Is this the new wave of photojournalism?

This morning, I came across Michael Yon’s online magazine with his reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan. Spent a mesmerising hour reading his reports from the frontline and trying to analyse whether this fascinating combination of self-published, online words and pictures is the way photojournalism has to go in order to survive. His work is supported by reader donation.

Apart from the independent entrepreneurial approach, I think the most fascinating aspect of his work is that it puts a human face to these conflicts and tries to get beneath the surface of the shooting war with the kind of honesty that would be impossible for an embedded photojournalist working for a major publication.

Of his motivation, Yon says, “I was in the Army some years ago and maintained close contact with many friends who made a career of military service. Naturally, I had an interest in what was happening in Iraq–I had friends in harm’s way. But what spurred me to drop what I was doing, get on a plane and fly halfway around the world, to a war zone, was a growing sense that what I was seeing reported on television, as well as in newspapers and magazines, was inconsistent with the reality my friends were describing. I wanted to see the truth, first hand, for myself.”

Take a look. And if at all possible support modern independent photojournalism…

“Wild Eye”, the Souvenir King

 

“Wild Eye”, the Souvenir King, originally uploaded by National Media Museum.

This fine portrait of Australian soldier, Private John Hines aka The Souvenir King is part of a very interesting series of photographs from the Australian War Memorial held by the National Media Museum on Flickr under a Creative Commons Licence. Some of the photographs are by that sometimes controverial Australian war photographer, Frank Hurley. It was Hurley’s belief that darkroom manipulation was the only effective way of conveying the drama of war. Some of his pictures were a combination from many separate negatives. As you can see, photo manipulation was prevalent long before the arrival of Photoshop and digital imaging.