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"Why are you doing this?"


In the current state of photojournalism people often ask why I'm chasing a career in this seemingly dead industry. Almost everyday for the past year another professor, journalist or editor claims 'that's it, it's dead' and assigns a time and date to the official death of photojournalism.

Personally, I regard these statements somewhat stubbornly ... to tell the truth I hardly pay attention.

The most relevant statement I've come across is that photojournalism is such a young industry that hasn't yet had a chance to figure out what it is let alone where it's headed - I admit I was sleep deprived ranting when I compared photojournalism's journey to carpentry - from entwining twigs with leaves for shelter to carving wood for added stability, from stone to brick and a change of tools - which came first the hammer or the nail - in recent years steel frames are showing benefits over traditional wood, changing the industry once again.

Sure, there's been a huge change since film turned to digital. What was once a niche industry has been sprung open with consumer Dslr selling for under $1,000 that are more than capable of capturing a publishable image, then there's the iPhone camera phenomenon; but at the end of the day photojournalism is still about capturing stories.

Saying that photojournalism is dead is like saying there are no stories anymore.

Nothing to say through an image, no context to a photo, nothing to engage with. Which obviously isn't the case.

I guess that's why I'm doing this. Because I engage with stories. As long as there's a story worth telling I'll try my best to do it justice. Distribution, funding and the traditional newspaper + photojournalist model that we once knew is undergoing an overhaul as we sit back and go with it; as it changes and mutates we're still a society of images, and a picture still tells 1,000 words. Add multimedia and it grows substantially.

Where is this industry headed? No idea. And I don't care. There's still a thousand lifetimes of stories out there, my only hope is that I can sample a few of them.