Mark E. Johnson – Page 3 – Visual Journalism

August 30, 2018

Colorado Journalist Detained by Police for Recording from a Public Place

After stopping to investigate police activity, Susan Greene was told to stop recording because it would be a HIPAA violation. When she refused, she was handcuffed and put in the back seat of a police car and then released. Some things to unpack here … Greene was in a public place as were the police so there is no expectation...

At Work/Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism

August 30, 2018

College Photographer of the Year Call for Entries

If you’re a college student, it’s time to get your portfolio together – the entry deadline for the 73rd College Photographer of the Year competition is September 23. There is no entry fee for this – why wouldn’t you enter?

Competitions/Good Work/Photojournalism

August 5, 2018

How Salt and Silver Bind Us

Well now I want to go to the Yale Center for British Art to see an exhibition … That BBC video has me thinking thoughts too deep for a pre-coffee Sunday morning, about how to change the way I teach photojournalism and, perhaps, who I teach it to. My classes are not about photography, they are about community, understanding, compassion...

Advice & Learning/Business & Industry/Journalism/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

August 1, 2018

What’s Newsworthy?

The visual coverage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt has fascinated me for years. Stricken with polio, he was mostly unable to walk without either physical or mechanical assistance, yet the journalists of the time almost never recorded that fact. It’s perhaps one of the greatest ethical discussions on how we cover those in power – what matters, what doesn’t and...

Ethics & Legal/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

July 23, 2018

Food for Thought

World Press Photo has given control of their Instagram account to Alessio Mamo. Mamo won an award in the last contest and the image he posted is from a new project looking at poverty and food issues in India. This was sent to me by Katy Culver, director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Journalism Ethics and it raised...

Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

July 19, 2018

Sexual Harassment in Photojournalism

Kristen Chick has published an extensive report at the Columbia Journalism Review about sexual harassment in the photojournalism industry. If you are reading this, you need to go read that. It is not optional. There is a lot of information to process there. As a male who has been in the industry for almost three decades, I want to be...

Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism

July 14, 2018

Ektachrome Re-exposed

Kodak is putting an old film back into production – Ektachrome, last made in 2012, will be back on the market this year. As you read through Stan Horaczek’s story, study the image labeled Master Control. There are two items that will tell you this is a modern image, even though it looks straight out of the 1980s. While there...

Business & Industry/Craft/Photojournalism

July 6, 2018

Know Your Sources, Deeply

Andrew W. Lehren, Emily R. Siegel and Merritt Enright at NBC News broke a story this week about the First Lady receiving royalty payments that may have come from news outlets … without them knowing it. Many of the photographs in the Getty Images archive are from a photographer who seems to have an interesting relationship with the Trump family....

Business & Industry/Ethics & Legal/Journalism/Photojournalism/Thoughts & Theory

June 19, 2018

“I wanted to stop her crying”

It’s an image everyone is talking about, a little girl crying as her mother is searched by U.S. Border Patrol agents. It’s an image that took John Moore a decade to make. “I have no way of knowing if things will be okay.” Journalism matters.

Advice & Learning/At Work/Business & Industry/Good Work/Photojournalism

May 5, 2018

Visualizing Autism

I am going to put this right up front – I think Craig Walker may be one of the most important photojournalists of our time. He won earned two Pulitzer Prizes while at the Denver Post, one for a story on a kid joining the Army and a second on a Marine coming back from war. This week, the Boston...

Advice & Learning/At Work/Craft/Good Work/Journalism/Photojournalism

Author: Mark E. Johnson