A Beginner’s Guide to Photojournalism

Photojournalism uses photography as the primary storytelling device. A photojournalist uses a camera to capture newsworthy visual events and other happenings. It is different from other photography types, including street photography and documentary photography. While these other types have no strict rules, photojournalism must adhere to ethical standards like any other form of journalism. A photojournalist must take photos that accurately depict an event or happening and not exploit their subjects.

Photojournalism follows five fundamental photography elements. These help a photojournalist focus on a scene’s varying components, which they merge to create a message-conveying photograph. The first element is light. Light illuminates the subject, brings emphasis, and creates depth, whether natural or artificial. Also, the direction of light and its quality can enhance a photo. Notably, light is the most important of the five aspects as it helps capture quality images.

Color helps bring out a scene’s emotion and mood. In turn, such feelings can transfer to the audience, which aids in understanding the photojournalist’s message. Color also makes an image mysterious and exciting and brings out the contrast.

A moment is an element that highlights a particular scene’s subject. A photojournalist creates moments by capturing various interacting aspects of a scene in one frame to tell a captivating story. Composition is an element related to the moment, which helps emphasize part of the interacting aspects and make them stand out. Composition turns an ordinary photo into one that demands instant attention.

The last component is distance. Here, the photojournalist chooses how far they want their subject to be. Distance dictates a photo’s feeling and overall impact. It also helps determine the focal length for different shots that must or not include other scene parts.

Importantly, photojournalism is all about quality shots. Various shots serve varying purposes. The cover shot is meant to capture a reader’s attention. It determines if the reader will read the rest of the story or jump to other sections. Thus, a cover shot should elicit emotion.

A detailed shot gets close to the subject and emphasizes specific aspects. For instance, when telling a story about an earthquake, a close enough photo of the cracks, it leaves in the ground aids the reader in creating a mental picture.

A closing shot is the most difficult to conceptualize since it doesn’t necessarily show an image of what happens last. It should, however, tell the reader what happens in the end. For instance, when telling the story of two lovers, instead of taking a photo of their wedding, an image showing the couple together with their children helps bring a happy ending.

Filler shots help to develop different ideas about a subject. They bring together other parts that explain the subject or scene. For example, when giving a biography, additional images of the subject at various life stages, say in school, at home, and work, aid in unfolding their story.

Newsworthy shots depict happenings or events relating to a subject or scene. They must not necessarily be exciting but must qualify as worthy of talking about. An example is a photo of a criminal’s apprehension when telling a story about a crime. Other elements include emotion, intimacy, and unusual happenings. A good photojournalist can capture emotion, for instance, by taking an image of someone who’s just won the lottery. They can also capture intimacy by taking a photo of a couple holding hands.

Michael Phelps' Record-Breaking Career

Michael Phelps is a record-breaking American swimmer. He is famous for winning more Olympics medals than any other athlete. With 28 medals, comprising 23 gold medals, he has rightfully acquired the status of the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympic games. Michael Phelps established himself as a sublime athlete for four consecutive Olympic Games.

At the 2008 Beijing Games, he surpassed another swimmer, Mark Spitz's 1972 record, by winning eight gold medals. He won two bronze and six gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, tying the record of winning eight medals at single Games. In 2012, he won two silver and four gold medals. In 2016, he won one silver and five gold medals.

Michael Phelps started swimming at the age of seven, and the fact that his sisters–Whitney and Hillary–were members of the local swim team might have influenced his decision. Some critics say that Michael's mother might have insisted he pick up the sport as an alternate means of burning off energy, as he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the sixth grade. However, Michael claimed in an interview, after retiring in 2016, that the precise reason he got into the pool was that his mother insisted he did. Interestingly, he and his sisters loved the sport and decided to continue swimming. When he witnessed Tom Dolan and Tom Malchow perform at the 1996 Olympic Games, in Atlanta Georgia, he decided he would become a champion.

He joined the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center's North Baltimore Aquatic Club, where he met his coach Bob Bowman. Bob instantly discovered young Michael's abilities and helped him train intensively. In 1999, Michael joined the United States National B team. And at the age of 15, he held the record of being the youngest American male swimmer to compete in the Olympic Games in about 68 years.

In the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, Michael set smashed Ian Thorpe's record to become the youngest male swimmer to ever set a world record in the sports, with his remarkable speed in the 200-meter butterfly. After finishing at 1:54:58, Michael broke his record at the World Championship in Fukuoka, Japan, and earned his first international award.

He continued setting records at the 2002 U.S Summer Nationals in the 400-meter individual medley, the 200-meter individual medley, and the 100-meter butterfly. The following year, Michael once again smashed the world record he set at the 400-meter individual medley with a finish time of 4:09.09. By the age of 17, Michael's arsenal of achievements included five more world records.

Michael's career sailed on a streak of victories. In the 2004 World Championships, he had the second-best performance at the single Olympics, with two bronze and six gold medals. He also won four individual titles at the single Games, becoming the second male swimmer to ever win more than two individual titles at a single Games. Michael clinched six medals in the 2005 World Aquatics Championships: one silver and five golds.

In 2006, Michael won three events at the National Championships–the 200-meter butterfly, the 200-meter individual medley, and the 100-meter butterfly. True to his nature as a winner, he took home one silver and five gold medals at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in the same year, where he was recognized as one of the world's best backstroke swimmers. In 2007, at the World Aquatics Championship, Michael tied with fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz, for the world's long-course champion, after winning seven gold medals. In the process, he smashed five world records.

The following year, Michael became the fifth athlete in the Olympics history to win nine gold medals after breaking records in the 200-meter freestyle and the 400-meter individual medley. On August 17, 2008, Michael broke Mark Spitz's record when he won his eighth gold medal. In 2012, the already successful competitive swimmer announced retiring but returned in 2014 to win the 100-meter butterfly event at the Arena Grand Prix in North Carolina. By the end of 2015, he had won 62 national titles.