Niemand, 1

Kylie Niemand

December 4th, 2010

Dr. Rieman

Inquiry Paper

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Deanna Mascle, a Ph.D. Candidate in Technical Communication & Rhetoric at Texas

Tech University, describes a discourse community as, “a group of people who ‘speak the same

language’ or in other words, people who share an interest in certain topics, share a body of

knowledge about those topics, and possess a common vocabulary for discussing those topics”. I

became very interested in further learning about the photographic discourse community to which

I belong. I wanted to explore who in the community has a voice and what channels of

communications are available to photographers. I wanted to discover what forms of photography

are closely associated with narratives and how photographs tell stories through both images and

words. I wanted to explore what key terms are used within the community and what specific

terminology is only understood by that society. Through my research I discovered that it is true

what most say; a picture is worth a thousand words.

From its birth in 1839 to present day, photography has grown and involved into a very

dynamic and complex process. With several different modes of production, photography has

multiple purposes ranging from art to commercial, medical, scientific and even historical uses.

While there are many directions within photography, only a few courses are specifically

designed to help chronicle important events. Since the mid 1800s, documentary photography,
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photo-essays and photojournalism have been used to help record and document significant and

historical moments all over the world. Although all three forms of photography use images to

educate and enlighten, documentary photography is the only mode that alone relies on the

photographs to tell the story.

Documentary photography has been used all over the world to instill changes and educate

people on different events and state of affairs happening around them. According to

Photography.com, documentary photography is defined as,” an area of photography in which

pictures are used as historical documents… often used to incite political and social change due to

its ability to capture the ‘true’ nature of an image or location”. Documentary photography

became especially significant during the Great Depression in the mid 1900s. Famous

photographers, such as Lewis Hine, used documentary photography to help inspire changes in

America. During the early 1900s, Lewis Hine began taking pictures of children who worked in

terrible circumstances, and became determined to help improve conditions for them. Mora Giles

states, “Lewis Hine worked for the National Child Labor Committee, photographing children at

work in factories, mines and fields in order to denounce and ultimately improve their

circumstances” (85). The photographs themselves were enough to affect change throughout the

country as child labor laws came into affect. The photographs taken by Lewis Hines speak

volumes without having him explain them through text. Documentary photography has the

ability to tell a story without any words. Although there is no initiative narrative or news article

to accompany the images, photographs taken for the purpose of documentary photography can

sometimes be used to help illustrate a magazine or newspaper article.

Just as documentary photography helps to educate and inform, so does photojournalism.

Closely associated with usually a newspaper or magazine, photojournalism is defined as, “an
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area of photography dedicated to taking accurate shots of current events. The basic mission of a

photojournalist is to take pictures to accompany a news story” (“Photojournalism”). Unlike

documentary photography whose sole purpose is to tell the story through the images,

photojournalism focuses on first getting the story and then providing images to accompany it.

When selecting photographs to accompany an article, there is a great deal of decision that goes

into making the final choice for the pictures. Every photograph associated with an article has to

represent the story and emphasize key points. In photojournalism, you do not add a picture

simply because it looks appealing; instead you add a photograph because it has significance,

“The press photograph is a message” (Goldberg 521). Not only does the picture have to contain

a message related to what the reporter is reporting on but the caption, the title and the point of

reception all has to be precisely accurate with the article.

In this mode of photography the emphasis is on the narrative and not on the photographs.

The journalist is responsible for reporting accurate and insightful news that will be informative to

the audience. A journalist is more concerned about getting the story correct, than getting the

photograph correct, “A journalist cannot be held to the demands of the photographic subject, but

rather he or she must be concerned with producing accurate news for the public” (Westbrook). In

today’s world, without accurate information within a solid story, there is no need for

photographs. Sometimes an accurate photograph is paired with an inaccurate description, turning

the photograph into a false statement. Photographs associated with photojournalism are

intersected with narrative as reporters include pictures within their articles to help further

emphasize and illustrate the story at hand.

Unlike photojournalism that is mainly focused on first getting the story and then

following it up through photographs, in a photo-essay the pictures are the most important
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element. A photo-essay is characterized as, “a close association between a text and a group of

photographs, often in a narrative sequence, concentrated on a given subject” (Mora 142). With a

photo-essay there is a specific sequence of both photographs and the narratives that follow them.

Although most photographic essays have a written text associated with them, sometimes the

pictures alone tell the story similar to documentary photography. “Photography essays can tell

stories in a variety of ways using many different techniques. Sometimes text captions explain the

pictures in a photo-essay or a full-length article accompanies the pictures. Other times words are

not necessary for a photo essay, as the images alone tell the story” ("Photography Essay

Storytelling"). Depending on the subject of the photographs, sometimes there is a need for a

narrative to follow and help better explain the photographer’s intent, and sometimes the pictures

speak for themselves.

Just as the narratives can be complex within the photo-essay, so can the photographs.

