Prof. Steve Raymer explained how photojournalism, as a professional eyewitness to history, can change the world during the MU lecture series. The award-winning US photographer presented impressive examples of exciting perspectives in a web conference.
For ninety minutes, the guest lecturer used numerous images to illustrate how photojournalism has changed since the ‘golden age’ of glossy magazines to the TikTok era. Steve Raymer pointed out that most people in the United States now get their news via social media rather than through traditional journalistic channels. In addition, digital technologies and artificial intelligence are changing the way reality is depicted. The fact that we are able to take photos at any time with our smartphones is also changing the nature and significance of photographic images of our world. Since newspapers first published black-and-white photos in the 19th century, photojournalism has been constantly changing.
Raymer, who was named ‘Magazine Photographer of the Year’ by the National Press Photographers Association in 1976, showed his own photos and those of others, which succeeded in creating an almost intimate closeness to strangers, reflecting contemporary history. Light, composition and framing were used to create ‘moments of truthfulness,’ explained the professor emeritus of journalism at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he still discusses the experience and documentation of war and terrorism with students. Steve Raymer showed his photos from Vietnam and Cambodia, Russia, the Falkland Islands and Alaska. He presented war images that tell dramatic stories, explained photographic essays, and illustrated why, in his view, journalism means the ‘fusion of images and words.’ He has written numerous books on topics such as Vietnam and Saint Petersburg. They contain photographs of Agent Orange victims as well as a Russian ballet company.
The subjects of Raymer’s photos show the consequences of war and hunger, of flight and displacement, and of human intervention in nature. The man, who experienced the Vietnam War as a soldier, explained that the task of press photography is that of ‘professional eyewitnesses.’ It is about sharing experiences with others. In this way, injustice and social problems can be made visible. Ultimately, it is about creating publicity and transparency for issues that lack social attention. Steve Raymer explained his ‘idea of visual truthfulness’ and showed impressive pictures of people and landscapes. When asked about his ‘favourite picture,’ he showed a photo from 1975 of a refugee child with an empty bowl under his arm, waiting for relief supplies.
Journalistic work should not depend solely on who you work for, but above all on how you work, said Steve Raymer, calling on journalists to critically reflect on their own work. Sometimes, he said, democratic societies are also about connections beyond the law, morality, the market and public opinion, recalling the Brazilian photographer, photojournalist and environmental activist Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado, who died in May. Photos can open up or convey new perspectives. Steve Raymer, who was director of the National Geographic Society News Service from 1989 to 1995, explained his position using images from his career, which has taken him to more than a hundred countries. The spectrum of his work, which he used to illustrate National Geographic reports, ranges from famines in Bangladesh and Ethiopia to the construction of the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Prof. Dr. Klaus Schulz, Rector of Media University, finally thanked him for a great lecture ‘not only in terms of the photos, but also in terms of humanity.’
