Journalistic Image as Visual Sociology

Photojournalists make no pretence of impartiality in their selection of images to capture or how they are framed. The images are intended for use in newspapers or magazines and as illustration for text that is likely to have a strong bias and be relevant to an issue that is of immediate topical interest. The photographs are not taken for long term interest but for their immediate impact in a fast-moving world. If it has provoked an emotional reaction in the reader that it is line with what was hoped for, so much the better but in any event it has served its purpose and life moves on. (Becker 1998: 94).

The photograph may have been intended for an immediate purpose but unless it is physically destroyed it still exists and can be viewed later. If the image is viewed in its original setting of the newspaper alongside an article it may still evoke emotion in the viewer but it may be less intense with the passage of time between the event depicted and viewing the image (Becker 1998: 94). If the image is viewed in isolation from its original context and distanced from it by time, there is still information to be extracted from it either directly from its studium or indirectly in terms of semiotics or emotion triggered by its punctum (Cronin 1998: 72). This means that the image (copyright permitting) could turn up again as a legitimate part of a visual sociology research project with re-labelling and contextual description for its new role (Becker 1998: 94). If valid within the parameters of the research project it would lack reliability unless it formed part of a wider series of images on the same subject or subject matter (Becker cited in Harper 1998: 29).

Adelman, C. (1998) ‘Photocontext’. In Image-based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Research. ed. by Prosser, J. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer: 148-161

Becker, H.S. (1998). ‘Visual Sociology, Documentary Photography and Photojournalism: It’s (Almost) All a Matter of Context’. In Image-based research ed. by Prosser, J. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer: 84-96.

Cronin, Ó. (1998). ‘Psychology and Photographic Theory’. In Image-based research ed. by Prosser, J. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer: 69-83.

Harper, D. (1998) ‘An Argument for Visual Sociology’. In Image-based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Research ed. by Prosser, J. Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer: 24-41).