest the election results.
During the riots, multiple people were assaulted and injured, many of them being journalists. One of the men who attacked the police and an AP photographer was charged with an assault and has been arrested.
The attack on the US Capitol happened on 6 January, but photos, videos, and news are still surfacing. Over 400 people have been arrested so far, but at least one of the suspects was caught thanks to Instagram. The FBI used photos and videos from his girlfriend’s Instagram and identified the man with some help of facial recognition.
On Wednesday 6 January, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building to protest the election results. In the incident, the rioters attacked journalists and destroyed equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars.
On Saturday 27 June, a man opened fire in during protests in Jefferson Square Park in Louisville killing one man. The victim was now identified as Tyler Gerth, who was a 27-year-old photographer covering the protests.
The death of George Floyd this May sparked protests across the USA and even internationally. These events make us reevaluate many things, including the ethics of storytelling and photography. In this week’s episode of Impact Everywhere’s podcast, Benjamin Von Wong spoke to Danielle Da Silva. She is an award-winning photographer, and a founder and CEO of Photographers Without Borders (PWB). Danielle spoke with Ben about her own experience with discrimination, and elaborated on PWB’s guidelines for ethical photography. If you’re a photojournalist, this is something you must listen. But honestly, I recommend it to everyone.
As protests are raging on across the US, another photographer got hurt and arrested for covering them. Veteran WCCO Photographer Tom Aviles was shot with a rubber bullet and arrested while covering the Minneapolis protest this Saturday. He managed to capture the entire incident on camera, and he even filmed a video from inside the back of the police van.
After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week, protests have developed across the United States. While covering the street protest in Minneapolis on Friday, photojournalist Linda Tirado was shot in the left eye. She was reportedly shot with a rubber bullet, but sadly, her eye could not have been saved.
The United States Senate is subjecting the press to unprecedented restrictions as Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is scheduled to begin next Tuesday. There will be no cameras allowed and no audio recorders, which will make it impossible for the press to cover the event. Expectedly, this has caused significant negative reactions among the public, especially press photographers and journalists.
I believe that most of us edit our images to a certain extent. But if you’re a photojournalist, the amount of editing you can apply is minimal. If you go overboard, your work may even be considered unethical. But can this be solved differently? Should photojournalists be allowed to edit images if they openly disclose it? Michael The Maven discussed this in his latest video, and it’s certainly an interesting topic.
If you want to be a photojournalist, ethical photography is something you need to master just as the artistic and technical parts of the craft. However, not all photographers stick with the rules of ethics. Instead, some of them stage their photos, direct their subjects, or even manipulate images in post. In this video, Michael The Maven shares some famous cases of photojournalists who were caught cheating. It’s an interesting video to watch, but also a useful reminder of what not to do if you want to be a good photojournalist.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!