Photojournalism is defined as the practice of using photographic images to tell a story. While traditional journalists rely on written language, photojournalists wield a camera in place of a pen, often crafting narratives that can be understood with or without accompanying text. Well‑executed photojournalism provides context, deepens comprehension, and can determine whether a news story resonates with audiences. Because images travel quickly across today’s digital landscape, news organisations value compelling, trustworthy photographs that can communicate unfolding events with immediacy and authority. The history of photojournalism tells us how it evolved alongside technology and public’s growing appetite for visual storytelling. Photographs accompanied news as early as the American Civil War, and by the 1920s, with the arrival of portable cameras, the field of photography was firmly established. Smaller, handheld equipment allowed photographers to work with never-before seen speed and urgency, capturing candid moments in ways that were previously impossible with bulky equipment or paint and pencils. This technology, combined with the rise of visually driven magazines such as Life and Vu, propelled photojournalism into its Golden Age, establishing the photo‑essay as a powerful non-fiction form of story telling and news reportage. The way people engaged with the world and current events was forever altered.

The power of photojournalism extends beyond its ability to spread information. Photographs can freeze moments in time, preserving history for generations. Distant crises can be brought home to viewers thousands of miles away, stimulating outrage, protest and change. Experiences that might remain unseen are illuminated by the photojournalist’s flashbulb. And the practice of photographing war, disaster, and live events comes with new ethical questions. How do photographs represent the truth? How does a photographer balance the urgency to report with sensitivity to the subject? When does witnessing grief become intrusion or exploitation? And how can images remain objective yet still communicate emotional truths?

In this section you’ll see how photojournalism blends art with historical documentation. You’ll see a curated selection of iconic photographs from the last hundred years from all around the world and, by understanding the history of iconic images, and analysing choices photojournalists make – even in the moment – you’ll be able to understand how split second decisions have impacted public opinion. Most of all, I hope you’ll learn why photojournalism continues to be one of the most vital forms of news reportage in the modern world. To begin your study, choose one or two of the following reading materials, note down your discoveries, and report back with your findings:

• Photos That Shaped History (Substack essay by Marc Friedman)
• A Brief History of Photojournalism (blogpost)
• See the Civil War Through the Lens of Its First Photographer (Smithsonian Magazine article)
• Photojournalism and Why It Is Important (New York Times article)
• The Golden Age of Photojournalism (by Louis Sartori)
• What Is the Difference Between Photojournalism and Photography? (CameraPixo Press article)
• Different Types of Photojournalism (CameraPixo Press article)
• Objective vs Subjective Camera Perspectives (EditMentor blogpost)
• Angles of Photography (blogpost at Skylum.com)
• Can Photojournalists Be Entirely Objective? (by Kelsey Ables at Visual Culture)

Reading Challenge

This is a longer and more challenging piece, but reading and discussing this piece with your teacher will help you master this topic:

• Objective Truth vs. Subjective Perception (by Natalia Almada writing for art21 magazine)

Discussion Points

After you’ve got your head around the material in this section, pair up, pick a question, spend five minutes thinking and noting down your thoughts – then discuss your ideas with a friend and report back to the class:

1. What are the ethical implications in capturing images of people suffering, experiencing grief or pain? Where is the line between documentation and exploitation?
2. How can a photograph(er) both reflect reality objectively yet reveal hidden or emotional truths at the same time?
3. In the age of misinformation and instantaneous image generation, what is the future of photography and photojournalism? What value does this art form and professional practice still hold in the digital age?

1. Freezing History

“It’s not about gear, or the 10,000 hours. It’s simply that almost any photograph is improved by having people in it”

Time Magazine, 100 Best Photos of 2025

Photojournalism, when practiced as a professional art form, has the power to stop time. In a single frame, the right photographer can capture the precise moment when history shifts. At the Normandy beach landings, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Ruby Bridges going to a newly desegregated school, or the joining of the arches of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, photographers have been on hand to capture the moment. Their images do more than document events – they tell stories of people and places and reveal the shared humanity between viewer and subject. While photojournalism is not created for beauty, the photographs that endure are often as striking as they are significant. Their composition, timing, and perspective help transform a fleeting instant into a symbol that lodges itself in public consciousness. Anyone who sees the iconic photograph of Nelson Mandela walking free, or of Mohamed Ali standing over Sonny Liston, has a visual memory almost as striking as if they witnessed events with their own eyes. Use the collection below to explore how iconic photographs from the last hundred years do far more than show what happened; they remind us that behind the headlines are real life experiences, blood, sweat, and tears:

• Iconic Historical Photojournalism Images (PPT)
• Discussing Iconic Photographs (PDF)

Activity: Time’s Top 100

Time is one of the world’s most influential news magazines known for its political coverage but, more relevantly for this study, its historical commitment to visual storytelling and photojournalism. In a time of digital manipulation, Time is still the gold standard for ethics and truth-telling, upholding rigorous editorial standards for photographers. To be published in Time is to be recognised as authentic and meaningful. One’s images can’t just be decorative or aesthetically pleasing – they have to capture the weight of a moment, reveal something hidden, or expose an emotional truth. Whether a war, election, disaster, cultural shift, environmental wonder, or human struggle, Time’s photojournalism reaches a global audience and impacts the way people think around the world.

