Black and white photojournalism

[Dunn]

I've just been curious lately about the place of black and white photos within photojournalism. I pretty much never see published black and white photos.

Does black and white not have a place in photojournalism anymore? Do you have to be Sebastiao Selgado in order to do work in black and white for big clients? Do up-and-coming photojournalists have no choice but to shoot/process in color if they want to get work or be published?

I even saw some photos by Meridith Kohut in a NYTimes article that were in color but when I looked at her website the same photos were in black and white.

 

[bjornkeizers]

Purely looking at the papers that I see, the magazines I read, news sites that I visit... I'd say black and white is pretty much dead in day-to-day journalism. I honestly can't remember when I last saw a B&W image in my paper.

I guess it's just a lot cheaper to print color then what it used to cost. And since every digital camera uses color as standard, it's no surprise that people's exposure to B&W dropped rapidly since their introduction. B&W is seen as artsy these days, so papers probably don't want to use it anyway for serious work. I actually work in journalism myself, and I have to admit... I wouldn't pick a B&W over a color image because of that reason.

Which is a shame, since I rather enjoy a good B&W image.

 

[Graham Line]

I still see B&W images as occasional statements -- not common.

 

[mrmeadows]

Anecdotal evidence drawn from local newspapers will, no doubt, lead to a strong suspicion that B/W photojournalism is all but dead. Hard news does seem to almost always run with color photos, especially at the local level.

Samples drawn more widely seem to yield a different conclusion. Browsing several months worth of posts at the rather comprehensive and highly-regarded website http://photojournalismlinks.com shows the publication of a significant fraction of B/W essays. One can also peruse the websites of important agencies, like VII, Noor, Panos and Magnum for examples and see a similar result in terms of the production of stories. And photojournalism publishers like Lens at the New York Times, Lightbox at Time, and Burn magazine demonstrate a continuing commitment to B/W photos. I'm sure there are many additional examples that are unknown to me.

I think that when color photos suit the subject and are well-done, then they make for a stronger treatment than a B/W treatment. That could account for the prevalence of color stories. However, there are many subjects for which well-done B/W is clearly superior, and this will probably remain true until/unless there is some unpredictable cultural shift that eventually negates it. It seems, that has not yet occurred.

 

[emraphoto]

i have a few projects about to be published that are black + white.

 

[steveniphoto]

my friend used to do internship at the SF chronicle and EVERYTHING had to be in color and JPEG only.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Samples drawn more widely seem to yield a different conclusion. Browsing several months worth of posts at the rather comprehensive and highly-regarded website http://photojournalismlinks.com shows the publication of a significant fraction of B/W essays.

It looked like all the monochrome on that page was old work, used for comparisons or to illustrate reports on exhibitions. Was there new stuff that I missed?

 

[sevo]

I guess it's just a lot cheaper to print color then what it used to cost.

There are no savings in black and white (other than fractions of a cent for ink) any more, as just about every paper is printed in full colour throughout. The main source of income of every profitable paper is advertising - where colour sells ad space.

 

[Damaso]

I think in mainstream newspaper work you won't see it very much but it has been this way for more than a generation. In magazine work you'll see it more but there are still photojournalists out there, including myself, who are working in black and white, and even in film if you can believe it!

I don't think you need to be Salagado in order for film to be an appropriate choice for your work. I think you have to be dedicated.

 

[thegman]

One of my pet hates is when media transforms news into drama. For example there will be a documentary in the UK about a series of murders, but they'll play spooky music whilst showing images of a creepy alley. Making entertainment from real tragedy in recent times I find pretty tasteless. By the same token I feel that shooting the terrible events in Syria or something in B&W for a "look" is pretty tasteless too. I'm not a PJ, but I feel that their job is to document the facts, and putting anything resembling an artistic slant on that appears to trivialise what is actually happening. For me, it's the same vein as when we heard of the awful earthquakes in Japan, and the first thoughts of some were whether their Sony NEX would be delayed.

 

[sevo]

I feel that their job is to document the facts, and putting anything resembling an artistic slant on that appears to trivialise what is actually happening.

How would you document facts without any artistic slant? There is no such thing as a impartial document - even something as robotic and corporate as satellite images does show the intent and aesthetics of both the creators of the system and the editors picking the images finally shown.

 

[starless]

We are actually going back to an older discussion here about Art vs Photohournalism.

I have to agree with thegman. Artistic and aesthetic choices should not be a deciding factor in journalism. Photojournalism, being essentially journalism told in pictures, should have objectivity as it's main priority.

 

[thegman]

How would you document facts without any artistic slant? There is no such thing as a impartial document - even something as robotic and corporate as satellite images does show the intent and aesthetics of both the creators of the system and the editors picking the images finally shown.

Well, I suppose if you really want to find artistic slant, you can probably find it. My point was probably less philosophical than that, and in an ideal world, a PJ should record scenes, and try to edit objectively, and not in line with a message they want to put across. If images are in black and white to make a scene seem more "gritty", then I personally don't think that is the place of a journalist.

 

[Aristophanes]

There is a difference between taking the photo in B&W and publishing it in B&W.

In an all-colour digital world (save for Leiac's new Monochrom) it would be an editorial choice to position the shot as a B&W in print or online.

 

[mrmeadows]

It looked like all the monochrome on that page was old work, used for comparisons or to illustrate reports on exhibitions. Was there new stuff that I missed?

The "Articles" and "Interviews" posts on PJLinks do reference much old work, whether color or BW. New work is mostly found in the "Features and Essays" posts, and there one will find that nearly all links point to new work, including BW. The June 8 post includes several, for example.

 

[sevo]

If images are in black and white to make a scene seem more "gritty", then I personally don't think that is the place of a journalist.

Agreed. But I don't perceive black and white as "gritty" - if any, it would give the story a "conservative" or "non-tabloid" touch. But perhaps values are different in the US, where colour in newsprint and TV had a very different (and earlier) timeline.

 

[John Bragg]

Such things are a matter of fashion. The Independent newspaper in Britain was the bastion of monochrome reporting in its first 10 years or so but has bowed to commercial pressure and the pages are now festooned in colour images. I miss the Independent of old and I would buy it for the wonderful photos by amazing photographers like Brian Harris and David Rose. Who knows the wheel may turn and Mono may become cutting edge again soon?

 

[emraphoto]

It's pretty hard to 'trivialize' something one has been living for months on end. Some of the people who have died here were new friends. The situation is bleak and very dark... B+W seems, to me, a very effective way of coveying that. The rockets and shells that rain down everyday fall on my head too. 'trivialize' seems way off the mark

 

[jaredangle]

For one of the inside pages of my old paper, a feature story about a homeless camp. Fits for the subject, I think.

 

[Contarama]

All of the old Pulitzers were shot in B&W. Look at the Pulitzers of today. Digital.