Today we all take for granted photojournalism as
an integral part of the news gathering process. Western society was as
enamored with photography a century ago as we are today. Yet, it took
considerable time for the print media to become a visual medium.
In print media, photography was
initially met with fierce resistance, due both to institutional conservatism
and limits in printing technology.
As outlined in the “Photojournalism: The professionals’ approach”,
the halftone process existed as early as 1871, yet it took twenty years for a
photograph to appear in a major newspaper, and “not until 1910 did a picture
run on the front page of The New York
Times.”
As a student of photographic technology, I am
fascinated by the development of artificial lighting, the dangers of flash
powder, the eccentricities of flashbulbs (patented by Paul Vierkoter in 1925),
and the innovations of electronic flash by Harold Edgerton in the early
1930’s.
It’s amazing
to look back on the incredible work that was done with ancient equipment that
today’s photographer looks back on as quaint, at best.
