JOUR1111 Lecture 4: Pretty Pictures!

Everybody loves pictures, both still and moving. Be it in a children's picture book or flashing across the silver screen, few things captivate people more.

This week's lecture was on 'Telling Factual Stories with Pictures', which includes both photo and video journalism. We started off with a quick history on the development of the visual side of journalism, which was both interesting and entertaining. I particularly liked the caption that accompanied the first ever colour photograph published in a newspaper, which stated "First News Photograph In Nature's Hues Ever Published". Why they used that particular phrasing is beyond me. It was a different time, I suppose.

  

The hues!! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!

It was also interesting to see just how far we've come, not just since cave paintings, but since nature's hues were first revealed to us. I now understand why they used that term. It's AWESOME.

In all seriousness though, the stuff they can do with cameras in the present day is amazing. So many things need to be considered to take a good photo/video, including focus, POV, sound (for video) and the apparently all-important Rule of Thirds.

However, modern technology, while extremely useful in the field of visual journalism, can be used for more dubious purposes as well. I believe the term is known as 'faux-tography', or digital manipulation. It is used to digitally alter a photo or video after it has been taken/shot, often resulting in something completely different from the original. The most common use of faux-tography is to make photo models look that little bit 'prettier', often dramatically (and ridiculously) shrinking their waistlines, changing their facial structure and increasing the size of their breasts (yeah, I said breasts on the public domain, sue me) as well as other such 'attractive enhancements'. What's wrong with natural beauty, I ask you?

Digital manipulation can also apparently be used to subject Taylor Swift to demonic possession.

"I will consume your soul."

That said, I think that visual journalism is a super interesting and exciting field. There is such a large scope for individuality and creativity, ending only at the constraints of your own (image)ination. The popular saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words". I disagree. I feel that a picture is worth exactly as many words as you can cram into it, be it a thousand or a hundred million. Every picture is a doorway into a world of infinite possibilities and meanings; it's all in the eye of the beholder.