Every November, Time’s digital photography platform (called Lightbox) selects the 100 best photojournalism images from the previous year’s published news and photo essays. Then, before the end of December, they narrow their selection down to the year’s top ten photographs. In this activity, put yourself in the place of Time’s judging panel. Look at the 100 images in last year’s longlist: can you work together to whittle this selection down to ten photographs? (Here’s Time’s final selection, but no peeking before you’ve shortlisted your own). Choose 10 photographs that you think, taken together, fulfil the following criteria for prestige photojournalism:

• Time’s 100 Best Photos of 2025

2. On the Subjectivity Spectrum

“To accept that all images are subjective is to dive into turbulent waters with no life vest.”

Natalia Almeda, Objective Truth vs. Subjective Perception

Photography is often described as a way of showing the world ‘as it is’. In photojournalism, the ideal of objectivity suggests a faithful, unmanipulated record with no staging, no directing, no embellishment, simply a clear account of who was present, what happened, and where and when events unfolded. Journalists strive for impartiality and transparency, taking images the public can trust. But true objectivity is impossible. Every image involves choices a photographer makes: where to stand, what lenses to use, how to frame. The moment a photographer selects a position, lifts a camera, and presses the shutter, subjectivity intrudes.

Understanding the tension between objectivity and subjectivity is essential in photojournalism. The most enduring images often live in the space between the two. They remain objective enough to present an unaltered moment of truth, yet subjective enough to carry emotional force and historical meaning. Great photojournalism is never just a record of what happened; it acknowledges that perspective, emotion, and the photographer’s judgment are part of any image. Use the presentation embedded here to learn how photographers can maintain objectivity… or how choices they make can frame subjects in ways that lead your interpretation:

• Between Objectivity and Subjectivity (PPT)

Activity: Practice Photojournalism

Grab your cameras (phone cameras are fine) and get into small groups of around four people. Practice the techniques you’ve learned in this section by capturing images of one another, both singly and interacting together. Take photos on a spectrum from as objective as you can to subjective, trying to load emotion onto the image. Can you bring out one another’s personalities – or hide them behind a neutral image? Make a small checklist before you start, find suitable locations, and spend half a lesson practicing photojournalism. Then bring your images back to class and share them with the group. Give each other feedback on your photojournalism techniques.

Learner Portfolio: Make a photoessay

Here’s a chance for all you budding photographers to put together a meaningful addition to your portfolio and make your own photo-essay. This creative challenge should be around 6 to 8 images long, supported by brief explanatory or descriptive text conveying the narrative you want to tell. You may choose any subject close to your own heart: a family member whose story deserves to be told, an extracurricular group you belong to, a field trip or fundraising event you’ve taken part in, a holiday destination you’re visiting, or a cultural or traditional celebration (even a birthday!) that means something to you. What matters most is that the project feels personal and authentic to you.

As you photograph, apply the photojournalism lessons from this section, especially around perspective, subjectivity, and framing. Think about how your own perspective determines what you choose to show and what emotions you try to evoke, whether joy, tension, curiosity, serenity, or something else. Try to choose moments that reveal something true or meaningful about your subject: relationships, habits, routines, small daily rituals, all say more than you might think. Beautifully composed images don’t need to be professional, but try to photograph with intention and build a sense of connection. In the immortal words of famous photojournalist Robert Capa: “if your pictures aren’t good, you’re not close enough.” Here’s a repository of contemporary photo-essays from AP journalists around the world if you want more inspiration… and to see that no subject is too humble for a fantastic photo-essay.

Body of Work: Paula Bronstein’s photojournalism

“I’m looking into underreported news in a number of war-torn nations that deal with social, political, and economic challenges while revealing the unseen casualties of combat.“

Paula Bronstein

Paula Bronstein is an American freelance journalist best known for documenting humanity in conflict zones and sites of humanitarian crises. She has spent time in Afghanistan, Ukraine, South East Asia and elsewhere. Her exhibitions have been presented all around the world and she has won diverse awards including the British Journalism Award and the Prix de la Photographie. In Bronstein’s own words: “My portfolio shows the diversity of my career, how I work, and how I see. From war to natural disaster, to epidemics and addiction; it’s never easy. But it’s important to be able to bear witness in a way that’s not graphic or exploitive, to make a strong statement, and – when needed – hold power to account.” Paula’s work doesn’t focus on the frontlines of war; instead she delves into the lives of people who survive against a backdrop of conflict and disaster.

