In journalism, visuals can make or break a story. Photojournalism is often defined as covering a news event through the use of photography, but photojournalism can also illustrate the extent of devastation, heartbreak and joy. It can show the geography, climate and culture in ways that words can’t always capture. That means a photojournalist’s job is more than just “taking pictures.” A photojournalist’s job is to bring readers into a story with the use of visual storytelling.
NBC News senior photo director Zara Katz said every photo her team works on must be visually compelling to draw readers in, but most importantly, it must be true to the story.
“We’re never just saying, ‘Go take a photo,’” said Katz, who oversees photography for NBCNews.com and MSNBC.com. “We’re really putting in a lot of time to make sure that everything is logistically set up so that the creative and the visual narrative can come through to bolster the stories that we’re telling.”
NBCU Academy shadowed Katz and her team as they photographed a family whose relatives were killed in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, in January. Check out our video above to see how L.A. photojournalist Mark Abramson worked closely with New York-based senior photo editor Elise Wrabetz to cover the story. Read more of their interviews below.
What is photojournalism?
Zara Katz, NBC News senior photo director: The role of photojournalism is to show what is actually going on, what we’re able to see in real time, what somebody looks like, what an event looks like. That visual cue is reporting unto itself.
What does a photojournalist do?
Katz: Photojournalism has an entire host of ethics and practices and standards that go into it. (See the National Press Photographers Association’s code of ethics here.) Photojournalists are not necessarily verbally communicating with the news event, as to not disturb or alter it. They are just trying to move their body to create images that accurately get the event in context. If it is a news event that is unfolding, the photographer should not be interjecting in any way.
What are portraits? And how do photojournalists handle portrait assignments?
Katz: Photojournalism can also be portraiture, and that is a very important part of what we do. Often, we are reporting about events that happened in the past, and we cannot visually document those events, so we’re looking to photograph the person who is telling the story and making sure that we are taking a picture of them that represents them.
A portrait is essentially a full collaboration between the participant, the photographer and the photo editor, including where are we going to create this portrait to represent you and the story that you’re telling. It is not a construction. It is still authentic to that person and their story.
Mark Abramson, freelance photojournalist: These are real people, real stories, with real pain. With something like Jackie and her nephew [in the Eaton wildfire story], I wanted to slow things down and breathe and have a moment with them, and for them to understand my movements and why I was photographing things, have it be a collaboration.
What does a photo editor do? And how do they work with a photojournalist?
Katz: The role of the photo editor in the day-to-day is to make sure that there’s an image with every single story that is being published — but that’s really the baseline. We are also visually thinking how we are representing our stories that we’re reporting, whether it is a daily story or a longer-term investigation.
What is the role of empathy when covering these heavy stories?
Abramson: As journalists, we can very easily become piranhas, because we’re working in a fast-paced news environment. It’s very easy to lose sight of what’s happened, of what really matters, and what really matters is respect.
I don’t have any right to their story or to their picture. It’s a privilege. It’s an honor. They’re granting me this access.
How does someone get into photojournalism?
Abramson: Reach out to people who do this kind of work that you respect. I reach out to people and I look at their work to reinvigorate and reinspire myself about why I got into this.
If you’re going to be in the field, it’s going to be a lot of grueling hours, but it’s really meaningful.
You can see more of Abramson’s work here. See more of the photo desk’s work here and follow it on Instagram here.
Check out some of our other pieces on photojournalism and video journalism below:
