Digital BW, The Print

> Most
> any reportage
> is supposed to be an accurate reproduction of a scene, and so is most all
> happy snapping...and I'd say, that comprises MOST of the
> photography in the
> world.

I'm so glad you added "supposed to be" Austin, because while most people
would like to think and believe that it is an accurate representation, very
little of it actually is.

What is brought to the photograph are the photographers point of view (both
in terms of visual composition and world view), the societal view they come
from (a Russian photojournalist will most likely photograph something very
differently from and American one from AP), the pressure and requirements of
their publication/editor/owner and what the public wants - lots of bodies/no
bodies, enemy bodies/no american bodies... etc. What the political climate
of the time

For example, you will see very little photojournalism in the last year which
overtly shows the results of serious failures of US policy in Arab
countries, or critical of US involvement US in Afghanistan and various
failures there and so on. People just chose not to photograph such things in
the current climate.

They will chose what to photograph and what not to photograph, how to
compose a shot, what impact to go for and so on, all based on these and many
more factors. The best will try and do their work honestly, while saying
they tired to present images that expressed the truth as they perceived it.
But if you look at photojournalism over the last 70 years or so, you will
see all sorts of societal and political trends showing up very clearly in
how and what is photographed, and who was doing the photographing and for
whom.

tim