Page One: A
Conversation with Philip Gefter, Picture Editor of the New York Times’ Front
Page
This essay follows Veronique Vienne as she interviews Philip
Gefter, who is the Page One picture editor of The New York Times. This is a very interesting essay because it’s
an inside look at how photos get chosen to be on the front page of The Times. Gefter explains that he has
to look through hundreds of photographs daily in order to choose the perfect
ones. He reads through more than 12 stories before each meeting. Gefter was
appointed to this position at The New
York Times in 1999, and he explains that since then, he has been practicing
how to speak about pictures in many ways, explaining them as accurately as
possible. He makes it clear that in order to choose the best photos as
possible, one must focus on being objective as opposed to subjective.
History’s
First Draft Looks Much Better With Pictures
This essay talks about the book published by Aperture and
World Press Photo entitled Things as They
Are. This book is made up of 120 photo essays from the last part of the
twentieth century. Throughout this essay, historical events are mentioned and
it is explained how the photos accurately illustrate the emotions of that point
in time. For example, in the beginning of this essay the author explains how
the cold war is illustrated by a photograph of Richard Nixon “poking his finger
into Nikita S. Khrushchev’s chest.”
Reflections
of New York’s Luckiest: Look Magazine
In this essay, New York is explained as a place where people
who don’t fit in find their dreams, but they must be willing to be lucky in
order to achieve. There are a few photographers that the author gives as
examples of this. For instance, Stanley Kubrick lived in New York, and at the
age of only 17, he was given a chance after taking a photograph and selling it
to Look magazine. This essay goes on
to explain many different artists who found their big breaks in Look magazine, and went on to pursue
bigger things.
Reading
Newspaper Pictures: A Thousand Words, and Then Some
This essay is about how a caption of a photo can say so much
about that particular image. “A picture may not be worth a thousand words, but
a picture and a good caption are worth a thousand and ten.” The essay gives
examples of published photos of events in time that without the a caption
giving proper context may be irrelevant. For example, the author talks about a
photograph of a teacup in a window with dust on it. Without the caption, the
viewer is left guessing what this picture may mean. The author then explains
that the caption gives the details that this photo is of dust that was from the
world trade center attacks in 2000, one week later the teacup still sits.
Cornell
Capa, Photojournalist and Museum Founder, Dies at Ninety
This essay commemorates photojournalist Cornell Capa and
explains his life before he died at the age of 90. He began wanting to be a
doctor at first, but his older brother Robert Capa was a photographer. He
started helping his brother develop negatives, etc. and decided he wanted to
pursue photography as a career as well. His brother was a war photographer who
died while on assignment. After his brother’s death, Cornell Capa decided he
wanted to create a center for photographer’s archives where photographs wouldn’t
get lost. His wife helped Cornell Capa with many things throughout his career.
This man was a phenomenal photographer in the art world. Since his brother died
while on assignment of war photography, he decided to dedicate his life to
peace photography.
Reflection
I really enjoyed this chapter because it really highlights
the importance that photojournalists have. This is a very significant type of
photography, and it shapes how we see the world. All of these essays show
important meaning to photojournalism.
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