The Key of Photojournalism

            He doesn’t choose to sit down in the chair or atop the plastic Baruch desk like the four or five previous guest speakers. Instead he stands upright and a little off center, strategically positioning himself behind his “weapon.” In front of our guest speaker, it rests alone, lying on the desk. This weapon is staring at me and in turn I stare back. Looking at this weapon reminds me of crime scenes in “Special Victims Unit,” when police officers, Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson, present the weapon to the murderer, dramatically placing it in front of his or her face. This particular weapon resting on the commercially made Baruch desk wasn’t used to draw blood like weapons presented in “Special Victims Unit,” but nevertheless the products of the weapon evoke the same desired effect from the viewer that Stabler and Benson hope to get out of their guilty mate. The products of the weapon make the viewer reflect, assess themselves and his or her actions and relive a story.

            So what is this weapon that can accurately be related to a weapon from “Special Victims Unit”? The answer is simple. The weapon captures particular moments with a click of a button and for the past couple of decades has had a huge impact on the way we take  in news (recently they actually have been in the news). With cameras, it’s all about the visual photograph and capturing news through a medium separate from writing. I have always loved photography and have believed that photographs add flavor to an article, but never have seen photographs as an efficient way of expressing the news. Actually honestly, I once thought that photographs were not as important as the article. The photograph was more of an add-on to the article, instead of being its own force needing support from its counterpart and prime detective, Mr. Text. However, I have jumped to conclusions. Photography is as much a way of capturing the news as writing. Some even argue that photojournalism is a more useful way of understanding and remembering news because it does not capture information through strewn words but through a powerful picture that will make the reader refer to the photograph throughout another paragraph of text. Maybe I should invest in a more advanced “weapon.”