I miss LIFE magazine, I grew up reading photo stories in that weekly magazine.
Long after I became a photojournalist, I realized the influence that reading had on my career. Learning from photo stories became ingrained on my brain. I knew photo stories had beginnings, middles and ends, just like news stories. There’s a system.
My thinking refreshed on this at recent teaching events.
As emeritus member of the Missouri Photo Workshop, I was reminded during a week in Boonville. There, young photojournalists documented life in small-town Missouri.
I sensed these talented beginners are beyond me in digital-photo skills. I still think black-and-white film. Career-long learning isn’t easily displaced.
While the young are photographically skilled in their cameras; they lack story-telling skills. Then I realized they didn’t have those weekly lessons from LIFE.
They don’t know which photo to use for the lede. That’s the first photo in a story. Nor, do they know the power of “enders.” The body of the story contains small groups of related photos. Those are sub-chapters in photojournalism.
I learned in history of photojournalism that LIFE was created by publisher Henry Luce. He thought photos could be more than just illustrations in stories. He used photo stories with words in support.
By the time I started my journalism education at MU I knew what photo stories looked like. I already knew words go with pictures. Every photo needs captions.
That concept seems obvious, yet it’s lost on today’s photographers. If they learn from photos in social media they see few words. To me, Facebook uses photos as if they tell all. They don’t.
This week, I had a second connection with the world of photojournalism. The Missouri Press Association and MU School of Journalism held an induction into the Missouri Photo Hall of Fame.
This recognizes the best photojournalists in the state. In inductees’ talks, they told their struggles to continue real photojournalism. Dan White, a new member, worked at the Kansas City Star. He went on to lucrative jobs in advertising. He used story-telling skills.
But, high finances failed as CEOs of groups hiring him thought they could do photos on their smartphones. (It’s not the same.)
I continue to cringe as I look at Facebook, which I still do every day.
There is photo after photo without a word of explanation. I want to see words of who, what, when, where and why to explain each photo.
There’s another difference. Facebook photos are all posed; not the candid shots of photojournalism.
As it happened, I opened my phone, just before I began writing this. There was a group snapshot of NAAJ’ers, formerly known as National Association of Ag Journalists, covering the World Food Prize in Des Moines. The group met for dinner.
These are among top farm journalists in the country. As an honorary member of the group, should I click “like” and then “comment” saying tell names and media for each person?
I won’t live long enough to turn this snapshot trend around, I fear.
But, I plead with you readers, to add words to your photos on social media or in scrapbooks. Photos need words.
Yes, Luce was right. Photos tell stories. But, from the beginning LIFE combined words with photos. It takes both to tell a story. Let’s not lose that concept.
When learning the history of his magazine, I was shocked to learn that the first edition came out on my first birthday, Nov. 23, 1936. It was meant to be that I would grow up with LIFE. It ceased in 1972. I still go on.
A bit more on Hall of Fame. I may be near being the senior surviving member in that Hall. Now, I see Hall members inducted who I influenced early in their careers. That includes Jim Curley, Columbia, co-director of the Missouri Photo Workshop. It’s pleasing to see former student helpers rise to high honors.
