charla.ca

In the wake of Battle Snap I thought I would post one more image from the Mainstay series. I was looking for an interesting quote to attach when I found this:

In the 1930’s – 40’s commercial photographers were considered the artists of their times. The scene shifted in the 1950’s – 60’s and the photojournalists who worked for Life and Look magazines were the most celebrated photographic artists. Today photojournalists are no longer in demand to tell us about the world, because TV does it with the evening news. Mass media magazines now use photographers to illustrate stories on movie stars, sports and newsmakers and are no longer the creative galleries for commercial and editorial photography.

- Bill Owens, Publish Your Photo Book: A Guide to Self Publishing

I find this quote particularly interesting, though I don’t entirely agree with it. It doesn’t exactly pertain to all types of photography, just photojournalism. And it doesn’t exactly pertain to all parts of the world, mostly just North America and maybe a war torn country or two. Is he daring to say that media photographers and news videographers have become the artists of the time?

We have entered an era that depends on the internet and tv for research and knowledge. I find myself often on the internet looking up anything from word spellings, to recipes, to photography blogs and today cake ideas for my sons birthday. You can find anything.

Anything? I can’t find photography about the Newfoundland Fishery…especially if it dares the photographer to use his sea legs. And I can’t remember the last time I saw a news reporter donning his rubber clothes to do a report on offshore fishing (then again I don’t watch the news every night). This is why the quote got my interest.

I photographed the Mainstay series in 2003. And for the last few years I have been mulling over the idea of doing it again. I felt that there has always been a lot of talk about the fishery but not a lot of action on the photography scene. When I do an internet search I find mostly old photos or photos that were pretty much taken on or near shore. Bill Owens quote falls a little short in this arena. There really isn’t much modern visual documentation to be found on the Newfoundland Fishery.

Please, if you have a link to some great photojournalism on this wide issue let me know.

To the credit of Joachim Ladefoged I did find this these great photos in the National Geographic from April 2007.