"A billion roaming photojournalists" How do I compete against that? Who needs a four-year photojournalism degree? Buy an iPhone, voila, you are a photojournalist!
Here is the latest iPhone 5 commercial from Sprint.
This post is not a
commentary on photojournalists using iphones as a tool.
It is meant to highlight the
Sprint video and comment on the language used in an advertisement to achieve a
desired effect on people. It implies that a consumer is a photojournalist just
because they are using an iPhone 5 to take photos and post photos on social
media.
I am sorry but if I buy a
hammer does that make me a carpenter?
If I buy a thermometer, voila,
I am one of a billion roaming doctors?
Consumers have been using
cameras for over a century. I don't recall anyone ever calling these consumers,
who share their photos, as photojournalists.
Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (e.g., documentary photography,social documentary photography, street photography or celebrity photography) by complying with a rigid ethical framework which demands that the work is both honest and impartial whilst telling the story in strictly journalistic terms. Photojournalists create pictures that contribute to the news media.
Source: Wikipedia
I love how the cutaways for the "billion roaming photojournalists" are a bunch of kids running around their homes.
ReplyDeletenext thing i know i watched a cop show on tv and presto i'm a cop. Gimmie a break. I phone shooters are amateur contributors. nothing more.
ReplyDeleteI'ts a great post and you are right....but it started much....much earlier. I still remember (cannot find proof on the web however) when Sony or Sony Ericsson started advertising their VERY FIRST auto focus mobile phones (around 1.3-3.2 megapixels and probably no 3G or even internet within them yet) with the tag line "shoot like a professional". It was in the years when photographers were discussing if digital is really good enough or film is still better...
ReplyDelete