Paula Bronstein’s body of work spans more than four decades, and throughout that time she has produced a number of deeply affecting photo‑essays that illuminate some of the most urgent humanitarian crises of our era. Her earliest sustained documentary project began in Afghanistan shortly after her arrival there in 2001, a moment that marked the start of an extraordinarily long and committed engagement with the country and its people. This early work eventually culminated in her acclaimed 2016 monograph Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear. As her career evolved, Bronstein continued to explore across regions shaped by violence, displacement, and political upheaval. In 2017 she produced a powerful series on the Rohingya crisis, capturing the desperate journeys of families fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Her reporting from Ukraine, beginning in 2022, offers another striking chapter in her long‑form storytelling, with essays such as Ukraine’s Elderly: Left Behind by War revealing the overlooked emotional and physical toll borne by civilians who have neither the strength nor the means to escape front‑line danger. Alongside these major bodies of work, Bronstein has created a number of focused thematic essays—including those on acid‑attack survivors, women serving in Afghanistan’s military sphere, refugee crossings in Lesbos, and the long and continuin violence in Gaza. that collectively reveal her steadfast attention to vulnerable, silenced, or marginalized individuals. Taken together, her published photo‑essays form a powerful archive documenting not only the visible crises that fill global headlines but also the quiet, enduring struggles of the vulnerable, silenced and marginalised.

Collected here for you to preview is a selection of images from her major photographic essays, which you can find to study in full on her website. After previewing, go to her website and choose the photo-essay that speaks to you most strongly, one that raises questions, provokes emotion, or sparks your curiosity. Spend some time looking at the images, mind-mapping the themes, visual choices, and effects that Bronstein brings up. Explore how a top photojournalist uses her images not only to document events but to reveal the human experiences that history often overlooks.

Towards Assessment: Individual Oral

Supported by an extract from one non-literary text and one from a literary work, students will offer a prepared response of 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of questions by the teacher, to the following prompt: Examine the ways in which the global issue of your choice is presented through the content and form of two of the texts that you have studied. (40 marks)

Paula Bronstein’s photographic exhibitions are a perfect text to choose to talk about in your IO. Themes of conflict, displacement, hidden hardships, the impact of political and social upheaval, and the long path to physical and mental recovery lend themselves well to any number of Global Issues. Here are suggestions as to how you might use this Body of Work to create a talk. You can use one of these ideas, or develop your own. You should always be mindful of your own ideas and class discussions and follow the direction of your own thoughts, discussions and programme of study when devising your assessment tasks:

Towards Assessment: Higher Level Essay

Students submit an essay on one non-literary text or a collection of non-literary texts by one same author, or a literary text or work studied during the course. The essay must be 1,200-1,500 words in length. (20 marks).

If you are an HL student, you might consider using Bronstein’s photojournalism to write your HL Essay. Here are one or two examples of lines of inquiry suitable for this text – but remember to follow your own interests and the direction of your own class discussion to generate your own line of inquiry. It is not appropriate for students to submit responses to an essay question that has been assigned:

• How does Paula Bronstein use visual imagery to portray the dangers of the refugee journey in her photographic essay Rohingya: Stranded, Stateless, and Unwanted?

Further Reading:

• Photojournalism: The Pictures That Changed the Course of History (documentary about John G. Morris)
• The Greatest Sports Photo Ever Made Turns 60 (New York Times interview with Neil Leifer)
• Claudia Andujar: Photographing As We Struggle (at Archives of Women Artists Research and Exhibitions)
• John Dominis: Iconic ‘Black Power Salute’ Photographer (ABC News article)
• The Fall of the Berlin Wall in Photos (New York Times photoessay)
• On This Day in History: The Sharpeville Massacre (by Ian Berry)
• Back to Bhopal: A Photographer’s View (Amnesty International article)
• Max Desfor: War Photographer at 104 (article at The New York Times)
• The Story of the ‘Last Photo’ of Salvador Allende (long read at Le Monde)
• Gandhi and his Spinning Wheel: Story Behind the Photo (retrospective at Life)
• Finbarr O’Reilly (Fondation Carmignac profile feature)
• D-Day and the Omaha Beach Landings (a Magnum story)
• Atomic Testament: Photos of Hiroshima’s Nuclear Toll (bulletin of atomic scientists retrospective)
• Covering Political Chaos: From Afghanistan to USA (presentation by Paula Bronstein)