Lecture 4 (16/03/2012) "Picture Stories"

This weeks lecture was focused on pictures, and picture stories. I thought it was a good lecture, as it contrasted with last week's lecture about the importance of text.

Picture stories have played a major role in history. Take the Australian indigenous cave paintings - these have been a fundamental way to interpret stories from thousands of years ago, without even one word. They also reflect Aboriginal customs, culture and tradition.

Another example are the holy stained glass windows that appeared in churches many years ago. Back then, only a small amount of people could read and write, so the images that appeared in churches were one of the only ways they could communicate biblical stories to people.

Early newspapers contained line pictures and limited text. The first photograph appeared in a newspaper in 1879 "Steinway Hall" in the Daily Graphic New York. This marked the beginning of photography appearing in journalism. Throughout the years, there has been significant progress in photo journalism, assisted by new developments in technology, such as the introduction of digital cameras.

Other not so nice developments in photo journalism are that of photo "editing." Every day we see hundreds of airbrushed celebrities on the cover of magazines, some even with feature articles about celebrities telling us that "beauty is from within..."

But how can this be when pictures of already beautiful girls and boys are being distorted in such a way that they don't even look like themselves anymore?

"Fauxtography?"

What makes a fantastic photo?

• Framing
• Focus
• Angle and Point of View
• Exposure
• Timing / Shutter speed
• Capturing the moment

What makes a fantastic moving picture?

• Framing
• Focus
• Angle and Point of View
• Exposure
• Timing and editing
• Capturing the scene
• Inclusion of sound
   

The Rule of thirds / the Golden Mean:

"A picture has no meaning at all if it can't tell a story."

I found this lecture great, as we got to study different types of pictures, their importance in journalism and how pictures communicate to us a certain message. I left the lecture theatre thinking about what Skye had mentioned previously about the importance of text and now what Dr. Redman had said about picture media, and concluded that there are many ways to create great journalism. Each type of journalism is special and communicates a different message to us. Combined, both pictures and text make a great team, but seperated they can also speak to us in different ways, and I find that something remarkable.