Although many may think that a photograph is a simple item, the truth is photographs can be

extremely intricate and difficult to both understand and analyze. Pictures are more than just

images, they truly do tell a story. A picture can be as simple as a single girl standing in a street,

yet the meaning and the expression behind the photograph can be very involved. A photo-essay

can seem very simple on the surface, but can be quite complex when analyzed and interpreted,

“A photo-essay – in which the factual exposition provided by images is complemented by the

commentary and analysis supplied in the text – can be as complex and multilayered as a

sophisticated literacy essay” (Mora 142). A photograph is never simple, and within a photo-

essay, the photographer can use narratives to help explain and elaborate on both the meaning and

themes of the photographs and the work as a whole.

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Through the different directions in photography, multiple channels of communication

have opened up for not only the photographers but for their intended audience as well. With

technology fast encroaching on almost every aspect of life, in today’s world photographers have

multiple way of communicating within the discourse community. With the Internet becoming

more popular everyday, photographers can converse through websites, blogs, social networking

sites, news sites and even through Youtube.com; photographers can upload videos of photo

shoots or even podcasts and make them available for the world to see. In a more traditional way,

photographers can communicate their ideas through written works and books. Sometimes

photographers are unsuccessful at communicating themselves and therefore partner up with a

writer to help converse with an audience. Walker Evans, a famous photographer, collaborated

with James Agee, a famous American author, to incorporate and intertwine photography and

literature, “The most successful collaboration between a writer and a photographer is

undoubtedly Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), in which the text (by James Agee) and the

photographs (by Walker Evans) reinforce each other to yield a moving account of the daily life

of Alabama sharecroppers in 1936” (Mora 116). Whether a photographer communicates directly

through narrative or strictly through their photographs, in today’s world, there are multiple

channels of communication open to the photographic discourse community.

With many channels of interaction available to photographers, anyone in the

photographic community has the ability to voice their ideas and opinions. Whether one is a

professional or amateur photographer, they have the freedom to share their opinions on the art. I

have a photography blog in which I update my followers with information about new

photographs I have taken, interesting photographers I have discovered and of course I upload

some of my pictures to my blog. No matter if you are a famous photographer or just starting out,
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you have a voice and can vocalize your art just as you see fit. Whether people will actually listen

to you, well that’s a whole other story.

Throughout the course of my English 1103 class I became very fascinated with the way

in which we speak within different discourse communities. Think about the different

communities to which you belong, in each group do you have a specialized way of speaking that

some of the other communities you belong to would not understand? Do you speak to your

colleagues the way in which you would with your grandparents? Would you speak to your

parents the way you do with your friends? Within the photographic community, there are key

words and specific terms that are very basic for a photographer to know. Speaking as a

photographer, if I was asked what aperture and ISO settings my camera was currently set to, I

would immediately be able to respond. However, if the same question were asked to someone

outside the community, would they know the answer? I’m guessing no. An aperture of the

camera is defined as the, “Circular hole in front of or within a lens that restricts the amount of

light passing through the lens to the photo laureates material. On the majority of lenses the size

of the aperture can be varied and controlled by an iris diaphragm” and ISO is defined as,

“International Standards Organization. Current speed system (embracing ASA and DIN) used to

express relative light sensitivity of films” (“Key Photography Terms”). To a photographer within

the community, the definitions are basic knowledge that is important in the use of the camera.

Certain words only pertain to the community and are specialized for photographers to use and

understand. Every community has their own written and spoken language that pertains to

processes and understandings within their group. Being part of that particular community, I

know many photographic terms that seem simple and fundamental to me yet can seem complex

and confusing to others who do not belong to the society of photographers.

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Photography has been used throughout history to help inform, educate, express and share.

While some modes of photography solely rely on the photographs to tell a story, when associated

with a narrative, photographs can become extremely powerful. Photography is more than just art,

it is expression and influence. Photography has different forms of appearance and can connect to

you on a variety of levels, “Like every other art, photography has links with different forms of

expression” (Mora 115). Photographs can stand alone or can be linked with text to help further

emphasize and define a story or opinion. Photography is much more than just a simple picture, it

is a story that can take a sentence or an entire essay to fully explain and convey. I never really

noticed how much photography intersects with writing until I started researching this paper. Not

only are certain directions in photography directly associated with narratives, but photographers

use courses of narratives to communicate and voice their ideas. Thorough different modes of

photography such as photojournalism and the photo-essay, one can add a tale to help the reader

understand the words on the page. A story can be as descriptive as it wants, but can never truly

be visualized accurately until a photograph accompanies it. So I state once more with all the

confidence and belief in the world; a picture is worth a thousand words.

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Lewis Hines Photographs:

Hines, Lewis. The History Place. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
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Works Cited

“Documentary Photography.” Photography.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2010.

Goldberg, Vicki. Photography in Print. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981.

Print.

Hines, Lewis. The History Place. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.

“Key Photography Terms.” Photography Laureates. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.

Mascle, Deanna. “Discourse Community.” Squido. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

Mora, Gilles. Photo Speak: A Guide to the Ideas, Movements, and Techniques of Photography,

1839 to the Present. New York: Abbeville Press, 1998. Print.

“Photography Essay Storytelling.” Photography.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

“Photojournalism.” Photography.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

Westbrook, Dillion. “A Brief History of Photojournalism .” Photography Schools. N.p., n.d.

Web. 3 Nov. 2010.