Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Self-Study Unit 3: Photography & Trauma

II. Memorable Photographs

One of the best ways to assess the power of photographs is to see some examples. Here are links to web sites that feature award-winning and memorable images that have made an impact on people’s lives.

Self-Study Unit 3: Photography & Trauma

Photojournalists are part of the team of first responders whenever a tragedy occurs. They are there to document the news event in pictures and their work can have a strong and lasting impact on the public consciousness and themselves.

Self-Study Unit 3: Photography & Trauma

V. Tips for Photojournalists

Photojournalists are professionals who adhere to ethical standards that set them apart from the hobbyist taking snap shots while on vacation. National, regional, and news organization-specific guidelines offer photojournalists help in meeting the demands of their job and balancing the challenges from both sides of the lens.

Self-Study Unit 3: Photography & Trauma

I. The History of Photojournalism

When specific photographs become symbolic of a particular event, triggering the public's memory (and related feelings and emotions) about that period in time, we can refer to them as enduring historical icons.

Self-Study Unit 3: Photography & Trauma

IV. Traumatic Stress and the News Audience

The field of mass communication study is largely build upon “effects research,” the study of how media content (e.g., movies, newspaper articles, propaganda, television programs, etc.) affects some segment of the population. This research goes back about three-quarters of a century and has yielded a wide range of useful findings.

Self-Study Unit 3: Photography & Trauma

III. Effects of Trauma Exposure

Although photojournalists photograph a wide range of subject matter, sooner or later they will have to photograph something that they and their readers find deeply disturbing.

Panel: Where Photojournalism and Treatment Intersect

By Stan Alcorn

"Let's hold hands to show we are united." Though the image above was taken by photojournalist Donna DeCesare, the idea behind it came from this spontaneous thought from one of the image's "protagonists" (a term DeCesare prefers to "subject"). Nancy and her six younger siblings were displaced by three days of torture and killings by paramilitaries that left more than 40 villagers dead in El Salado, Colombia in the year 2000. Though it would be dangerous for them to reveal their faces or full names, through DeCesare's unique collaborative approach, they were able to choose, creatively and expressively, how they would be seen. More »

2007 Dart Award Final Judges

The judges for the 2007 Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma.

The New Photojournalism

By Stan Alcorn

"Photojournalists in the mould of [Robert] Capa or Philip Jones Griffiths can no longer compete with instantaneous TV...photojournalists must find a new language."

The quote comes from a review of fine art exhibitions in last week's Times of London, but it's a variation on an argument we've heard since the digital camera was invented: now that everyone can take photographs, who needs photographers?

Two events this week seemed to propose two different answers ... More »