Featured Photographer

As you go through your career you really need to keep your finger on the pulse of what is going on in the industry of not just journalism, but photography in general. It keeps you in the know about what you should be looking for and what you should be ready to compete with. Most of the photographers that you see out there are going to still be out there when you become a major professional. So knowing what they're doing is knowing what your competition/friends are doing. I literally do this consistently to a point of seeming strange (analyzing the lighting schemes in my girlfriend's Victoria's Secret catalogs)

The first artist that I'll cover is James Nachtwey. His work is pretty much the leading thing in photo story work on plight around the world.

The guy, as far as I know, still shoots film. He uses available light. And he doesn't pose much if any of his shots.

Oh, and he gets right into the middle of the action (comes with the job of being a war correspondent). The guy's been sick multiple times from being exposed to stuff. He's got a dvd out that is really great. I own it. You should rent it if you can find it.

Analyzing his work, he works with pretty high contrast and favors black and white. He's got assistants as far as I know that do all of the darkroom work for him. Something that most budding photogs don't even need to know about.

What a starting shooter should really get from his work is the feeling of dedication and general interest in the stories in people's lives. His ability to get in next to a person and become completely unnoticed while someone is going through something terrible is amazing.

The image to the left is really effective, yet extremely simple. You're looking at shadows instead of the real action. There's a saying about looking at what the photographers around you are shooting, and then turn around and shoot the opposite things. Here Nachtwey looks away from the actual moment, and instead captures an image that is much more artistic yet still extremely effective.

This is another good use of elements that are extremely effective at keeping the reader's eye trained on the point of interest.

There's awesome framing of the subject by the sunlight falling in through the ceiling onto the prisoners.

The last image I'll show is this one. It's one of my favorites just because the framing is interesting and the crisp focus on the child and the soft focus everywhere else really makes me want to look at the kids eyes. Nachtwey's way of keeping you fixed on an image is amazing. He frames so well that your eye is constantly finding new things to look at. He's got a lot of life experience and a genuine desire to help others by making others aware of their stories.